Pics

I finally figured out the blogging world enough to post pictures of the multicoloured car rapide, and Pap and Dudu. Check out the transpo blog and the Senegalese friends blogs from a few days ago. And here are some others!

This is where I work:

From is the view from the guest house I'm staying at:

And just some other random pics - many of them taken out a car window while driving, so hopefully as I master that technique, the quality will improve.

And last but not least, here are Nancy, the American who has been my saviour, and Caroline, the woman running the guest house I'm staying at:

Senegalese friends

Ok, more for today because my first post just didnt cut it. A few random and unconnected ideas.
1 - Keeping up with the news market here is challenging. When you work in local news, you have to be aware of int'l stuff sure, but you can get a pretty good handle of whats going on from one newspaper. Here Ive got to read the local papers to know whats happening in Senegal, the African news sites to keep on an eye on other countries (I'm in charge of keeping up to date on news in the lower priority countries we cover - Togo, Ghana, Western Sahara, Cape Verde, Gambia, Cameroon, etc and the main reporters handle the higher priority countries - Nigeria, Chad, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, etc); but at the same time you have to be up on big international news coming out of the states, etc... anyways, so it's tought to keep up. But it's really nice that my job is to research such interesting stuff that I want to be informed about anyway!
2 - The boys in these internet cafes are so funny because they play English rap music from the computer in their headphones, but then they sing along, in their cute accents and I'm like 'I know that song!' and i dont know if they realize what they sound like, but they think they've got it down pat !
3 - My British colleague Nick gave me a ride downtown today, and gave me a little tour by car. I have to say it's a pretty unspectacular downtown core, but it was nice to get out of work early and do something! As I was walking down the street, I heard these voices chanting, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Then when I turned the corner, I found a group of men, all wearing colourful boubous, walking in a small circle singing so loud the whole neighbourhood coule here it. I wanted to take a video, but i held back... Then I went to the Sengada market as its called - this strip of vendors with cloths, jewellery; etc... think ottawa's byward market with ten times the number of vendors in half the space, with random people coming up to you trying to sell you stuff. Like Cairo's khan al-khalili... Anyways, I ended up making friends with one of the vendors. He calls himself Pap (the one on the right), but his real name is El-Hadji. Him and his little seller friend, Dudu. I ended up buying something from them just for kicks, but I forced them to pose for a picture, which I will post. We took the bus home together, cuz they live near my nieghbourhood and I might play soccer with them sometime! I feel I am starting to make friends in the neighbourhood I'm in. The guy at the phone booth, the guy at the the sandwich shop, the water stand. At first, they're a bit reserved, but when you keep going back day after day, they start asking you your name, and why you knw french, and how long you're here for, etc. The waitress at the restaurant by my house, Kumba, invited me to go visit her family, and the guy at the cyber cafe says he will show me his neighbourhood, Yoff. Of course, I won't be taking up all these offers, but it's nice to be making friends!

I drank all my bottled water, which means no more till tomorrow! luggage didnt come. they said, 'oh dont worry, it will definitely be here saturday.' Right, just like it was supposed to be last Saturday, then Monday, then today! Does anyone have any hookups at British Airways?

Birthday Blues

Missed my entry yesterday, sorry everyone. It was my birthday, but it was a long and miserable day actually - mostly because of stress at work, but i think all the added frustrations of no luggage, new environment, etc. finally got to me. Anyways, all is well now, and you can see my first article - thanks to the help of the editor who fixed it up quite a bit - at http://www.irinnews.org/reporttest.aspx?ReportId=73105. There are no bylines, only initials at the bottom. "ha" is pretty representative of me I suppose. No big news today, other than malnutrition in Chad of course, which is what I spent the day researching. Hoping to have some "yassa poulet" tonight... another traditional Senegalese meal... and hoping my luggage will come. There's a British Airways flight tonight, so cross your fingers. Oh... it rained yesterday... but just nice light rain and only briefly. And I bought some flip flops for $1 so I can stop wearing my smelly socks. Still haven't figured out how to post pictures to this thing, so bear with me. This is the most unfocused blog entry ever!

