Third Goal

Saturday January 5th, 2007
9:13 AM

I’m really trying to figure out my place in the village. All day as I move around the village, I watch and listen to people. Naturally I’m trying to learn the language but also I’m trying to figure out who is who, where peoples place is in the social order and where I fit in relation to the rest of the village- especially the men of the village.

I’m putting back on my politican hat that I wore ragged in Cloyne Court Co-op or as I called it “my village in America” or “saare am amerik.” Cloyne Court has about 150 persons. There is about 200 persons in my village- roughly half of which are children. Children are easy to deal with. Adults are the ones that are impatient, demanding and prone to say mean things about you infront of you and behind your back.

So naturally I’ve decided that acting like a politician is the best way to deal with village politics. More appropriately in this context, I’m acting as a diplomat and development agent.

As idealistic as some people may be about development work, this type of work is at its heart community development. Working within a community is inherently political- who you talk with, who you associate with, who socialize with largely and who you are supported by are important considerations. You need to have enough credibility and support in order get the job done but if you become too entrenched in the politics of it all- you won’t be every effective. It is a fine line to walk- especially when other variables come into play.

For example, my friend Oumar in the village. He is probably the most educated man in the village. He is literate in french, arabic, wolof and somewhat in writeen pulaar. I might say he seems to be the only somewhat educated man in the village. He would be the ideal candidate as a tutor for myself. Only one problem, Oumar has a drinking problem.

In a muslim conmmunity, drinking heavily is viewed as a serious character flaw. In the US, it is viewed harshly with some understanding, but here it is viewed much more harshly with little understanding. Oumar has been repeatedly found on the side of the road passed out. All of the surrounding villages know about his habits- it makes it hard for me to work with him without losing the credibility I need to successfully carry out my development projects.

Plus I also fear that the revenue he would earn from tutoring me- would contribute more to his troubles. I’m afraid he would drink himself to death.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 9:01 am and is filed under Africa/Western Africa/Senegal . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.