Dakar and the end of the Senegal adventure

I already had a small impression of Dakar before going to Casamance. Nevertheless, I thought I needed to see more, since I’ve just had seen some dusty roads. We arrived at the port and decided to go to the Gorée. It was a beautiful island very close to Dakar, that where slaves were concentrated and commercialized some centuries before. So it was full of old buildings and history.

 They also had a lot of beautiful handicrafts. It was interesting to be on this island, and learn about the slavery situation back then. Sometimes is hard to believe that that was true, men being killed for wanting freedom, separated families, young children put away from their mothers.  In one of the houses, they still have the cells where the slaves were kept while waiting for the next boat to come. There is a door, called the “door of no return”, since after crossing that door, the slaves got into the boats and they would never returned home.

After the island we went back to Dakar, to the most western point of Africa.  It is striking that this part of the continent is owed by a fancy hotel. We sneaked in and took some pictures before they kicked us out. Then we went for lunch at the seashore before going back to the seminar.  Dakar is a big city, with a lot of cars and thereby, a lot of traffic jams. People drive in a very stressed manner and is interesting that you can even see small cars pulled by donkeys going on the way.  

Senegal is a nice country. I wasn’t that much in the city, so I can’t say if I like it. But, regarding the countryside, it was beautiful, I loved it. People is warm, the landscapes are beautiful. So, I take a great impression from my first visit to Africa.

When I was younger, I thought that I will go to an African country and save the world. Now that I’m going back home, I realize that this time I got much more than what I gave.  We built a solar PV system that provides electricity to an educational building and we hope to increase the impact of the association with this.  Nevertheless, the life experience and what I learned was amazing.

At the beginning it sounds difficult to live without electricity, mobile phone or internet, but when you doing it, help me to realize that all this things are not really a need.  Of course, if you have to run a business and study this are useful resources, but sometimes they prevent us to enjoy other things that can be more valuable, like watching the stars and having a nice conversation with friends while having dinner.  I realized that it was a long time since I didn’t pay attention to the sky and the stars, and I have forgotten how amazing and entertaining it can be.  When I got to the ferry, I also realized I hadn’t had a mirror for some time, and before I was used to see myself in a mirror every day. Sometimes we worry about so many things that can be meaningless, these people can have less than us, but they are way friendlier and seem happier, always smiling.

I was impressed of the religious tolerance that exists in Casamance, even most of the population is Muslim, Christians and Muslims realize together different activities, for example the dance festival. There is also a lot of trust between them; it was striking to see free goats everywhere and I was always wondering how they know of whom are the goats. 

I also learn to not prejudge people. When I got to Senegal it was shocking that all the stores and all the people stop working at noon and continue after 4 pm.  After some time, I realize that it is impossible to work at that time, because of the heat.  I wanted to take naps and stay in the shadow during those hours. Besides, at the beginning I didn’t like all my teammates, but after some days I realize that they are very nice guys, committed to the work and we develop a very nice friendship. Time went so fast, and I have the impression that our impact was not too big. Nevertheless, I know that at this time I came to observe and learn how they live and what they do. For a next time, I hope I can use all the knowledge I’ve gain to help these people or other people somewhere else.