Reached my goal of 35 interviews before X-Mass!! :-)

I can't believe it is almost the end of the year!! Wearing my summer clothes every day, I still have the feeling that it is August!I The climate (27 degrees during the day and 22 during the night) does not contribute to my Christmas feeling. ;-) But it is really true, tomorrow afternoon I will pick Erik up from the airport and we will celebrate Christmas and New Year's together in the upcoming two weeks!!!!!! Hmmm, I really can't wait! I am here now for three months and it is not always easy to be so far away from each other. I missed him a lot. 

The past two weeks I conducted interesting interviews. I spoke with two persons working for the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, a gynecologist, a doctor who does surgical repair of FGM/C, someone working for UNFPA and many persons working for NGOs. The interviews were very interesting and I hear less and less new things, so that's a good sign! ;-) My goal was to conduct 35 interviews before X-Mass, and I am more than happy to tell you that I conducted today interview no. 36 and no. 37!! :-) My goal of 50 interviews in those four months is getting into sight! 

Here are a few pictures I took during my taxi rides on my way to interviews, that gives you an idea of how Dakar looks like. 

Sunday last week I went with Marieke, one of my Dutch friends in Dakar, to the HLM Market to buy some more beautiful African fabrics to make some dresses. Yesterday I picked them up and I really like them! The tailor is amazing. For the price of an H&M dress, you'll have a custom made dress! :-) 

Enjoying the sunset after shopping at the HLM Market.

The sunset at one of Dakar's beaches.

Last Friday I went with some colleagues of the Embassy to a nice concert of the Alibeta Nomads Band. Of course it started 1,5 hour too late (welcome in Senegal!), but we really enjoyed ourselves. I took a short movie to give you an impression, you can find it below. 

Last Saturday, I went out for dinner in a very nice Lebanese restaurant with three Dutch girls. We had a great time! During the dinner, I really had to think a lot about my 6 months internship at the Embassy in Israel, the food tasted just like the shabbat dinners of safta (my Israeli grandmother)! Miiiiizooooooo, I miss you!!!!!!!

Last Sunday, I received a phone call from Molly Melching. She is the director of Tostan, one of the biggest NGOs working in the field of FGM/C. She asked me if I would be interested in joining her and Julia of the Orchid Project on Monday to a village. I was extremely excited and so thankful for this invitation! 

So last Monday, I woke up very early in the morning, packed my bag, and went to the Tostan office. It was an amazing day and surely one of the highlights of my fieldwork so far. We went first to a village called Keur Simbara where we spoke for about 3 hours with an interesting man, called Demba. He is over 80 years old, and has so much experience. He told us that he visited 347 villages to share why they stopped FGM/C in his community. Demba says he remembers the last girl in every village who was cut. In his village of Keur Simbara, it was his granddaughter. He says that there are always some whose "minds walk before them on the road" and that we must be those people. Julia and I could ask all the questions we had and Molly translated from Wolof to English. It was so interesting!!! 

In the book, However Long the Night, Molly writes about Demba. He was one of the people who protested at the Parliament in 1999 against the adoption of the law. According to him, the country was not ready for a law and could, according to him, even work counterproductive. But surprisingly enough, now he said that they have done enough sensibilisation and awareness raising. He said: "Now it's time to really start prosecute people." He was the last person I would expect saying that!!! Afterwards we went to the Tostan office in Thies and we discussed about all the Tostan projects. 

Demba, Julia, Molly & me.

Khalidou, Molly and me in the office in Thies

Last week, I also managed to extend my visa. I am so glad it is done!! I started to become quite nervous since it would expire the 27th of December. It took me the past two weeks a lot of time, money and energy to get the extension done. I had a letter from the university explaining why I need four months for my research, but this was not enough unfortunately. I went to the police station many times and every time there was something wrong. Luckily enough the Ambassador intervened and wrote a letter for me, which helped in the end a lot! :-) I was so glad that I walked out of the police station yesterday with a new visa in my passport! 

