….but I think that they are going to take it some more.
Pimpin’ is hard in Senegal, even for Batman, but the Dude abides…
I’m still glued to the reporting in Egypt. I hope that all of you in Westernlandia are paying attention as well, but I can’t be too sure. Maybe it’s my own fishbowl perspective speaking, but I truly believe that what is going on over there right will have a significant impact on our global relations. I don’t think it takes a political scientist to throw that kind of projection out there.
I was talking to my Dad the other day on my VOIP phone (we have excellent start-and-go conversations that get cut off when either his phone battery dies or my house loses electricity). We were talking about Egypt, and he voiced parental concern about my being in a developing country. I tried to reassure him in the best way an itinerant daughter can: I know to stay away from mobs, the Senegalese are loquacious yet peaceful people…so it’s different here. That’s what was in my head when words started coming out of my mouth.
I flashed back to the Skype exchanges that I had with the Cairo scholar about ten days ago. She told me that she was impressed that the Egyptians had it in them to hold a day of protests and stand up against their “democratic” government. Me, I figured they’d be done after that single day of demonstrating, which would thus be only a small aftershock of the events in Tunisia. But all of a sudden the Egyptians got a powerful second wind that has brought us to day eleven of protesting, served up complete with shocking images and state-coordinated brutality. The Cairo scholar? She’s been evacuated.
So with that said, I rambled on to my Dad about why Senegal would never go the way of Egypt. But as I was selling him my story, I found that I was modifying my argument mid-sentence. I didn’t exactly change my tune- but rather I ended my spiel with “things should be okay here…..but then again, you never know what the spark will be that effects change.”
It’s true. In Senegal, as Jon Stewart pointed out this week, there are some challenges to living here. Off the top of my head, here are a couple that my toubab eyes have noted as of late:
Infrastructure in disrepair. A major difference between developed and undeveloped countries? Maintenance and upkeep. Failure to do either sows disgruntlement.
The power outages are as bad as ever. This was the scene when I went to a military base to administer a test that required a basic tape player and headphones to complete. Even their generator was fried. The whole base was without power.
This is the light that was above my head as I sat in that dark room and hoped that the power would come back on. After 45 minutes, I gave up and called my driver. When I told him what the problem was he just shook his head and said “It’s really serious when even the base doesn’t have power.”
When even the locals are getting out of their cars in frustration over the chaotic gridlock, you know it’s bad. A lot of these taxi drivers shouldn’t even be allowed to have tricycles.
And I can’t forget my university brethren. I can see the main entrance of the university from my balcony, and quite often I hear protests. I can watch them carry signs as they move from the main entrance back to the other side of my street and under the treeline. Don’t worry Dad, me and my drum stay up in my ivory tower. There’s refreshments in here.
I’m not Senegalese, but can I complain too? The dust in the air is really bad right now, and obscures most everything. Normally from my balcony I can see far into the distance and even the inspirational African Renaissance Monument. Now all I get is a house coated with a surface layer of dust. I have no idea how this evil dust is getting inside.
So all of that casual observation aside, I don’t think that anything is going to happen in Senegal. Sure the presidential elections are coming next year, but I can’t fathom downtown Dakar looking anything like Tahrir Square. But just in case, I did do some consulting of my own private oracle. It’s been pretty accurate, and I wanted to see whether or not it thought my host country would have problems similar to Egypt.
The answer revealed more truth than I could expect:
“Reply hazy, ask again later”
No kidding it’s hazy. It would appear that the dust kicking around this place is having a more profound effect on things than I originally thought.
My fingers are remaining crossed for Egypt, and I’m still paying attention.