Transpo! Not OC

So, today's big accomplishment - other than getting the name of the British Airways guy at the airport so that I can harass him about my baggage and stop wearing other people's clothes - is.... I rode the bus! Everyone at work just taxis everywhere, cuz it's so cheap, like $1.50 a ride, but the busses just seem so exciting, so I was determined to ride one. So on my way back from the embassy today, i had to ask like 10 people how to get to where I could get on the #1 ... You always have to say "Salamu Alaikum, Ca va bien?" ... and then move on to what you really want from them. The bus costs like 30 cents, which is crazy, cuz it's actually not bad... but i had no idea where I was when he dropped me off, and had to walk in what seemed like the Sahara desert because of the sand and the heat for like 15 minutes to get back to work... yes, the heat. I finally noticed it today. The blazing sun of Senegal. I'm sure it will get much worse too. So some of my observations - I actually saw a crosswalk today... technology what?! And... a black man sweating... It seems like only the white people sweat and all the Africans can handle it... but he was wiping away with a napkin! YES! This one woman on the bus couldn't make it to the middle where you pay, so she just passed her money to the person behind her, who passed it to the person behind him, etc. etc... and then her change and ticket came all the way back to her... it was cute.

Next test for me is to ride the car rapide. Check out the pic. You just hop on the back while it's riding along. Most of them say "Alhamdullilah" across the front, that's how religious it is here... Religious, but not actually. Because they are the most relaxed Muslims I've ever seen. I passed by this beautiful mosque today, that was right along the beach. Go swimming and then go pray!
haha

gotta check out an apartment,
write soon...

First day at work

So....
Before I came here, CANADEM (the organization that sponsored me, thanks to CIDA funding) prepared us for the "challenges" of working for the United Nations - nothing getting done, frustrating work pace, the desire to change everything and the inability to do so, etc. etc. But from what I can see, it isn't at all like that where I'm working at IRIN (the Integrated Regional Information Network of the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). Within half an hour of my being here, I had a computer, with my own email, a desk phone, a cell phone, a list of everyone's contact information. It's amazing! I haven't seen anything like that at any place I've worked at before. The people are hard-working and efficient (nobody even thought of eating until like 2pm and most didn't leave their computers all day. It's 7pm now and two of the reporters are still here (since 9am this morning!) So it seems like a real good operation. There are three reporters, Nancy (the American), Nicholas (a Brit), and David (an Australian). There's another American intern here, Uma, who is very nice, and a bunch of people working for the French service. The admin staff are Senegalese. When you're in the office though, you don't even realize you're in Senegal. It's air-conditioned, all hooked up to internet, security guard outside, etc. It's only when you step outside - when the warm air hits you, and you walk on the sandy streets - that you remember!

The first thing I realized when I got to work was just how ignorant I am about Africa. These people know so much about the politicians, the different conflicts going on in different countries -- from solid waste problems in Liberia to diseases in Burkina Faso to rebels in Cameroon... it's crazy! So my first job is to get myself acquainted and FAST! By Friday, I have to prepare a background report about Cameroon for one of the journalists who is going on "mission" there - a week-long stay to do some reports, make contacts, etc. Rebels from the Central African Republic have been kidnapping/killing people across the border in Cameroon, there's been an increase of refugees coming into Cameroon from CAR (part of this job is learning all the acronyms) because of the violence in Chad and Sudan, there are ethnic tensions in the north of Cameroon, and apparently volcanoes too. Lots to read about! The other intern, Uma, is heading off on her first overnight trip (within Senegal, but in a different region), and she's only been here two months, so it looks like there is room to do some good reporting!

It is the first day of course, but my initial impressions are that I'm so glad I'm here. This is exactly the type of work that I wanted to do being - learning about humanitarian issues, helping the world learn about them, and being involved with topics I'm passionate about. It seems like a good team, and there's lots of work to be done.