This blog gives an insight in my life in Senegal. Some people might have the idea that my research goes very smoothly and that it all goes by itself. But: to be honest, it has not always been easy in the past few weeks and it proves to be quite challenging to work in Africa. I knew it beforehand, and I was prepared for it, but nevertheless it is sometimes quite frustrating. It takes a lot of time to schedule meetings for the interviews and it is not always easy to be so dependent on someone - for example my interpreter. She has some personal problems and therefore she is not always available when the people I want to interview are available. That makes it sometimes quite difficult for me... On top of that, the Senegalese people often do not respect the time. I spend hours and hours waiting for them. 

Although these things are sometimes very frustrating, of course I do not give up and I carry on! But you can imagine, it takes a lot of energy to get the interviews done. I also started to look for another interpreter, to make sure I can conduct all the interviews I want, also when my interpreter is not available. I thought it would be hard, but luckily enough I found another one this week (for a reasonable price!). :-) Today I conducted the first two interviews with her and I was very satisfied. She lived in the US for 4 years and her English is perfect. She also has a lot of experience in translating so I am glad I have a back-up plan for the month of January. 

I look forward to the next two weeks: just relax, and take some time off. I feel I need to rest and take it easy. I might have asked a little bit too much from myself the past weeks to get the interviews done. I have lost a few pounds and I am quite tired. 

Therefore, it's time to turn off my laptop and enjoy a two-week vacation with my love! I can't wait and I am so looking forward! We'll go surfing in Dakar, visit the Lompoul desert, as well as Saint Louis, a historic town in the Northern part of Senegal. 

I wish you all a merry Christmas and all the best for the new year!! 

Lots of love from Dakar,

Annemarie

Many interviews, Sinterklaas, Béjart Ballet & Panel Discussion!

In the past days I received from quite some friends an e-mail saying: "We are waiting for your new blog, when will you update us about your new adventures? It has been a while!" When I just coincidentally came across my statistics, I was quite overwhelmed: my blog has been viewed more than 2800 times! Indeed, it had been two weeks since my last blog and a lot happened. So this morning I decided to make a cup of coffee, upload my new pictures and start writing. ;-)

Let me start by saying that I have been quite sick for a few days and that is also a reason why my blog post took a while. Of course I knew that one time it would happen sometime during my stay in Senegal. I am quite often invited at Senegalese families and of course I don't know where they bought their meat and whether their fridge is working. I am always very careful, but last week I ate something wrong and I felt terrible. I spent two days at the toilet, I could not eat and I felt very weak. At these moments you feel quite lonely and you realize you are in Africa, far away from home, far away from all the people you love, just by yourself. I was glad I did not have fever, so I was not seriously ill, but it was 'only' my stomach which was protesting. I think I have lost a few pounds, but luckily enough I recovered and I feel much better now!

In the second place, I was very busy the past two weeks with my interviews. It seemed that all people I contacted in the last months were all of a sudden available! I conducted 13 interviews since my last blog. I am happy that it seems that my ambitious goal of 35 interviews before X-Mass starts to become realistic. :) 

The interviews I conducted were very interesting, especially because I had a wide variety of people in front of me: for example a parliamentarian, an imam, a social worker, a professor, a lawyer, a gynecologist (working for the WHO), employees of USAID and UN Women and members of local NGOs (for example ASBEF and COSEPRAT). 

I also managed to schedule a meeting with Molly Melching, the director and founder of Tostan. Tostan is one of the biggest NGOs working in the field of FGM/C. She was actually the person that was no. 1 on my list of persons I wanted to interview. It really took some effort and time to reach her, but I felt very honored that she wanted to meet me. A few days before the interview I even received an e-mail from her saying: "I am looking forward to speaking to you." I was excited that she made time for me in her busy schedule. Our meeting was rescheduled more than 5 times, but it finally took place last week. She was so nice and had so much knowledge! She said that she was impressed by the rigor of my research and my knowledge about FGM/C. That was such a big complement, especially because I really look up to her. She was so kind and gave me a ride home and we'll meet again next week for the second part of the interview. Me = happy!!!! 

