So I'm in Morocco, having a fabulous time. I have too much to write to do it justice in the few minutes I have on the internet. So look forward to an overly long blog when I return and have time to write. Allison, Rodline, and I spent one night in Casablanca, and this is our second night in Fez. We are leaving at sometime tomorrow to go to Tangier, and we will then spend 3 nights there and return to Casablanca for one more night. Then the next evening we will leave to go back to Senegal.

I love Morocco, and I think I would really love to come back here. I really do. It's definitely very different than Senegal. I still love Senegal and being there, but I wouldn't mind coming back to Morocco, and studying Arabic and getting more into the culture.

So I'll explain further later, but I got to go.

ALSO, what I loved about at least Casablanca was the rampant availability of Pepsi products ALL OVER, which I have never encountered before, except on the east coast of the US. And at every taco bell / KFC. yeah.

I haven't been doing much the past few days, just normal school things. Aziz is still really happy that we took him out for dinner. Wednesday night, Aziz, Rodline, and I went to this bar/restaurant called "New Africa" just to chill. It turned out to be a really relaxing place. Some of the chairs were like butterfly chairs you might find in the US. It felt SO comfortable. We just listened to music. There was also a pool table there if we had felt so inclined to play.

On a sad note though, Aziz found out today that he won't be able to attend his university, due to lack of funds. His uncle was apparently supposed to pay for it but fell through. And I don't think there really exists in Senegal things like government loans or scholarships, etc. So I think he is just going to work this year and not go to school. He will try to save up money for next year. I just feel bad, because he was all ready to go and then today his uncle was just like, Actually...no.

I can't believe it's already fall break, though. I am leaving for Morocco early Sunday morning!!!! I'm really excited. I probably wont have time to write anything while I'm there, but I'll come back with tons of stories I'm sure.

Me, Aziz and my host mom at Aziz's bday dinner!

(sorry pics aren't plentiful, but i'm still working on that)

I haven’t decided on the full extent to my feelings for “Magique”. On one had, he is kind of cute, and knows me now. Every time he sees me he runs over because he knows I will pet him. On the other hand, as soon as I leave he starts going “Baaaaaaaa” and wont stop, which gets kind of annoying. Especially when he does that in the middle of the night and I wake up. Also he is dirty. Plus being housebroken I think is just not an actual possibility with sheep. I do think it’s funny/endearing, however, that although Magique knows he’s not allowed in the house, he still tries to come in all the time. We leave the door to the courtyard open a lot because there is a nice breeze. So Magique will come up to the door, with varying degrees of stealthiness, sometimes look around and then come in. When he sees one of us, and we yell at him, he will either dash back out, or freeze, not knowing whether to plunge ahead or run back outside. One day Rodline was sitting by the door and Magique came inside. She pointed her hand and said, “Magique, out!” In his attempt to quickly leave, however, he skidded on the linoleum floors with his hoofs, and fell over and then down the step that goes outside. For the rest of that day, he was very afraid of Rodline. When she tried to go out and say hi, he just backed away from her looking really scared. But I think he’s forgotten about that by now.

On another note, I have come to the conclusion that computers hate me. My own computer broke the very first week I was here (some wire fried on the motherboard). So my mother sent me another one. But just the other day that computer stopped working as well!!! Luckily, Aziz is actually pretty knowledgeable when it comes to computers, and he determined that I needed to reinstall Windows XP. So I lost my files (not that I really had many, seeing as I had already had one computer go on me). Plus I now have pretty much a computer with XP and other softwares entirely in French and entirely pirated. Not that I really had any choice. So that’s definitely interesting. And an adventure. I have to remember where things were on my computer physically (i.e. the “Control Panel” is in the right column of the start menu), or it’s kind of hard to find them. Everything is in French! I read French, of course, but I never really had a lesson on French computer lingo (although my work this past spring in going to Cameroon to install computers is definitely coming in handy, as all the computers were in French then as well). Plus there are somethings that are different, for example in Word, to make things bold, one usually uses Ctrl + B. But in the French version, I use Ctrl + G (for Gras). However, although Underline is “Souligne” in French, I still use Ctrl + U. Weird. Although, and whoever knows me will laugh at my OCDness for this, I think my biggest problem was when I went to change the margins (and this is for a document that will never be printed) and I discovered that the ruler was in centimeters! I was so bothered that I couldn’t make the margins one inch all around. Although I contented myself by making them all 2.54 centimeters instead. Yeah.

