Senegal is about 95% Muslim. Some people will tell you Jews and Muslims don’t play well together in the sandbox, but I take a longer view of history. I know we both come from the same ancestors, even though you wouldn’t think it to look at me next to my neighbors. Here at least, our similarities abound and our cultures are simpatico. Our core values are identical: 1. high fashion, 2. giving the “thank-you” wave when someone lets you in traffic, and 3. (tie) familial love and not paying retail. Therefore, it is the marginal differences that seem the most noteworthy.
For example, Senegalese are not time-conscious like Americans and the only thing devout Muslims here do punctually is pray five times a day. Many rely on the muezzin to tell them when it is time to pull out their portable rugs and prostrate themselves facing Mecca. The muezzin ascends the minaret tower of the mosque and chants melodious prayers over the loudspeaker. In the afternoon, the calls are a rich way to experience the heart of the local culture. However, when the first prayer pierces my skull at five in the morning, I find it somewhat less a-muezzin.
As part of their Koranic education, young boys are sent into the street to beg for money and food to defray the cost of their education. These talibes swarm cars stopped at red lights hoping to raise about a dollar per day. The best schools require kids to do this a couple of hours each day, but the worst schools are run like a business, bringing in kids from foreign countries and doling out harsh abuse for missed quotas. Begging is supposed to teach them humility. However, in a country with 50% unemployment and even more living in poverty, I posit that humility is not what they are lacking. One could argue that marketable job skills might be just as valuable to teach.
Perhaps the most significant difference in our cultures is how we choose our pop icons. In Western culture, our most important non-baby person is Paris Hilton. We love her because she is cute, rich, and slutty, all the things we value in our celebrities. In Senegal, their values are all backward. The most famous people here are the aged and wise religious teachers called marabouts. Their images adorn buildings, children have marabout trading cards, and their titles often appear scrawled across buses and taxis. I saw one marabout at the gas station who was mobbed by his excited, screaming public. I half expected to see panties being hurled at him in Elvis-like adoration. Imagine what a mixed-up state our own country would be in if we praised those who offered intellectual and spiritual guidance instead of what really matters.
The thing that gives me the greatest hope for world peace and inter-faith harmony is that often those same buses that pay homage to marabouts and talibes also have stickers in the back window of our own Madonna, circa 1984 from the "Like a Virgin" era .
Until next time, peace to all.
Omi, Baby Adventure Traveler
For example, Senegalese are not time-conscious like Americans and the only thing devout Muslims here do punctually is pray five times a day. Many rely on the muezzin to tell them when it is time to pull out their portable rugs and prostrate themselves facing Mecca. The muezzin ascends the minaret tower of the mosque and chants melodious prayers over the loudspeaker. In the afternoon, the calls are a rich way to experience the heart of the local culture. However, when the first prayer pierces my skull at five in the morning, I find it somewhat less a-muezzin.
As part of their Koranic education, young boys are sent into the street to beg for money and food to defray the cost of their education. These talibes swarm cars stopped at red lights hoping to raise about a dollar per day. The best schools require kids to do this a couple of hours each day, but the worst schools are run like a business, bringing in kids from foreign countries and doling out harsh abuse for missed quotas. Begging is supposed to teach them humility. However, in a country with 50% unemployment and even more living in poverty, I posit that humility is not what they are lacking. One could argue that marketable job skills might be just as valuable to teach.
Perhaps the most significant difference in our cultures is how we choose our pop icons. In Western culture, our most important non-baby person is Paris Hilton. We love her because she is cute, rich, and slutty, all the things we value in our celebrities. In Senegal, their values are all backward. The most famous people here are the aged and wise religious teachers called marabouts. Their images adorn buildings, children have marabout trading cards, and their titles often appear scrawled across buses and taxis. I saw one marabout at the gas station who was mobbed by his excited, screaming public. I half expected to see panties being hurled at him in Elvis-like adoration. Imagine what a mixed-up state our own country would be in if we praised those who offered intellectual and spiritual guidance instead of what really matters.The thing that gives me the greatest hope for world peace and inter-faith harmony is that often those same buses that pay homage to marabouts and talibes also have stickers in the back window of our own Madonna, circa 1984 from the "Like a Virgin" era .
Until next time, peace to all.
Omi, Baby Adventure Traveler
Keeping an eye out for good stories to report.
