Thies and My First Host Family Experience

Je dis "Asallamalekum" et vous me respondez "Malekum salaam," bien sur! "Nanga def?" "Maangi fi rekk. Yow nag?" That's basically the exchange of words between me and any random person on the street. They love it when a toubab speaks even a little of their language. That simple greeting upon passing a Senegalese person usually grants you a warm smile (often times accompianied with an expression of surprise) and a new friend that you can count on to back you up if the moment ever arises (which is unfortunately not all that unlikely).

So I've been here for a little over a week now and I'm starting to get used to life in Senegal. The heat isn't too bad right now as it's staying under 100°F... unfortunately, depending on where I end up being placed, it could reach as high as 120°F during the hot season. I've also been working on my French, which is my official language for training; although I have picked up a few Muslim and Woloof phrases as well. Eventually during my service I should end up being highly proficient in both French and a local language... but that is a long way off yet. I've been using some of m newly found language skills in the market in Thies (pictures of the market throughout this post... they're not that good because it's a little risky for me to have my camera out in crowded places). Thies is one of the biggest cities in Senegal and is home to the training center for the Corps de la Paix. I've mainly used the market so far to pick up gifts for my training host family (some dates, tea, and sugar make great gifts, especially during Ramadan as all Muslims refrain from food and water while the sun is up for the entire month and eat dates to break the fast). My haggling skills have been alright, but could still use improvement... they always assume us toubabs can afford the high prices.

The basic set up of the Peace Corps training involves total immersion. We are all split up to live in different villages based on the lqnguage we qre learning (there is French and 5 local languages being taught). While at our training villages we live with local families who are instructed to treat us just as another member of the family and not a guest. During the day, the trainees learning the same language meet for small group (4 people) language classes. Then we spend lunch, dinner and the night with our families. After periods in the village, we reconvien at the training center for health, safety and technical training classes for a few days at time, then back out to the village; back and forth for two months!

So this past week I spent my first three days and two nights of time with my host family in the village on Thienaba. It was such an incredible and overwhelming experience that I will try my best to explain it although I know any and all words will fall short. My name for training is Mustapha Diop, after my 17 year old brother. (I like to joke with the family how I am the second Moustapha, "Moustapha deuxieme," even though I am the elder of the two.) I am supposed to be learning French but hardly anyone in the family knows it (myself included) and they all speak Woloof amoungst themselves. Needless to say the first couple nights included a lot of confusion and hand gestures, but even after those few days some progress was made. I haven't quite figuered out the family tree yet, as I live with a good 25 people in the compound (fortunately the Peace Corps requires that I get my own room). Imagine being surrounded by twenty five people simultaneuosly speaking at you in a language you do not undestand a single word of... it's quite overwhelming at first. Overall the family is extremely kind and patient, and a few of them will bear with me as I butcher the French language. The kids especially like hanging around me and could spend the whole day just touching my white skin and staring while trying to get me to repeat the names of objects in Woloof.

As instructed by the Peace Corps, and as I would wish it, I live in the same conditions as the rest of the family: I eat out of the same communal bowl, I use the same hole in the ground toilet (and yes... wipe with my left hand), and take showers with a bucket of water. Surprisingly these are not the things that take the most getting used to. For now the inability to communicate has been my biggest frustration. Also, I'm pretty sure one of the children is sick with maleria. Unfortunately 1 in 8 Senegalese children die, the leading cause being maleria. Hopefully this is not the case for my fellow Diop (Volunteers have had child brothers and sisters pass while living with their families before). Already I love my host family; they have been so kind in sharing what little they have and are patient as saints. So please, keep them in your prayers.

Fortunately, like me, they like to joke around. Many awkward moments of utter confusion have ended with a lighthearted laugh (usually at my expense, and deservedly so). Just the other day the women were pounding millet in the morning. They are so strong and well practicied at this daily ritual that they can throw the pestle up in the air, clap a few times, catch it and bring it down with surprising force onto the millet in the mortar; only to repeat the motion again and again with outstanding grace accompannied by brute force. So when I went to give it a try (which is already funny to them because I, a man, was doing a woman's job) I also threw the pestle in the air and clapped... and they laughed and laughed and laughed. Later on they were talking to a neighbor and all I could pick out of the conversation was my name, a clap, and another outburst of laughter. It was at that moment that i felt as though I started to connect a bit with the family.

The first day and night in the village I was certainly wondering what the heck I was doing there, but by the end of the couple days the family and I had shared a few laughs, leaving me anxious to return to the Diop compound and continue to improve my French and Woloof so that I can someday have a decent conversation and learn more about them. Hopefully that will be soon, Inshallah. Well time for me to go, my time at the cyber cafe is running out again and the Peace Corps doesnt pay well enough for me to sit here all day (and enough has happened that it would easily take that long to write it all down)!

Ba Suba et A Bientot!