So that's that... still no baggage, the British Airways flight coming into Dakar today is delayed, so we're not going to pick up the bags (if they come) until tomorrow... My hair has never been so greasy. I washed my only set of clothes in a bucket yesterday.

Had my first Senegalese meal yesterday too. Dahin: It's rice, meat, and pate d'arachide (i'm not exactly sure what that translates to). It cost me 1000 CFA francs, which is about $2, and was very tasty.

Oh, and had my first harassment! Some guy on the street asking me to "step aside" with him for a chat. Persistent too... took about 10 minutes of walking to get rid of him. But harmless in the end.

That's all for today.
Miss you all!
Heba

A day around town

I'm realizing now what a difference it makes to travel with someone... Even something as simple as taking out my camera to take a picture seems so much more daunting if you're alone. What if I get mugged? What if they realize I'm a retarded foreigner? I'm so hungry and just too scared to buy a mango on the street cuz I don't know how much they should cost and I'll get ripped off if I don't have a good idea... hehe. Anyways, Nancy showed me the office today. Simple, but all connected to internet, etc. One of the main newspapers here is called WalFadjri, which is an arabic word for dawn, more or less. Apparently there are a lot of Lebanese here, although I have seen very few people who aren't pure African. In fact the whole experience feels very, very authentic. I had kinda braced myself for the fact that nowhere in the world hasn't been overrun by tourists, hasn't become westernized in some way. And of course there are the nice cars here, those wearing jeans and fancy white runners. But there are also (the majority) who wear traditional boubous as i think they're called, the crowded minibuses that people just hop onto, the women cooking nuts on the street. I went to visit the family i'm thinking of living with. they're a good example of the technological/traditional combination. They've got highspeed internet 24 hours a day in the home, and like 10 sheep being herded on the roof!
Anyways, I really should go find some food!
take care,
heba

Arrival!

So here I am, finally in Senegal, after probably the most tiring trip of my life. I left Ottawa just after 6pm Friday night, and made it here about 11pm local time on Saturday (or 7pm Ottawa time - Dakar is 4 hours ahead). The plane in Montreal was overbooked by 50 people. They had to scramble to find seats on other flights. I had to go through customs in Heathrow, pick up my luggage and lug it to Terminal 4, which was a zoo because of a bomb threat / fire alarm (dont know which rumour was true) that morning. Then the next flight was delayed 2 hours. When I finallly got to Dakar, my luggage wasn't there!

In any case, the driver for the organization I'm working for - the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' Integrated Regional Informqtion Network (IRIN) - sent their driver to pick me up from the airport. Thank God for that; otherwise I would have been lost in the sea of people.

Dakar is what you'd imagine it to be. Some streets paved, others not. Women carrying their babies on their backs, with bamboo sticks in their mouths. Vendors on the street, animals and laundry in the front yard. Haven't experienced any heckling - not like Morocco - but I'm not downtown, so I haven't seen the worst. Right now, I'm sitting in an internet café, surrounding by young Senegalese boys playing computer games. The keyboard isn't the same - so everything takes twice as long.

The weather is great actually - nice breeze, not too hot, the rains haven't started yet. I'm staying in a guest house right now. The owners are very nice. The husband, Orlando, says when it rains, the water can reach your waist within five minutes the downpour is so strong. I woke up this morning, came downstairs to find breakfast waiting (baguette, cheese, eggs sunny side up, and Nescafé). There's a girl staying here who also works at IRIN as a reporter. She just came back from a mission, as they call it, in Cote D'Ivoire. So discussion around the breakfast table centred around how the crisis there has benefitted other African countries (including Senegal), and why certain people may not want peace in Cote D'Ivoire. I've got so much to learn and fast!

Anyways, I'm pretty excited to be here, and to disocver the city, the people, everything.

Love you all back home and am thinking of you!
Pray that I get my luggage!
heba