So moving onto things that are actually interesting, Friday night I went to a party that was put on by Rodline’s sister’s (who had also studied abroad in Senegal) former host family. It was unfortunate that when Aziz, Rodline, and I got there, the police had actually come and broken up the party due to noise complaints. Although that is the first time I have ever heard of that happening before in Senegal. Ever. I didn’t even know noise complaints existed here. But anyway, they just moved the party to another house. So we went with them. I didn’t really have a good time, because it was really awkward not knowing anyone except Aziz and Rodline, of course. But there were chairs all around. And me being the only white person there, people just kept staring at me. They were playing music, and at one point a guy asked me to dance. I said okay, because there were other people dancing but then a little bit later I looked around and no one else was dancing anymore. This happened multiple times. Plus at one point there was an mbalax song, and the guy tried to teach me how to dance to it. And it was a terrible experience. I can dance okay(ish). But to songs when a guy leads and I follow, like in salsa or waltz. (although Danielle will probably remember me calling here when I was learning waltz, and being like, “Danielle I can’t hear the beats, there’s nothing like a drum!” and here trying to explain to me that I have to listen for the ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three, and me not understanding. But I learned eventually.) Anyway, the point is that the guy was trying to show me the dance, and I couldn’t do it, and I felt like everyone was staring at me, the white girl who can’t dance, and so eventually, I just sat down (and Aziz later told me that my face was SO RED) and I chewed my nails for a bit, which I never do, until I made Aziz and Rodline leave with me. Aziz says he thinks it was a party for people a little bit older, like 30s or so, and that’s why I felt more out of place. But I think it was because the lights were on, and people were sitting in chairs in a circle around the edge of the room, so I couldn’t even pretend like no one was looking at me like I can at nightclubs.

Saturday we had a field trip (that was fun, waking up at 7 in the morning after getting home at 4). We went to Keur Mousa, which is the only monastery in all of Senegal. It was very interesting. They grow a lot of different fruits there, and makes jams. Plus they also make a traditional instrument, who’s name escapes me at the moment. It kind of looks like a guitar/banjo but is played kind of like a harp. Ish. We also went to mass there, which was interesting. It was all in French, and all of the men sang on key. Beautiful.

We also went to Pink Lake, which wasn’t actually pink. Although, apparently sometimes it is. It is important because it produces a lot of salt deposits, which are scooped out of the lake and sold to make salt. So there are just piles and piles of unrefined salt all around.

On our way back from these locations, we came to a spot in the road which looked like a pipe had bust, although I don’t know what kind of pipe because I wasn’t aware that there was plumbing in that area. But who knows. Anyway, our minibus driver stopped and looked at it, and said no this is a terrible idea. There was a car like a 15-passenger bus which was behind us, however, that plunged right in, and right through the center of the huge puddle. Of course, it gets stuck halfway across, and the water is up to it’s floorboards. Tons of white smoke started pouring out of the exhaust pipe, even though they weren’t revving the engine anymore, and I just said, “well, there goes that engine. That car is finished.” On one hand, I don’t feel bad at all because they were the idiots that plunged in so recklessly. But on the other hand, I know that ruining your car like that would be such a bigger deal to someone hear than it would be to say me. Of course, then again I love love love my car, and would be heartbroken if anything happened to it. But I just don’t think it would be as much of a financial burden to replace it. Whereas here, for example, Aziz’s phone has had a broken screen for weeks, and he just now got it fixed, because he could finally afford it. Me, on the other hand, I went to the Verizon store THE VERY NEXT DAY when I lost my phone, even though I had backup phones at home that I really could have used.

But back to driving, I think my Dad would enjoy driving here (in the countryside, not the city) and my mom would hate both. The city is an annoying “me first” mentality of driving at all times. Basically you inch forward until cars must stop for you, and then you keep inching forward until cars going the opposite direction have to stop for you, and then finally you make it through the intersection. There are tons of roundpoints in Dakar, which still don’t function quite as well as they stood, since the concept “Right of Way” doesn’t actually exist here. There are NO stoplights anywhere in the city. And only a few stopsigns.

