ACI Baobab

On Thursday, we went to the Baobab center, an institute that trains international workers on issues of Senegalese culture and language, and health education for Senegalese.

We learned so much that it was almost overwhelming. We first worked with a Senegalese guide who talked us through traditional values. Some of them were really interesting, such as a demm, or a bad spirit. When you are in Senegal, you have to be careful that you do not say things that suggest you are a demm, such as complementing physical attributes of adults or children, or asking when a pregnant women is due. These comments are supposed to attract the attentions of bad spirits, and if complications arise, it is considered your fault and can provoke hostility or even ostracization by the community. The program leader told us that often when women have trouble getting pregnant or miscarry several times, their first child's name will be something that translates to "rug" or "the one I don't care about". This is supposed to ensure that bad spirits will leave the child alone during its life.

We also learned about teranga, the famous Senegalese concept of hospitality. The idea of teranga stems from the idea that you should welcome visitors in the same way that you would want your own children welcomed, if they were overseas. There's a really nice, typically Senegalese folk story that sums up the dangers of not acting with teranga in mind. To paraphrase, a man has a really great soup bone that he doesn't want to share with anyone. However, visitors stop by the man's house and he so wants to guard the soup bone that he has his wife tell them that he's dead - not sure why simply hiding the soup bone wasn't an option here. Everyone thinks the man is dead, and he's buried alive. The end. That's what you get when you aren't welcoming to your guests. They just don't tell them like that in the U.S..

We also had a delicious thieboudienne, which is a customary dish of rice, (sometimes)fish, cassava, tamarind, carrots, cabbage, eggplant or whatever else is available in a spicy sauce. We practiced eating with one's hands around a communal bowl, which is way more difficult than it sounds. You ball rice and pieces of vegetables and fish carefully divided by your host in your right hand - you use your entire hand for this like you are squeezing clay - and then attempt to transfer this ball to the tips of your fingers and get in your mouth. So basically, we got rice everywhere except in our mouths. It was definitely a fun experience, if not a neat one. We also got to taste a bunch of local juices: kiwi, bissap (hibiscus) bouye(baobab), pineapple, and ginger. And finally, we got attaya, the traditional tea of Senegal which is served in three servings, each getting consecutively sweeter. It's delicious but intense, best described as the mix between tea and coffee because of the bitterness.

I'll upload pictures as soon as I can - I've been busy with a new host family in the past couple of days.