Elections and such

In light of the fact that it is Sunday and I vaguely remember deciding to try to write blog entries on Sundays for the rest of my service, I figured I’d let you all know how the Senegalese presidential election is going. Not in political sense- I’m not legally even allowed to have an opinion on that given my status as a Peace Corps Volunteer, but you can read all you want about that on the associated press. Google it.

Let me paint the scene- I’m sitting in Arame’s room at site, where some of the men have turned on a generator so they can watch TV during the election. I figured that if they were to bother buying the gas to turn on the generator, they’d at least watch the progress of the election on the news. Instead, they’re watching bad-quality “theater,” which is basically a series loosely written skits performed in Wolof. Most of them consist of women talking to each other and wearing skimpy Western clothes. But if you were wondering what a group of men who just voted decide to do the day of a controversial national election- that’s it. Watch women yelling at men on bad Wolof soap operas.

If any of you have been concerned for my safety while you’re all hearing about the riots in Dakar, don’t be. We get more text messages asking for status updates from our security director than I can count, and as work zone coordinator, I also have to be in touch with the rest of the volunteers in my subregion and know where they’re at too. My phone battery seems to be dying faster than usual these days. Thank goodness for solar chargers. There have been a few protests in Kaolack and other major cities over the last week or so, and we are all restricted from traveling there and to all major regional capitols. Hopefully that will be lifted soon, as most of us are running low on cash and the only ATMs we can go to are in Kaolack. I realize I talk about living without electricity and running water all the time on this blog, but ironically enough we are still dependent on modern conveniences such as ATMs to retrieve our money for every-day expenditures.

Today, while everyone is nervous about the election outcome, I’m just bored. I can’t do any significant work all day because everyone is going to vote and, apparently, watching skimpily-dressed women yell at their boyfriends on TV. I can go to the garden, water my plants, read my book, play a little guitar, but eventually I got bored enough that I’m bringing out the computer and writing this blog entry with a bunch of people surrounding me. Most of them are used to the computer at this point anyway- I’ve had enough conversations with people that are along the lines of “calling America is really expensive, that’s why I have a computer” that people get it. It’s also amazing how computer are starting to make their way into villages via community politicians, NGOs and teachers that it doesn’t really change anyone’s perspective of me. This is one of those things you learn after being here for over a year. The women in skimpy shirts are more interesting than the electronics that portray them.

On that note, I will leave you. A quick reminder, if you are so inclined, you can donate to any of the lovely projects that I am working on and describe in my previous blog entry. The Senegalese people and I sincerely appreciate any help you can give.

~E