Hey.
Sorry to leave you hanging there for so long. I had a few busy weeks followed by a few weeks without Internet.
Soooo, to expand on the “food for thought” questions I left you with last time, here are some thoughts.
First, the languages and reading here.
I never cease to be amazed at people’s skill with language here. Most of the people who attended the teacher training I just observed spoke four languages at least semi-fluently:
~Manjak, their first language
~Mandinka, the language of the largest people group in their region
~Wolof, the language of the largest people group in Senegal and a common language throughout the country
~French, the language of schools and the government – a leftover from the colonial era’. And several spoke other Senegalese languages as well and could do basic greetings and conversation in English.
Everyone in this group could read in both French and Manjak, but not easily. Not easily at all for several of them. Very few people read for pleasure in Senegal, the written word is not ever-present, and school is in a language all but the very best brightest struggle to understand for most of their schooling experience. So literacy at a functional level happens for some, but a truly fluent, comfortable level for very few.
It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around it.
Second, the heat without a fan.
Well, the apartment where I live and building where I work both have generators and fans, so I haven’t had too much hot weather with no relief.
BUT most people don’t have generators, and in Dakar there are often power cuts of several hours several times a week, and in other places MUCH more. AND, many people don’t have fans because they are not cheap and running them requires electricity, which can be expensive.
Before I came here, I thought people who were from hot places didn’t really notice or mind the heat. Not. True. When I think it’s really hot, Senegalese people do too.
And finally, living by the ocean.
It catches me by surprise every time I’m in the car and realize I can see the ocean. I can hardly believe that I could go to the ocean whenever I want. The first two weeks of November I got to experience living right next to river. That was pretty great too!
