savagebeasts

Happy Thanksgiving from Popenguine

This year, instead of cooking turkey, dressing and the works, we decided to celebrate the day by going to a beach house in Popenguine, relaxing on the beach and walking the few hundred steps to one of the best restaurants in Senegal, L'echo Cotier, where we ate exquisite French cuisine for Thanksgiving.  We saw no football, have no leftovers, but had a beautiful, relaxing Thanksgiving.  Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends!

Middle School Basketball at ISD

  With 73 middle schoolers at the International School of Dakar, it seemed like half of the kids were playing after-school basketball.  The season started slowly for girls, with maybe six showing up for practice (one of those being Rachel), but eventually, the numbers grew, and Gaucher (the very tall man on the right, who played basketball in Italy) was honing dribbling and passing skills.  Rachel even learned how to drive and shoot a decent lay-up -- she runs fast.

Unfortunately, sports seasons don't really exist here in Dakar, and if you're looking to play other teams, you can usually find a soccer challenge, but young girls basketball is not particularly popular (those who play are very serious about it -- the NCAA helps run camps here).  So, instead of getting experience in competitive settings, kids got to play in an end-of-season co-ed tournament, where they mixed the teams and played short games.  They picked captains, rotated in and out regardless of skill, cheered on their teammates.

Afterwards, they ate a pot luck together.

The World Celebrates With Us! Obama!!

Election Day, we awoke anxious, nervous, excited, anticipating the historic event we'd been following tediously on the internet.  As Obama contributors, we'd been receiving emails soliciting regular donations, asking us to attend events in Virginia (where we get our mail).  I'd been part of a radio program for NPR in Connecticut.

We were ready.  And the rest of the world, at least here, seemed breathless for change.

About six weeks ago, we'd met with the owner of a bar called El Toro and convinced him to add CNN to his cable mix so that we could throw an Obama celebration at his establishment.  Usually, Americans host a neutral party to showcase our democracy, but we were feeling way too excited and proud to be neutral.  So, we'd posted a few fliers and invited friends to a totally partisan Obama Celebration.  

The party started at 9 p.m. here, which was 4 p.m. on the East Coast, so we had a while to wait.  Even thought it was late, people came.  The first wave of people included teachers, who lasted until about midnight and then signed off.  Next, came a group who'd been invited to the American Ambassador's residence.  And finally were the study abroad students who lasted the night with us.  There were Americans, French, Senegalese, Norwegians, Belgians,  Malians and others.  And we were all hoping for an Obama victory, which we were feeling but worrying about jinxing out of overconfidence.  Senegalese television arrived and filmed.  A reporter for the Voice of America was there (he was originally an Austin native), and he interviewed some friends and me.

Our friend, Dom, was visiting (pictured with Rachel).  He conveyed the sense of excitement in America, a sense we get only through reading the New York Times on line and watching Jon Stewart.  

And so we watched the East Coast come in, and we cheered.  The mid-West trickled in.  When Pennsylvania and Ohio were announced, those of us who followed politics were confident, but not yet willing to declare it over.

About midnight, Rachel climbed into our Land Rover to sleep.  About 4 a.m., Michael joined her.  When the West Coast was about to be announced, I woke them both and dragged them back to the bar.  And then CNN declared the victory:  Barak Obama was the President-Elect!!  We cheered.  We hugged our friends, strangers.  We cried.  We were exhausted, drained, but the adrenaline filled our bodies, and the elation floated us in the air. One friend wept and later told us that he'd realized that he hadn't come to terms with his fear for his mix-raced baby and his future in the U.S., but that this election signaled opportunity for him.

We watched McCain concede with such grace, and we were proud of our democracy.  We waited for Obama to speak.  Someone started singing the National Anthem, and we joined in -- punchy at 5 in the morning, but still oh-so proud of our country.  And then came Barak Hussein Obama, and the audience cried, glowed, hugged, cheered, and felt so proud of our country again.  His words referenced history, his phrases inspired the best in us, and his message reassured the world that America -- in its love for freedom and promise of hope -- was back.

I wish I could convey how deeply the world sighed its relief, at least from here, and how symbolic this election was to the rest of the world.  The country that feared and invaded and tortured was no longer. We'd returned to our idealistic self. 

The next day, Michael got phone calls from Senegalese doctors saying that this election showed why America was "grand" and a "beacon of hope."  I received emails from Dutch and French friends, phone calls from Senegalese, comments that America would again take its place as a leader in the world.  A German friend commented that the world just couldn't fathom the last eight years of American history.

Can Obama really fix the huge mess left by George Bush?  Of course not.  But hw can inspire in us the greatness that lurks and has been dormant.  Yes we can!

Senegal Says, "Yes, We Can!"

At Sandaga Market in Dakar, Senegal, traffic stopped today as four huge trucks rolled slowly through the major intersection to loud cheering, "Obama!  Obama!  Obama!"  In the first truck was a huge picture of Obama.  One person held a giant American flag, and another a huge Senegalese flag.  Everyone in the every truck wore an Obama t-shirt.  The participants all looked to be Senegalese.

Michael was downtown and witnessed the small parade.  When people in the crowd saw Michael and our friends Will and Mike, they recognized the Americans and cheered them, too.  Fists pumped in the air.  People clapped.  And the name Obama rang through the market.

Michael called it, "a remarkable manifestation of hope."  Hope not just for America but for the world.

Yes, we can!