"African Beach Party"

Because the beach is so close, much of the population of St. Louis relocates to Hydrobase during the day on the weekends. While I enjoy a day at the beach as much as the next person, it begins to lose some of its initial thrill after a while. It doesn’t help that the beaches are filled with litter and people with nothing better to do that harass you. Given this context, I was a little hesitant when Lamine, my friend who I met through work, invited me to an “African beach party.” I should never have doubted him; I think it was the most fun I’ve had here. Some friends and I met Lamine and his friends at the beach in the evening, so the temperature was perfect, especially with the breeze off the ocean. He showed us “how the Senegalese sit,” meaning we dug a huge hole in the sand to put our stuff and our feet in. He then let us mess around with his djiembes (drums) before he and his friends showed us how it’s really done. We watched the sun set to the diembe’s rhythm and the crash of waves.

Sitting around our hole

Lamine and his friends serenading us

The best part of the evening was the ride home. The public transportation system consists primarily of cars rapides: elaborately decorated and highly unsafe buses that are the cause of the majority of vehicular mortalities in Senegal. This was our mode of transport back home. Though the quarters were not as close riding the buses at Duke during peak hours, we were squeezed pretty tight. Nonetheless, Lamine and his friends continued to play. We all sang along to the song he had taught us, and as we passed little kids would start dancing. Though I am continually reminded that I don't belong here, I felt like I was participating in the community and I loved it.

In the car rapide

The beach at sunset. Note the litter, it's such a shame. Before I came I was told the people here treat "the world as their trashcan." It's the sad truth: I've had to yell at my students to throw their waste in trashcans not out the window.