Most of you are probably thinking, ‘ok so Janet has fasted,
learned some language, eaten some gross food, but worked?!”. Well for the most
part, you are correct. Work has been slim. BUT I am happy to say that I have
very successfully implemented an internship program in Tambacounda, the large
city 70 km from my site.
Unlike doing this sort of thing in the US where people
beg for interns and all communication occurs online, this was a long, difficult
process that took over 10 trips to some of these offices, JUST to get them to
accept an intern. It was tough, annoying work but good practice for my French
and an interesting experience as the people who work in offices are completely
different from the people I typically interact with in my village. Because of
this program, I have been able to meet a man who spent the past 15 years living
in Atlanta and Brooklyn, a woman from the Central
Republic of Congo who is getting her PhD from Clarke University, another
gentleman who travels to France three times a year on business and owns 2 homes, the
list of interesting people goes on and on. It has been so refreshing to realize
that intellectual intelligence does exist in Senegal , but it is something I have not been exposed when living in village.
While I was somewhat expecting to meet these types of
impressive individuals at offices, I was unprepared for how intelligent the
students would be, and let me say it is a pleasant surprise. These students were asking us what we thought about Syria, American global dominance, Senegalese gender relations and our lives in America. Since most of my interaction with Senegalese involves me reiterating that no, I am not married yet and no, I do not eat 'Cheeb' in America, I was both astonished and refreshed.
We began the program with an orientation for the students,
allowing us to get to know each other, lay out the groundwork of the program
and explain what exactly we hoped they would get out of it. It started out
rocky enough. First off, we made the mistake of only informing the winners, and
neglected to tell the other applicants that they need not show up. This meant
that on the day of orientation over 30 students arrived, ready to start work.
We had to painfully tell the remaining students to go home, one of which cried
and said that they changed their whole summer for this. Opps.
One of our brightest student turned out to not be in High School at
all, in fact his older brother (whose name is the same, El Hadji Abdoulaye) is
the one that applied but when we called informing his father that he won, the
father mistook which El Hadji we were referring too. Sooo the younger boy
showed up, spoke amazing English and we decided to let him stay. And we were not disappointed.
Otherwise, the program went very well. We had a mix of
offices, some of which have been wonderful and have brought the students along
on causeries, baby weighings, water pump instillation, etc... They have taught the
kids how to use a photocopier, a computer and how to file documents. But then
there are other offices that have received very little guidance. From these
kids I was expecting to hear resentful statements and lots of critics. But
overall, their main complaint is that all the bosses are always on vacation.
It is amazing how much we Americans complain about our bosses and disorganization of offices. First off, there is no such thing as a full work week here. Everyone leaves early, does not work past noon on Fridays, and take 2 hour lunch breaks. The most frustrating is that the people in charge are never in the office. Like, maybe one day a week. Pathetic. Most offices are dominated by men that are extremely sexist. The first man I met at the Ministry of Justice said to me, "Madame or Mademoiselle? Can you take me as your Senegalese husband?" And then did not cease to stare at my chest while I was explaining the program. Needless to say we did not place an intern there.
I will not even go into detail at how difficult it is trying to work when the electricity goes off all the time, internet is shitty, and people spend half the time having to photo copy, fax, and mail every document to Dakar. Talk about tedious.
Aside from getting better insight into the work world of Senegal, the students were so wonderful to get to know. At a closing ceremony, all of the students gave a speech discussing what they learned, how to improve their offices and Senegal in the future. After they all expressed their deep gratitude for the opportunity and have kept in touch with me since.
For all of them, this was the first time they worked in an office, interacted as a professional and gave a presentation. For several it was the first time they used a computer, photocopier and printer. It was great to give them this opportunity and I look forward to hearing what these wonderful students do in the future! 