My Trip to Touba

Now that finals are behind me, I want to take a second to write about a huge aspect of life here that I had previously neglected— the presence of Islam.  From the five calls to prayer that weave through daily life to regular airings of the classic show “Little Mosque on the Prairie,” it is impossible to spend any amount of time here without noticing how important the religion, in its distinctively Senegalese form, is in Dakar.  There’s a saying that Senegal is 95% Muslim, 5% Catholic, and 100% Animist (or traditional), and from what I’ve seen that estimation isn’t far-off!  Unsure of what the attitude toward Christianity would be when I first arrived, on one of my first nights here my five year-old nephew Mamadoux shared with me in genuine surprise: “Wow, Amy Diallo!  You’re a nice Christian, aren’t you?”  To which his sister Saphi added, “If I pray with my hands like this (folding her hands in front of her chest) like you Christians do, God will probably strike me dead, right?”  Moreover, when my family found out I am not Catholic, they automatically concluded, “Oh, so you mean you don’t really practice!” Token misperceptions aside, the general opinion of Christianity is pretty neutral, as many people here are of the opinion that Christianity is just the step before Islam, as they believe in the same prophets with the addition of Mohammed.
One of the more visible manifestations of Islam here is in the practice of polygamy.  Though many religious intellectuals make the case that the spirit of Islam is monogamous, even if the practice of it is polygamous, it is not uncommon to hear acquaintances referring casually to their second (and even third) families, as Islam tolerates the taking of up to four wives.  The neighborhood I live in, Sacre Coeur III, has a reputation of being home to many second wives, a fact that some of my friends in the program have experienced first-hand!
On Sunday I had the opportunity to travel to Touba, the holy city of Senegal, and a place of pilgrimage to members of the Mouride Brotherhood.  Here, brotherhoods or “confreries,” as they are called in French, play a huge role in religious life, and over 80% of the population belong to one.  Paintings of the Mouride founder, Cheikh Amadou Bamba, are found everywhere from the corner boutique to the interior of taxis, and members of a sub-sect within the brotherhood, the baaye fall, can be spotted all over Dakar with their distinctive patched clothing and haunting chants.  Sufism, the branch of Islam taught by the brotherhoods, places an emphasis on the more mystical aspect of faith, with proximity to God as the goal, only to be arrived at with the help of a spiritual guide, or marabout.  Families from all over the country and even throughout West Africa send their young boys to study under marabouts under Dakar, with the terrible result that literally thousands of these child students (called taalibé), who are supposed to be studying the Koran, wind up lining the streets, begging for marabouts who either cannot afford to support them or who are otherwise lacking in scruples.
  At Touba, after properly veiling ourselves and discreetly separating into distinct male and female groups, we had the opportunity to wander through the beautiful Grand Mosque of Touba, a mosque which continues to grow in splendor as Cheikh Bamba (also known as Serigne Touba) told his followers that its construction will never be complete.  We also saw the burial place of Ibra Fall, founder of the baaye falls, a unique building shaped as an upside-down boat.  Though in typical Senegalese fashion we travelled a good 8 hours to stay there only 2, the trip was definitely worth the trek, as seeing the birthplace of the brotherhood that shapes life around me was an experience I’ll never forget!
Just a few more days remain of my life in Dakar, so my next (and perhaps final) post might not occur until I’m back in the States, as crazy a thought as that is!
Until then,
Amy Diallo  

Twelve Little Girls in Two Straight Lines...

Ok, so even though l’Ecole Actuelle Bilingue is not an all-girls school, every time I go to my internship I can’t help but think of Madeline, with all the students marching two-by-two in their matching uniforms. After completing my last day as a “stagiaire” or intern on Friday, I figure it is about time to write about my experience there! 

