Our last day in Yene has arrived! Whilst we are excited to get to our project, we’ve had such a good time here that it will be really sad to say goodbye!
I was planning on updating my blog about once every week, but as some of you may have worked out, I’ve already abandoned that plan! This will now be updated ‘when exciting things happen’ as you may not be so interested in ‘this week I washed all my clothes, hooray!’ This is going to be a long one, I apologise.
After two weeks of teaching 2nd and 3rd form at the summer school in Yene, which has helped to ease us into teaching and that we really enjoyed, we got a very welcome week off! We took the time to really explore Yene, go for walks on the beach (not as pleasant, we found out, if you walk in completely the wrong direction, get lost, have to climb over rocks to finally realise that you have left Yene altogether and ended up in the outskirts of the next town) and even had a girly meal at the restaurant with Rosie and Susie, the other volunteers. A weekend trip to Rufisque with our friend Khade resulted in the four of us buying the most funky material, and ordering a boubou each (traditional ‘Wolof’ dresses!) I must admit, it has been my coolest purchase of all of the purchases I have made in my life so far. The only down side was having to wait two full weeks until Tabaski before we could wear them!
Towards the end of our second week we learnt how to use our mosquito net. It really was a revelation. For our first two weeks, we had, with what we thought was a degree of skill, pinned down our net, such as with the outer lining of a tent, with a number of filled and half filled bottles of varying size, a rucksack and a hold-all. As our friends came in to say goodnight to us one evening, they looked at our creation, laughed and showed us, which now seems obvious, that you simply tuck the net under the mattress. We felt stupid, but at least we know now!
A few nights ago we had a visitor in our room, a small, orange coloured lizard! Once we found that he had moved from being under our mattress he became really cool. We named him Colin and took selfies with him. Then some of the girls who live in the house came in for a chat. A few minutes in we pointed out Colin to them on the wall, a few ran out screaming… Not the effect he had on us! Apparently Colin was dangerous. We all spent the next 20 minutes attempting to get him out of our room (our aim)/killing him with a broom handle (the others’ aim.) He survived.
Throughout our stay in Yene we have been having Wolof lessons with a semi-pro rapper from the area. Despite trying to practice Wolof around the village, when lost and when buying doughnuts (our favourite treat, they are tiny so we think it’s okay to have 3 at a time) or fataya, (kind of like Cornish Pasties) it’s fair to say that Wolof is not coming naturally to me just yet. I’m trying, but not with much success. Thankfully my French (the back-up language here) is improving, so we can still be understood by most people! 1 phrase has stuck so far though.’Amna Jekka’ (almost definitely not spelt like that but that’s how it sounds) which means ‘I have a husband’ has been very useful, proposal count is up to double digits!
Our amazing stay in Yene finished with Tabaski. The build up to and importance of this religious festival had much the same feeling as Christmas in the UK. For days before we saw girls having their hair done, weaves put in and beads everywhere! We knew it was going to be a huge and glamorous event! As we woke up on Sunday and, on hearing funny noises, looked out of the window, the day momentarily lost its glamour! From our bedroom we were in perfect view of the killing, hanging and skinning of two rams. This festival is in celebration of the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son. Each household sacrifices a number of rams, depending on the number of males in the house. Where me and Charlotte were staying there were seven! We did, however, get to wear our new boubous on this day, and everyone dressed up! We had the opportunity to help prepare some of the seasonings for the meat, which was cooked and eaten just like we were having a big barbecue, with chips on the side! We had been warned continuously about getting ill from this fresh meat, so, delicious as it was, ate in moderation – no complaints to report as a result!
The next day the festivities continued! In the evening we got dressed up again and headed to the square with two of our friends. Here, the majority of the town stood around the edge and women would run in one or two at a time to face a group of drummers, dance along for a few minutes and run back out! The dancing was amazing and so fast, even sports mode on my camera couldn’t keep up! When our friends told us we should run in and have a go we assumed they were joking, but as they pushed us through the crowd and persuaded us to take off our shoes, we realised they weren’t! Me, Charlotte and our two friends Khade and Fifi ran in! It was so fun, we’re so glad we did it! As we danced we heard shouts of ‘TOUBABS, LES TOUBABS DANSENT! YAAAAAAY!’ Such a good way to celebrate our last night in Yene!
We are looking forward to our time in Joal now, but we honestly will be sad to leave this little town!
If you’ve read this far well done, this was a long one! I’ll try to keep you all updated on the next few weeks!
B x. (Aka Aita – my new Senegalese name, Beth is apparently waaaaay too tricky to say!)
Beth's year in Senegal 