In both the country and the city, there are tons of potholes in most of the roads, except for the Corniche and the VDN, which are nice almost-highway roads in Dakar. There are technically speedlimits, but those are pretty much obsolete. Basically the goal while driving here is to drive at the maximum speed possible, while weaving back and forth across the road, avoiding the many potholes, other cars, and oncoming traffic, as well as the occasional goat, cow, etc. (which is why I say my dad would love it and my mom hate it.) Oftentimes my drivers have driven leaning off the side of the road, which is just easier to drive on, as the potholes have not appeared there yet. Although it’s slightly terrifying because I feel as though it could tip over at anytime, even though I know it’s not going to. During the rainy season, the added bonus is of course that not only are there pot holes, but basically there is just tons of mud and puddles which make life interesting.

Saturday night it rained a lot, and Sunday was a pretty rainy day as well. SO mostly, I just did nothing except study a bit. As well as have to fix my computer Sunday night. Grr. Monday was class, nothing too interesting to say there. Tuesday was Aziz’s birthday. He turned 21. But being a Muslim and non-American, that age is really not that big of a deal. I did wish him a happy birthday at midnight (because of course we had only eaten dinner around 11 or so, so I was still up) and then that day we went to Marché Sandaga downtown with Rodline. I have been searching for a stuffed lion to get him, since I know that he LOVES lions. But when we went to a toy store, they were closed for a 3 hour break! We kept searching, but to no avail. I didn’t tell him why I was looking for a kids store, so I think he thinks I’m weird, but obviously he’ll understand once I finally get him a lion. We came back in the house around 3, and ate lunch, which was very good. Rodline and I pressured Aziz into eating the first piece of chicken he’s had in 5 years or so. (Aziz doesn’t like chicken. One time he kept eating and eating chicken, and then threw up from eating too much. So he just can’t stand it now. But everyone keeps telling him he needs to eat chicken, even his mom.) Then tonight we went out for dinner. Aziz says he loves Chinese food, so we went to a Chinese restaurant near our school. I invited his mom too, because I thought it would be nice for her to celebrate with him. Allison, Ryan, Rodline, and I were all there. Unfortunately, Bobby’s host family’s grandmother was sick, so he went home to spend time with them. But it was really wonderful. I asked everyone to dress up, and Aziz’s mother looked really fancy! We had a fun time, and Aziz said this was the first time he had really celebrated his birthday (other than with his mom) since he was two. So we made Aziz (and his mom, who was delighted for him) really, really happy. So that was good. They were both so grateful, and I am so glad we could do this for him.

So Saturday we went to the zoo again, this time with Rodline, Allison, and Bobby since they hadn’t been yet. It was kind of different this time, because I think it had just been feeding time for the animals. Actually, apparently the zoo is closed in the middle of the day, about 1:30-3:00. Which Aziz never happened to mention to me until I was ready to go, and said “Oh, we can’t leave now, the zoo will be closed. We have to wait.” And I just kind of looked at him like, this would have been really helpful a little bit ago when I was arranging everything. Oh well.

So we went there and watched all of the animals eat baguettes (of course). There was actually this whole room which was stacked with baguettes, probably in a pile as tall as me! O, France. What have you done to the world? The lions of course, were eating I think a freshly killed cow (and later we took the wrong path and stumbled upon some zoo workers cutting up the cow right there. Yuck.) But anyway, at the lion cage, there was one really cool moment when the lion on one side of the cage tried to reach through and opening and take some of the meat. Then all the lions on the other side basically attacked him. Well, attacked the paw that was sticking through the side. Aziz was really happy because he loves lions, and loves to see them in action.

Also I bought two bags of peanuts, so I could give them to my friend, the chimpanzee. That was really fun. Plus I gave it to other monkeys. Aziz and Allison also took some baguettes from the room where they were stored, and we fed them to camels. Later we had some left over, and we took them over to one cage, were there were some smaller monkeys. There was a little baby monkey there. And we threw pieces of the baguettes to the monkeys, but the mom and dad kept taking the bread immeadiatley for themselves, and not giving any to the baby. We kept trying to throw it so the baby could get some, but the parents kept snatching it. The baby went around eating the crumbs that the parents dropped. How terrible!

I also finished my water bottle, and then filled it up with some tap water from a hose at the zoo. The chimpanzee was really thirsty, so I gave him the bottle. He didn’t seem to care at first, but when I came back later, he was chilling in his hammock-like netting in his cage and drinking from the bottle with his feet! lol.