Each Friday of the semester has found me at EAB, a private bilingual school of about 300 students of over 30 nationalities.  Classes there are taught in French and English, and my job was to teach private and semi-private English lessons to students enrolled in the bilingual immersion program who needed a little extra help catching up to the proficiency levels of their peers.  I also had the chance to spend time reading with children in the library, teaching songs in both languages to preschool classes, and just generally observing how a private school works in Senegal.  With illiteracy rates remaining at 41% and high drop-out rates due to early marriages, economic constraints, and the draw of Koranic schools, the Senegalese government is hard-pressed to find effective measures to increase the quality and availability of education throughout the country.  In the 2001 constitution guaranteed for the first time universal elementary education to all children, though due to limited resources the law is impossible to enforce.  And, though the number of students attending schools has increased thanks to recent initiatives, the number of trained teachers has not, and as a result the quality of teaching provided in public schools continues to decline.  Because of this, more and more families with means have been turning to the private sector, and it is here that EAB plays an important role, as one of the first bilingual schools in the country.

Teaching at the school was definitely an interesting experience!  Though I had a great time getting to know my students, I struggled with the fact that the school was bilingual in French and English, rather than French and Wolof, or another maternal language.  For so many of the students I worked with, French was foreign enough, so the absolute refusal to speak to the children in their first language seemed a little absurd!  I also regretted how little emphasis was placed on Senegalese cultures and traditions— though the school hosts cultural awareness days, the focus seems fixed on Asian and European countries.  However, being as I was only there once a week and for a relatively short period of time, I honestly cannot make valid judgments on the school; I think the part that bothered me the most was just the fact that I here was volunteering, but placed in a private sector where families had to pay for the lessons I provided. 

Overall, I am definitely thankful for the experience.  I have learned so many French children’s songs (my favorite being about elephants dancing on a spider web), made friends with some of the Senegalese teachers, and even learned a bit about teaching in a bilingual setting.  The best part, though, was definitely just the children I worked with!  Perhaps one of my most rewarding teacher-moments occurred at CIEE's Thanksgiving banquet— our director’s five year-old daughter is in one of the classes I taught songs to throughout the semester, so when she recognized me at the dinner, she dragged her father over, telling him she had something important to tell me.  After a shy hello, she then proceeded to sing (in almost perfect English!) “Itsy Bitsy Spider” to everyone seated at my table, and I couldn’t help but beam with pride.  Granted, words like “itsy bitsy” and “water spout” might not be the most useful English words to know, but hey, at least it’s a start!

Bye for Now, Janelle

Chanting Monks, a (Kind of) Pink Lake, and a Whole Lot of Turtles



My New Namesake, the mini Amy Diallo!



After one very, very long week, I headed up the coast with a few friends to make a final visit out of Dakar.  Saturday morning, we swung by the neighboring city of Rufisque to check out the Village de Tortues, a refuge for over 400 injured and neglected turtles.  After introducing us to the sanctuary’s most harmonious couples, African spurred tortoises sporting the names Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, our oh-so-friendly tour-guide let us climb in with the giant turtles (the third largest in the world), handed us some of the smaller ones, and even promised to name one of the funnier-looking ones after me!

            The next stop on our expedition was Lac Rose, a lake which gets its name from the pinkish hue it takes on under certain lights thanks to an unusually high salt content.  We enjoyed a few luxuriously lazy hours taking advantage of the local hotel’s pool, hammocks, and our hut’s amazingly hot shower (the first one of the semester!), before going on a beautifully cliché sunset walk around the lake.  With an unusually gray sky and sporadic salt mines lining the lake that could conceivably pass as snow, we all agreed that it was almost beginning to look a lot like Christmas— if one happened to have a very active imagination!  Really getting into the spirit, we decided that for the rest of our walk we would start singing Christmas carols to anyone who came up to us with offers of merchandise or marriage, a technique which, to our surprise and delight, worked remarkably well!
            The next morning we made the short trip over to Keur Moussa Monastery, making it just in time for the 10:00 mass.  It was a truly special service, with Gregorian chants in Wolof accompanied by kora playing and some French hymns.  After mass, a group of ten of us stocked up on the monks’ jams and famous goat cheese and had a quiet little picnic in the shade, and for a moment we almost convinced ourselves we were studying abroad in France—that is, until we made the dusty 5K trek back to the main road to catch a crowded bus back to Dakar!  Funny thing is though, we wouldn’t have had it any other way.
           
Ciao Ciao!

Amy Diallo