It’s sad that I have gotten (kind of) used to the sound of tear gas resulting from these kinds of silly interactions….
When I first got to Senegal, I was told that living in Point E wasn’t approved because it was “unstable.” What do you mean, unstable? Apparently this was on account of the university students, and their proclivity to set things on fire and throw rocks at police when they aren’t paid their bourses. The police would then respond by firing tear gas at the students- and a largely boring theater lasting about ten minutes would ensue each time.
As you may already know, I overcame these perceived dangers by pointing out that I would be attending the university, and accordingly I’d probably be in the thick of things regardless of where I lived.
So I have spent my tour living in Point E. It is neither dangerous, nor unstable. In fact, it is pretty fantastic- at least 99.9% of the time. I really love my neighborhood- but I will say that after two and a half years of living here, things haven’t really gotten much better in terms of perturbations.
When I first moved in, the city was busy tearing up the road and making a general mess in order to agrandir the road and create a dozen new roundabouts. The result? Even muddier foot traffic and frequent water outages for the people living up and down Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop and Rue de Ouakam.
I’ve written about it before, but once they did finish the road project, my ‘hood was looking pretty great. “At last! I can walk on mostly-completed concrete pathways!” This was a very exciting moment for me, especially considering that I do a lot of walking. Do you know how awesome sidewalks can be? If you don’t, then let me show you why I say this….
This was taken today, right near my house. In fact, most of my front parking lot is one big gaping trench at the moment. It would appear that just as I moved in, so will I now be moving out under the umbrella of one big construction project. Bah.
And remember people, we are currently experiencing the rainy season- so look what happens to all of that pretty dirt! This is not the time of the year to be donning your blue suede shoes.
This morning I had a dental appointment, and as I was getting ready to leave, I looked out and saw a solid front of rain coming towards me. Crap! I thought, I’ve gotta get into a taxi and get downtown quick. See once it rains, everything slows down. Unfortunately, it was already raining by the time I got downstairs- and when I finally found a taxi willing to take me at a fair price, I got to spend a half hour in his muggy backseat while the guy squinted through a windshield that had no functioning wipers. I was mildly amused that I didn’t even realize that such driving tactics might be dangerous until we were almost downtown and at my dentist’s office. Dakar is just not built for the rainy season.
Coming back home from my jaunt downtown, the rain had long-since moved off and my street had taken on a whole new decoration. “Whoa” said my taximan. You usually don’t get much of a reaction from these guys when we’re talking about the idiosyncrasies of Dakar’s motorways- but his reaction made me look up.
“Whoa!” I repeated as he looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “The students were really pissed” I said to him in a French-equivalent observation. Pretty much the entire southeast portion of Cheikh Anta Diop was trashed as all size of rock and sand now pocked the street. This is was a shiny new road! I asked my driver to drop me off early so I could snap some photos.
I actually ran by this palm tree trunk at about 6:30 this morning. It was on the other side of the street- and I had kinda wondered to myself what it was doing in the road. Now it lay in the middle of the road and was still smoldering. Clearly it was used as a flaming roadblock courtesy of Mother Nature. I guess since it’s bigger than a tire, it’s more effective?
Just more of the mess. Even though the big construction pits and blocked streets are a pain to negotiate, these civic initiatives are sorely needed. I know the students are frustrated, but it’s a shame to see them take their aggression out on the neighborhood.
I look forward to coming back in a few years and checking to see how things are shaking down at Point E. We might not be able to overcome the elements of the rainy season, but there are certainly better ways to go about getting what one believes they are owed. The university students- the future of this country- of all of Dakar’s citizens they should know that they are only setting fire to their own backyard by continuing on with this nonsense.