Last week I also had a meeting with the vice-president of Senegal's human rights committee. It was very difficult to schedule a meeting with him, because he is always traveling and extremely busy. Bijou and I managed to meet him two days ago and I had 15 minutes to ask my questions. Again, I felt so honored, especially when his secretary knocked on the door after 15 minutes to tell that his next appointment arrived: the President of Senegal, Macky Sall!! OMG! 

And when you tell others that you had appointments with this and this person, they say: "Oh really? You spoke to him/her? Then you should also talk to this person!" Hihi, now I am at the point that people take you very seriously and they really want to help you to reach to other 'important' persons. While at the beginning most people see you as 'disturbing', taking an hour of their time while they are already extremely busy. But now they want to help me to make my research a success and make sure that I speak to everybody who is important in the field! 

I still can't believe it, but I even have an appointment now with the Prime Minister! She has spent her life working as a human rights and women's rights activist, in Senegal and around the world. She worked before at the Senegalese NGO ASBEF and in New York for the UNFPA. Afterwards, she became Senegal's Justice Minister and is now the Prime Minister. She has a lot of knowledge about FGM/C and I can't wait to meet her! 

Two days ago I was invited by a Senegalese doctor who does surgical repair for women who have undergone FGM/C to come to a panel discussion on FGM/C at the International Fair. I went there last Friday and it was so interesting to be there. The first part was an anatomy lecture about the female genitals - for me also very interesting and I learned a lot! ;-) The second part was a debate between a sexologist and the doctor about the (sexual) consequences of FGM/C. Especially the questions of the people attending the conference were interesting. I sat there, with my notebook, just observing and making notes of what was happening. So interesting!! 

Announcement

Translation: Conference: Public (in French) about the reparations of Female Genital Mutilation by Doctor Abdoul Aziz Kasse, on Friday 6 December 2013 at 17h at the house of the Press, next to the stand of Prevenir-Listab. 

The stand of Organization Prevenir.

Lecture of the sexologist.

The Panel Discussion officially started at 5pm, but of course... it started an hour late and also lasted three hours instead of one. Nevertheless, I found it very interesting and I would not have want to miss it! And, because it started too late, I had the chance to walk around and see all the other nice stands at the fair.  

Regional products from Kedougou. 

The fair was so big!

Apart from running from one interview to the other and do things related to work and my research, I also took some time to relax. Last weekend we celebrated Sinterklaas at the Residence of the Dutch Ambassador with the Dutch community in Senegal. In the morning, I helped with the preparations. After all the debates in the Netherlands the past months, the Embassy decided to have 1 black Piet, one green and one orange - taking into account the slave history of Senegal. 

Preparations for the Sinterklaas celebration! :-) 

They even arranged a horse for the Sint!

The Sint arrives at the Residence.

All children received a present from the Pieten!

I am very happy Dakar offers a wide variety of concerts and performances. I just love the theater and when I found out that the Béjart Ballet Lausanne came to Dakar, I made sure I did not miss that Ballet performance!! I bought a ticket a few weeks ago and last weekend I went to the National Theater with two colleagues of the Embassy. To be honest, it was one of the best ballet performances I have ever seen. It was really amazing. They will perform from 13-16 March in Carré in the Netherlands. If you have the chance, you should go there! ;-) 

Grand Theatre national.

It was amazing!

Yesterday we celebrated Sinterklaas with a few Dutch girls (the ones who were the Pieten last weekend). We wrote poems for each other and bought a small present. We had a lot of fun! Today I will go with Marieke, another Dutch girl, to the HLM market. We really liked the dresses the tailor made for us and therefore it is time to buy some more fabrics. :-)

I keep you updated! 

Lots of love,

Annemarie

4 interviews & Public Declaration in Kolda!

The past weekend was one of the highlights of my field study so far and I will never forget this ceremony in my life. I went to a village in the Kolda region (southern part of Senegal) to attend a Public Declaration. More than 2000 people came together, from 550 different villages, to declare that they will abandon FGM/C and forced marriage in their communities. 

