Alhamdoulilah

Sunday I go chez Sophie; Magueye's wife hands up her son Cheikh to bring along for the ride to Amadou's. SO funny how different kids are treated here than the States. Nahadi hands us her 5 yr old son to take on two car rapides through the downtown city- no American mum would ever do that ! A word about transportation in Dakar - first, there's the bus, which is pretty regular but always packed . A few times I've held on for dear life with half by body in the rinkydink bus, with one arm and one leg hanging out the door. Next, there's the car rapide -oh, these are an adventure. First, the cars remind me of the ones I saw in India - crappy and beat up twister pieces of metal that have four wheels and carry 15 people (and spew out a black diesel fume) . A teenage guy hangs off the back ledge of the car rapide and hisses at people to give them a ride. Mikaela has ridden on the back of one, I rode on the back for about 2 minutes before I got kicked out. The inside is adorned in pictures of Cheikh Amadou Bamba (like an African Gandhi) and various spiritual guides that the Senegalese adore . On the front of every car rapide is written ALHAMDOULILAH (also my favorite word to say) , which in Arabic means 'Peace to God'. Im getting quite good at the salutations here :
-Salaamalekum!
-Malekumsalaam, nga def ?
-Ca va bien, ca va ?
-Oui ca va ! Alhamdoulilahi!
There's an expression in French that says "You're going like a Senegalese" because chez les Senegalais, things are ALWAYS going well. Non ca va pas is never a response to How's it going?
Next are the taxis, which take forever because haggling the price in French is about half the journey.
And last but not least are the clandos, short for clandestine, short in English for SHADY. These are the non-marked cars that are cheaper than taxis, and way more sketchier. How do you know it's a clando? Look for the realllly crappy cars, wave em down, ask em where they're goin and hop on it.

Sophie and I discuss how happy and accepting people are, especially thanks to the Islamic influence. I love how proud everyone is here of their country, something that you would rarely find in France . Mamy says she only likes Senegalese food and that Sénégal is Paradise on Earth. They are very proud of their country and of Africa in general. Another thing I've noticed here is that Islam/ Muslims dont talk about HELL/L'ENFER the way Christians do. It's not a concept in Islam the way it is in Christianity, ESPECIALLY Catholocism. For exemple, El Hadji says if you hurt someone, God will punish you, not that you will go to hell. People do right here and pray a lot, not so that they won't go to hell, but to prove their love to God.

We go chez Amadou for a bit, where he shows us pictures of his family, half of which is in Europe playing the djembes. His big bro who taught him how to play the djembe is so cool-looking, with long dreads and a sweet accent.

Afterwards, I go to El Hadji's house, where I salute everyone with the casual greetings. The salutation with all these guys is tapping their hand on your forehead four times, as a sign of respect. And then we shout "Bégué!" which means happiness. El Haji makes mint tea, a process that takes over an hour . Magueye tells me that to make tea and drink tea, you cant be in a rush. This is true. El Hadj makes the best mint tea because he adds a bit of cardamom seeds to it and makes a lot of mousse on top.

On my way home, my Congolese friend Michel is there waiting for me . I have NO idea how he found my house, because I dont even know where it is in the maze of this city, but he's there and waiting ! He's an acquaintance I've made through my friend Bruno in Paris, who lived with Michel for several months. Michel comes from Brazzaville Congo and has been playing the big tam-tams his whole life. He has awesome dreads that reach down to his waist, and he is a true Rastafarian . The next night we make dinner at his place, (a true Rasta is vegetarian) and he tells me all about Congo Brazzaville, about the Rastafarian religion and his respect for Bob Marley.
Bob Marley is HUGE here in Africa - I've learned so much about him. We even celebrated his birthday the 11 may. Africans are obsessed with him, his music and his message. Even though he was Jamaican, he identified a lot with Africans and sang "Africa Unite!" . Michel is very wise and has a lot to give, but I think he might have lost a marble or two. I cant decide. He is deeply distrustful of the Senegalese, especially after living in Dakar for over 3 years. I find they are a people who are generous and friendly, whereas he sees them as jealous and cheating.
He tells me all about his travels around West Africa, playing Congo drums and do traditional dance . I would love to go see his corner of Africa one day. We talk about raising money to build a community center for street kids that teaches traditional drums and dance.