These folks can dance!

Last night, I went to my first African drum circle! The style of music is Sabahr, with tam-tam drums and djambes, larger drums. I was in bed most of the day with a weak stomach, thinking I wasn't going to be able to do anything fun all day. When Mantou, my 18 year old sister came in my room with puppy dog eyes around 11, claiming she wouldn't go out without me, I couldn't refuse. I patted my gut, praying that it would be good to me and we walked to the small, sandy courtyard where the dancing would be. We were early, and there was a roped off area with seats and a small stage at the far end, filled with drum players. We each paid the 100Fcfa, or about .20 US to earn ourselves seats. Slowly, everyone from the neighborhood started piling in; poorer women and all of their children leaning over the rope to get a decent view, not wanting to pay the charge. These women sneaked in under the rope, pushing their children ahead of them and sitting on the ground. There eventually were so many women and girls encircling the courtyard that people were pratically sitting on my lap, and I was sharing my seat with a small girl. The drums started to play in what seemed like haphazard chaos and arms began flailing. All the women wore beautiful dresses or bright colored tank tops and tight pants, looking hot for the special soiree. One woman sprang up from her seat, ran right up to the drum circle, and began flailing her arms as though shooing away masses of mosquitos, and kicking her legs out in front of her and to the side, almost in a Riverdance fashion with the addition of hot coals under her feet. It was amazing. She danced for perhaps 20 seconds, then ran back to her spot, giggling. One by one, or two at a time, women burst from their seats like jumping beans to explode in short bursts before the drummers. Sometimes the drummers would urge them on by taking their drum directly before the dancer and playing a rhythm just for her. They would all sprint back to their seats, almost feeling shy after their short, intense burst of energy and femininity. It was so cool! I compared the style of dance I'm used to, a bit calm, paced to spread over the course of a three minute song or something. Theirs seems more passionate, more from the heart in a way. When a woman is inspired, she shakes what she's got in front of the whole community! Old women, obsese women, small children, and even guys, totally going nuts in the sand. Usually, the 30 year old women were the most elegant, having years of experience dancing, but also the agility to do sweet moves and such. Very very impressive.

My stomach beckonned me to return home, so off we went. I then went with Max to the airport, just a five minute drive from Yoff, to pick up our newest intern addition from the States, Anne. Her flight was late getting in, around 3:30, and being the tired weakling I am I left Max there and headed home for bed. Apparently Anne arrived safe and sound, a little disoriented, at around 4am. I fell asleep reading. My current read is very good, it's called So Long a Letter, or Une Si Long Lettre, by a Senegalese woman named Mariama Ba. It's well known here for hitting close to home for the Senegalese and their polygamous society, since the narrator in the book is a married woman whose husband takes a younger woman as his second wife. She's not ok with the situation, but there is little she can do within the constrained social structure of Yoff/Dakar, where the Koran is followed closely, allowing a man to have up to 4 wives. I haven't encountered many examples of polygamy so far, and my host parents are monogamous. But apparently it's pretty common here and men tend to say that women don't mind their husbands remarrying, and that wives offen befriend one another and are like sisters after a while. But, there doesn't seem to be a lot of female discussion on the topic, and I haven't had the opportunity to really ask in a tactful way yet. I'm interested in what they would say if they weren't supposed to pretend that they weren't offended/affected by it!

Otherwise, life is pretty calm here and I'm moving slowly to avoid heat exhaustion. I miss the lush greens of upstate NY, as everything is dry and brown here! That said, it's a wonderful community here in Yoff and I'm very lucky to take part in it all. My siblings are great and as long as the food sits well, it is totally a treat. Missin' y'all in the U-S of A! Love, Mel