Numu demee? What's up?
Here in Senegal we might not have snow days, but we have strike days! Yesterday and today I haven't had school because some students at my school went on strike!! Our program shares a campus with two other universities, and the students from one of these other groups apparently needed to have their opinion heard! I am not sure of specific reasons for this strike yet, but I will tell you when I know! Here in Senegal, occassionally public schools will have strikes, either done by teachers/admin or students. Sounds like France avec les grèves, non?
My brothers and sisters explained that usually grèves (strikes) are mostly for show and aren't usually violent. For example, I heard that the students had set tires on fire at the entrances to our school campus! Yes this is dangerous and is a fire that is uncontrolled, but it is apparently mostly done just to look intimidating. It doesn't sound as bad as another strike that occurred a couple weeks ago at Cheik Anta Diop (the big university in Dakar), where there was some violence and I heard people threw stones.
But don't worry, I am fine, our program has a calling tree so we are informed quickly about dangerous things, we will be smart about what we do. :)
Having strikes at school is kind of nice when you have a test scheduled for that day...
My friends and I celebrated the day off by going to the beach and drumming on djembés with some locals. There were a lot of pirogues (fishing boats) (see the above picture) and fishermen around, our friend Adama showed us some squid and octopus that he had caught, and other fishermen were carrying stingrays and fish around with their bare hands. (I don't know why there were such odd types of sea creatures on this beach so close to land, but apparently that is what is in season now!)
The squid and octopus were being stored in this black liquid with ice chunks in a cooler. We asked why the liquid was black and Adama said it was because of ¨le déchet,¨ which I believe translates to ¨litter.¨ Mmmm.
Pollution is a problem here I can tell. I have been hesitant to make any judgments about Senegal but this is one I feel is ok to make. Especially as I walk along the streets, trash is everywhere. Truly it is like nothing else I have ever seen before. Along some streets you will just see piles of trash-- cups, plastic bags, bottles, shoes, clothes, everything. There are some public trash cans around, but obviously there are either not enough trash cans or people aren't in the habit of using them. And then the buses, cars, and trucks emit horrible black gases. One day on my walk to school recently there was a huge cloud of smog that was super visible, and on days like that occassionally you will see people walking with a hand or a scarf over their mouth and nose.
So different from home where there is such an emphasis on sustainability, organic things, recycling, not littering. No one has ever even mentioned the word recycling in my presence since I have been here. In the US it is a privilege to even discuss sustaibility, let alone have it be such an important thing. Especially at St. Olaf-- sustainability is pretty much the campus religion.
Yendul ak jàmm! Have a good day! (literally: Spend the day with peace!)
Squids shoot black ink as a defense mechanism. So the "litter" Adama was refering to is probable squid ink, not squid feces.
ReplyDeleteGrèves are just a part of French and Francophone tradition! (Recall Mme Allen's francité course?)
ReplyDeleteHere, the students have also been en grève. Last week was vacation, so we will have to see if the students have decided to calm down. At our campus, Université Rennes 2-Villejean, the students have a reputation for being the most into grèves in all of France. But fortunately, I haven't had to miss any classes because our program is not associated with the rest of the school because it's international. However, we did have to pass through the "barricades" in front of the building doors in order to attend class. It's quite interesting!
And we decided that a grève would never occur at Olaf. First, we pay too much to go to school. And second, our school is full of polite Norwegian Lutherans. Imagine someone like Trygve organizing a campus-wide grève!
It's so interesting to hear about different ways of life, especially from people our age. Last week UMKC hosted 15 international students as a part of an annual SI Leader exchange (the program I work for). We had students from South Africa, Australia, Manchester, Canada, and Grenada. It was anazing to hear their presentations and get to know from them how similar world universities are while being so different at the same time!
ReplyDeleteDo you know the reason for the strike?
We take so much for granted here in the States, most people don't think about the harmful effects of a lot of our everyday activities. It seems that the world is especially intouch with reducing and reusing to a much greater extent than us in everyday life.
Keep safe and as always it's great to hear from you Beth!
You need to update!
ReplyDelete