Things that have made me unhappy (from least to most severe):
1. Very long rides in very uncomfortable cars
2. Mosquitoes at the training center
3. Dermatological maladies (some resulting from the above)
4. General homesickness
5. The prevalence of domestic abuse in my village
This last item has caused me considerable distress on more than one occasion now, partly because it is just pure awful, disgusting, horrible and partly because it throws a wrench into my efforts to be culturally sensitive. My general philosophy when confronting situations that tend to make Westerners cringe (corporal punishment, polygamy, devaluation of girls' education to name a few) is to remind myself that these things have deep roots in a culture that also produces strong moral convictions, close-knit families, and a universal cult of hospitality. I may not like every aspect of this culture, but I can accept most of it by trying to be open-minded and remembering that there are plenty of things I do or value that a Senegalese person would disapprove of. This is the crux of the Cibyl/Nafi divide. As my Senegalese identity (and they are distinct and different already), Nafi deals with everything that is "okay here, not okay back home," most of this stuff being fairly harmless (i.e. living with big bugs, plucking chickens, eating pasta for breakfast). But, Cibyl cannot let Nafi have this one. She just cannot accept that beating one's wife is "okay here, not okay back home" (even though that's what her villagers keep telling her). She believes with every fiber of her being that it is not okay anywhere under any circumstances, it's just Wrong, capital W, period. I know that speaking in absolutes can land you in hot water; with as many moral codes, religions, social norms as exist in this world is there such a thing as right and wrong or is it all subjective? But that's a question for the brain. If you watch a man beat his wife with a bamboo cane while she holds their baby in her arms I bet your heart's reaction will trump anything your brain might have to say on the matter. Sometimes wrong is wrong.
Perhaps the hardest part for me in all of this has been the feeling of helplessness. I don't know yet what I can do and yet I feel like I have to do something. Something, something, something....This job is hard.
And still there is that second list (alxamdulilah) because life here is so sweet so often and really the severity of the bad is outweighed by the abundance of the good, evidenced by the length of list #2.
Things that have made me very happy (in no particular order):
1. Roasted peanuts, fresh off the coals
2. BIG dramatic African thunderstorms
3. Mamadou's wives
4. Unripe mango pounded with salt and pepper and spices
5. Fourth of July in Kedougou (fireworks, pulled pork, American music, pool party)
6. My pink tie-dye dress
7. Cleopatra soap
8. My puppy Tankoo!! (rhymes with Bronco)
9. Tankoo playing with Boubacar the donkey
10. Sweet peaunut rice porridge for dinner
11. Watching my garden grow
12. Being able to make jokes in Mandinka
13. Receiving packages from America
14. Chinese food in Dakar
15. Mandinka family reunions (Nicky, Will, Aziz)
