Senegal village life

 There are several small villages near where we visited, and the people had been informed we were coming to deliver health care.  This village was located approximately three miles from a small town and 10-15 miles from a medium-size town. We had to walk about a city block from where we were sleeping to the make-shift open-air clinic that had been set up for us.  Along the way we passed the two-room school made from millet stalks and tin.

 The clinic was near a crossroads of sandy trails that are roads in this semi-desert area.  I could see several compounds from the clinic area and would often think an automobile, horse or donkey drawn cart heading in our direction was bringing people to the clinic, when they would actually be headed to another compound. One day I saw two camels in the distance and was disappointed when I discovered these huge beasts of burden weren’t coming near us.  Another day we all scattered as two donkeys chased each other into the clinic area.  Goats were frequent visitors to the clinic and wandered throughout all the village compounds.

We arrived at our destination at dusk on Monday night.  Thankfully, several of our volunteers had brought lanterns because, even though there were poles and wires for electricity nearby, it was not hooked up.  I’m sure that is another story.

Discovering that the village leader, who had organized the visit, and his ‘any day now’ pregnant wife had given up their bedroom for the ladies of the Wellness Team, reminded me again of why the Senegalese are known for their hospitality.  Their bed and a foam mattress on the floor provided sleeping space for the four ladies.  Two of the men slept next door, three slept in the van, and two were outside.  Due to the heat, I slept outside one night and was able to experience how cold it gets in this semi-desert area at night.

Dinner time for the Senegalese is usually 9 or 10 PM, so this means cooking in the kitchen hut in the dark for the village ladies.  A little meat, usually with several bones, fat, and a few portions of vegetables in a sauce over lots of rice, is the usual lunch and dinner. It is served on a large round platter on the floor where five or six people eat from the common platter. A tablespoon for eating was provided for us, but the villagers always use their right hand.  Fluids, usually water, are served after the meal.  Long baguettes of bread with chocolate spread, butter, or cheese spread (One Wellness Team volunteer used all three!) is breakfast every day.  The instant Nescafe coffee, (Yes, your parent’s Nescafe!) is served with breakfast, but I got the water boiling early so I could have my first cup before breakfast, as is my habit at home.  This was one of the few habits from home I was able to keep.

Now for the other essentials.

Picture a small, free standing concrete building with two tin doors side by side and you get an idea of the bath room and latrine facility.  The latrine is a ceramic square with a designated place to put you feet and standing up is the only option.  Sorry ladies!  Bring your own toilet paper or wash with water from a kettle provided is how the system works.  I was glad the odor was controlled compared to many villages I’ve visited.  The bathing section is partitioned off by a concrete wall and had a drain, shelf for soap and a two-gallon bucket for bath water.  Play like you’re washing off at your bathroom sink and you’ll forget you are rinsing with the same small amount of water you are bathing in.

When I made the short trip to the compound for a “potty” break, I would see a grandmother sitting under a large tree on a wood and twig box-like seat that also serves as a bed at night if needed.  She would have seven or eight preschoolers sitting or playing by the bed.  Once, I noticed a switch in her hand and all the little ones lined up on the bed.  

By the morning break-time, the older children had already made the short walk to school and were involved in studies.  Mothers and girls were doing chores such as washing and hanging laundry, cooking lunch, or sweeping yesterday’s trash from the sand yard.  Adolescent girls were helping with chores because, after a girl gets older, she may quit school since her future job of childrearing and homemaking doesn’t require education above whatever grade the father decides it doesn’t.  On one trip to the compound area I watched as a young boy of about fourteen brought 20-30 three gallon containers of water from the nearby well on a donkey drawn cart.

As I mentioned earlier, people in the village lead a tough life.  Jobs are mostly in the cities, so agriculture would be occupation for the majority of the men.  The men who have found a job in the city travel back to the village on the weekends.  The architect who had arranged for the Wellness Team to bring the mobile clinic to this area actually worked in his family started business in a nearby town and came home after the work week.  The older men of the village have positions of authority that involve governing the village, and/or sitting in the pleasant, open air, male only, community building, gossiping.  Children went to bed at age appropriate times often under the tree on the box like bed, later being moved inside the family hut when the evening cooled down.  Everyone else was in bed later than me and up before I heard the roosters perform their early morning crowing routine.

Village life might be small step above camping out without any hook ups and Senegalese villages are usually hotter than most US camping areas.  But in village life there is no going home after the camping.  This is your life day in and day out. 

I have complained plenty about my life in Dakar without air conditioning, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer, etc.  But compared to life in the village, it is easy!