So that was a fun day at the zoo. That night, we all went out, which was fun. Bobby’s neighbor, whose name is Babacar, and who I believe is very well off, wanted Bobby and his friends (us) to come out and enjoy Dakar. So he told us to come to this club with him. We met up at MyShoppe, like always, and pregamed there for a while. We met up with Bobby, and his (beautiful) host brother, Benj, plus Babacar and his two friends, Bashir and ______. Around 12:30, we finally left for the club called Le Voyageur in the downtown. (Except Ryan, who isn’t much into clubbing, and just went home) When we got there, hardly anyone was there! We chilled for a bit, and then as it started to get more crowed, we started to dance. It got SO HOT, of course, because it’s Africa, plus there isn’t really good circulation or air conditioning or anything. Oh well. But I had such a fun time! We went home around 4 in the morning. Although, it was kind of annoying, because Aziz’s friend got a taxi for going to Sacré Cœur II for 1,500 francs. But then, as soon as the driver saw me, he said, no actually the price is 2,000. So stupid.

Sunday, I went to Marché Sandaga, which is basically a big open market. It is somewhat terrifying, being that people come up to you, shove merchandise in your face and shout that they are giving you a really good deal, when you know that they will try so hard to rip you off. But I survived, and got a few nice things. I’m really excited about the two dresses I got. Also, we went to this place called N’Ice Cream afterwards, which was really good. I also got ice cream for my host mom. She had told me earlier that she really likes ice cream and hamburgers. So I asked her if she was American. To which she responded, “Yes, yes I am.” I got her chocolate, which she liked, but she told me her real love is coconut. I thought that was cool, because I told her my real mom loves coconut too!

Monday, I had a little incident which involved a mouse running out of my room, past me in the hallway, where I was studying, and into the kitchen. I screamed, and when my host mom found out why, she laughed at me because I wasn’t afraid of the lizard, but I was afraid of the mouse. I tried to explain to her that I’m not really scared of mice, but I just have this intense fear of stepping on one. Later I went up to Aziz, and I said, “Aziz, we need to get a cat.” He looked at me really weird, so I said, “Aziz, I want to get a cat, so it can eat the mouse.” He laughed at me, then said, “Are you serious?” I told him, yes of course I’m serious. So then he and his mom (he told her what I wanted) asked me questions like, “But what will he eat?”, etc. Then Aziz was like, “Okay, tomorrow, when we are downtown, we will look for a place to buy cats.” I was surprised that he took me actually that seriously. I mean, I would love to have a cat, or even more, I would love to have a dog, but it’s totally not feasible, and I don’t really expect it. Even though I told him I was serious, I really expected him to tell me I was being ridiculous. We didn’t end up looking for a cat, but Aziz has mentioned it a few times.

Okay, but the craziest thing happened TODAY when I came home. I was out to dinner with Allison’s mom, who is here visiting. I came home and Aziz says, “I have something to show you. It’s magic!” So we went out to the courtyard of our house and there was a SHEEP standing there, who said “Baaaaa” really loudly! And Aziz told me this was our new pet. And it's name is "Magique." Like, it’s not a sheep that we’re going to kill in a few weeks once it’s fattened up. No, this is a real pet, and apparently Aziz used to have a sheep before, but it died from old age. And he says he really takes it for walks, like every Sunday. I keep expecting him to be like, “Just kidding, hahahahaha gotcha!” but I don’t think that’s coming. We just now have a pet sheep. I’m actually really happy, because I’ve been missing my pets. Of course there are tons of dogs and cats (as well as cows, horses, goats, and chickens) that wander around Dakar all the time, but I can’t touch them, probably because they are covered in dirt/fleas/idk. Plus they might be mean. So I’m really happy to have a animal that I can touch and pet, etc. I told my mom, it’s kind of like having a dog…with horns! lol.

Oh Africa.

Oh, and I will put up pics soon of the new pet sheep.

So here is some pics from earlier times, I can finally upload them! It's not a lot but the internet is really slow, so I'm just doing a few.

This is at Goree Island, in "The House of Slaves" Goree was a major port for human trade during the Atlantic trade period, millions of slaves came through here. This is where many were kept between being brought to Goree and then shipped off to wherever they were going.
This is the "Door of No Return" in the House of Slaves.

Goree Island, looking down from the top

The Beach at Goree Island

Me, Bobby, Rodline, and Ryan at Just 4 U, for Rodline's Birthday.

Me and Aziz

My friend, the chimpanzee

Aziz with his favorite animal, the lion.

It’s been really hard being here this week, so far away from my family. But luckily, people here are really supportive. I told Awa, who works at WARC, about my grandfather, and now I have random people who also work there, but whom I’ve never really met, come up to me and give me their condolences. I guess I’m pretty easy to point out, though: the tall girl with the red hair. Lol. The students here too have been really nice, a lot of them have offered hugs, and the people in the wells program, to whom I am closer, have been really supportive. I’m more of a secretive kind of person anyway, though, so it’s not like I’ve really shared much.

Anyway, I should continue with my blogging, because it’s not like Punky would want me to stop. I guess I should start with Sunday. It was really fun that day, because my host mom (Ami) and I made these doughnut-ish things together. She had made the batter the night before. At that time, I helped her sift through the flour. She pointed out why this was necessary, it was because there were tons of little tiny insects left in the sifter! I told her the story about how one time my friend, Molly, and I were making cookies at her grandmother’s house and there were insects in the flour. Only we didn’t realize it until AFTER we had eaten a good amount of cookie dough, as well as some baked cookies! My host mom just laughed and laughed.

(Ami & I making beignet aka doughnuts)

Anyway, Sunday, I was given the task of rolling the dough into little tiny balls. Then they were put in a frying pan that was filled with oil (cholesterol-free, though I might add). I’ve never made something like this, so it was cool to watch the balls pop up to the top as they got fried and expanded. They were delicious, too, kind of tasting like funnel cakes, but in ball form.

Oh, and I made sweet tea which means my life is basically complete right now.

(Aziz pretending to eat all of the beignet)

It’s been a mostly normal week of classes. I had Arabic for the first time (finally). I’ve been working on some things myself, but this is the first week actually meeting with the professor. But of course, like a good Senegalese man, he was late. Setting up this class has been frustrating. Last week I finally got a hold of him, and we were supposed to meet Tuesday. So I went to WARC, even though I didn’t have class. When it was time to meet, I called him, and he was just like, “Oh, well actually we have class together tomorrow (He is my History of Islam in Senegal teacher) so why don’t we just meet before class.” Then I showed up early the next day, and he didn’t arrive until it was time for class, so we didn’t meet until afterwards. Then we decided on meeting Tuesday (I really would stake my life on this fact), but then Monday, I went into the WARC office, and Awa told me that the professor would be late. I told her I didn’t even think we were supposed to meet that day!!! Oh Senegal.

On a side note, because I think this is really cool, Awa is actually the Arabic name for Eve. The first two humans created in the Muslim version were Adama and Awa. Another thing, History of Islam has been really interesting, because one girl in my group, Allison, is Jewish. And so when we’ve been learning about random Muslim laws/practices, and actually Islam and Judism are really really close. I mean, obviously, because they were both created in the Middle East, both from the descendents of Abraham, and both monotheistic. And Islam basically accepts all of the Jewish prophets as truth (including Jesus) but believes that Muhammad was the last and greatest prophet. But it’s interesting to discover little details in which they both are the same, such as rules for diet, and certain traditions (I can’t remember many specifics, though). We talked briefly about how religion-wise Judaism and Islam are much closer than even Judaism and Christianity, but in this time are just so divided politically. My teacher is very much against the political/religious alliances.

Wednesday night, we decided to hang out, but it ended up just being Ryan, Rodline, Aziz, and I. We went to Caesar’s, which is this food joint, which apparently you can find in Dakar, Paris, and New York. It has a random collection of food, everything from a fried chicken sandwich, to spaghetti, to oriental foods. I decided to get a milkshake, which was expensive (over $3) and probably the most disappointing thing of my life. I’m used to either the fast food size milkshakes, about 16 – 20ozs, or the good homemade ones, which come in a huge cup, and then have an overflow cup as well. But this milkshake was so small, maybe 5 ozs. I was so sad. And it was made from gelato, not really ice cream. I guess that part was okay, though.

Afterwards, Rodline, Aziz, and I decided to go to the beach, which was nearby. So we walked there. On the way there, Aziz talked to some random guys and asked them if the way was well lit (it was starting to get dark). They said yes. We continued on. It was a really cool beach. Of course, there were cliffs that plunged into the water, but there was also a little sandy beach area. Although this is a beach where you can’t swim because the current is just too strong. I could really see it, though, the waves weren’t necessarily taller than I’ve seen, but the did look thicker and stronger. Plus there were random rock formations, which could have gotten dangerous for someone swimming in the waves. I really hope to go to a good beach soon, maybe this weekend or next week. I just sat on this ledge/path to the water, and watched the waves. Like I said before, I always feel so peaceful at the beach. Aziz and Rodline sat a little bit away from me and talked. After a while we went to leave. Suddenly, a police officer stepped out of the shadows and demanded to see our identity pieces. Luckily Rodline and I had ours on us, so we gave them to him, no problem. But Aziz had forgotten his. So the police officer just had us walk with him for a bit, and Aziz talked to him in Wolof. Finally Aziz asked for 1,000 francs (about $2) and then gave it to the police officer. Then we left. As we walked by the guys that Aziz had talked to on the way, the police officer stopped and talked to them like old friends. I think we had gotten set up. But mostly the thing that I’ve learned from all of this is that if I could bribe police officers in the States for $2, I think I would do so many things, just because I could. I mean, sometimes I do anyway, like blatantly jaywalk in front of police officers in Charleston, because they really just don’t care.

Hmm, another interesting thing that happened was Thursday night, I was showering, and I looked down to find a little tiny lizard chilling in the shower bottom. I was really startled, and I got out, wrapped my towel around, and then ran out and found Aziz. I probably would’ve done something about it myself, except I didn’t have any way of picking it up, etc. So Aziz grabbed a shoe, and I was like, “NO! You can’t kill it!” He just looked at me like I was crazy, and said, “Shannon, it’s a lizard. I have to kill it.” But I refused let him, saying I like lizards (at which point Aziz told his mom, and both of them laughed at me like I was crazy. Aziz’s mom doesn’t like lizards.) I also told him it was cute, and it was a baby, so he couldn’t hurt it. He told me it was probably poisonous, but I told him he didn’t know for sure (although, he probably really does, being that he lives here and all). Finally I convinced him just to pick it up and throw it outside, which he did. So I was okay with that. But I think Aziz and his mom really do think I’m crazy because I wouldn’t let Aziz kill it. Aziz told me it was the first time he’s ever heard of anyone not allowing him to kill a lizard.

Thursday night we went to Just 4 U again. It was Allison, Bobby and his host brother, Benjamin, Aziz, and I. It was kind of relaxed. It’s more of a place to go and watch a show, and I think I prefer somewhere to dance. But it was fun, Allison and I chatted a bit, and I got to talk to Benjamin, who is really nice. The music was good. The group playing was called Souleymane Faye, which plays a mix of jazz and the mbalax. But again, there were tons of European/Americans there. I think this weekend I really want to go to a club and dance among tons of Dakarois. That’s my plan.

Oh, something else I should mention: Last week, before we went to Melissa, we were talking about Aziz’s grandfather (well technically, he was the son of Aziz’s father’s father’s sister, or his father’s cousin. But Aziz maintains it’s totally normal to consider him his “grandfather”), who was a marabout. (That is and Islamic leader/teacher. He often has a group of students (Talibé). Also, Muslim people/families might have a marabout, meaning that they were either taught by this marabout, or maybe he was something like a pastor to them. Also there are people who just like what he has to say, and therefore follow his teachings in Islam.) Anyway, Abdoul Aziz Sy the marabout, for whom my host brother Abdoul Aziz is named, was a great marabout, and very popular in Senegal. Anyway, it was funny because right after talking about this, we walked to Melissa. On the way we walk past a house, which was Abdoulaye Wade’s (the president of Senegal) house before he became president. There are still guards that stand watch there with huge guns, because there may be family members in that home. Anyway, we decided to stop and talk to one of the guards. When he heard Aziz’s name, he says, “Oh that’s my marbout!” (But in Wolof). So that was cool.

Aziz has also talked to me about his grandfather, and tells me that he was very against injustice. For example, the talibé begging in the streets. Aziz tells me that many of them come from families in the villages who have too many kids and then decide to send them to the city under a marabout, because they believe there are lots of opportunities in the city, and the kids can learn the Koran. I guess it helps the parents to have one less mouth to feed, but of course, once the kids get to Dakar, they are just left to beg on the streets. Aziz’s grandfather didn’t agree with this, he believed that parents should take responsibility for their kids and that begging is a terrible option, because the kids will grow up and not know anything but that.

I really can’t stop thinking about the talibé. That probably has something to do with the fact that I have to pass tons of them on the street every day.