On Saturday morning I woke up at 5am and I took a sept-place to Kolda. Kolda is located in the soutern part of Senegal, about 400 km from Dakar. The roads are quite bad and it took me 10 hours to get there. Nevertheless, it as such a nice ride (Senegal is sooooooooo beautiful!). We took the road through Gambia and we crossed the Gambian river. The southern part of Senegal is very green, there are many trees and beautiful birds. It really looks like paradise and I wondered why there are no tourists here. I enjoyed driving through the small villages with the typical round mud huts with a thatched roof, the colorful clothes, the women preparing food while the sun was setting. Life was so simple here, but at the same time so beautiful. This was Africa and I felt so incredibly grateful that I am able to do my research here. 

Taking a sept-place at the garage in Dakar! 

The sept-place from the inside.

Pitt stop in Gambia.

Crossing the river in Gambia.

The road I traveled this weekend.

I arrived Saturday night in Kolda and I stayed in the same hotel as the UNICEF staff. When I was checking in, I met Moussa Diop (the communications officer of UNICEF) and afterwards we had dinner together in Kolda. He took me to a Djibouterie where we ate a chicken from the barbecue. 

The next day we left early in the morning to the village where the Public Declaration was going to take place. I joined UNICEF and the Senegalese national television crew to the village. I was impressed: the declaration would be broadcasted at the national TV!

Ready to go!

Moussa Diop (UNICEF) and me.

It was a two-hour drive from Kolda to arrive in the village in the department Medina Yoro Foulah. Since I travelled with UNICEF and the RTS crew, I was all of a sudden part of the 'official delegation' and I was treated like a princes and placed on the front row next to the UNICEF staff and the representatives of the government, haha. ;-) 

The next hours were really amazing and I observed all what was happening. The ceremony started with a prayer of the Imam, which is very special if you know that many people perform FGM/C in Senegal because they think it is a religious obligation. Afterwards, there were many speeches, for example from the mayer of this department, a representative of the communities, the Family Ministry, UNICEF, the representative of the regional department, TOSTAN, the medical chef of the region, etc. I was afraid that the ceremony would be in Pulaar or Soninké (the tribal languages in this area) and that that the ceremony would be a nice experience, but that I wouldn't be able to understand what they were saying. However, I was happy to find out that all speeches were in French, so I could easily understand everything. :-)

Speech of the head of the department.

Speech of UNICEF.

I realized that everything I read in reports in the past two years, was actually happening in front of me. It felt so lucky to experience all this. During this speeches, they were all referring to human rights. Up to this weekend, I found it hard to believe that people in these remote villages, who did not go to school, who can hardly read or write, talk about human rights. But it was true, it was really happening! I could see it with my own eyes! They spoke about the right to health and the right to physical integrity.

The banner of the first picture says: The communities reaffirm their commitment for the promotion of the right to health of girls and women and the banner on the second picture says: Preserve the physical integrity of our daughters. After two hours, the declaration was read out officially. I learned later that it was not only this ceremony, but the declaration was an official document, signed by all important people in the region. 

The moment when the declaration was read out.

In between the speeches and official statements, there was also enough time for music, dance and animation folklorique during the ceremony.

I also made a short movie to give you an impression of the atmosphere during the ceremony, that you can find below. The representative of the Economic, Social and Environment Council gave his speech during this short movie. 

Yesterday I traveled back to Dakar. This time not with the sept-place, but the people from the Orchid Project (an NGO based in the UK) were so nice to offer me a ride back. It was so comfortable: a Toyota Landcruiser with airco, instead of a sept-place!! Hihi, lucky me! ;-) 

Last week I also conducted 4 interviews with people working for the Justice Ministry, UNICEF, the Senegalese Association of Female Lawyers and Save the Children. They all provided me with a lot of information and every time I left their offices I had a big smile on my face. All the interviews are so interesting and they really make me think about my research topic in such a different way!! :-) 

Today I am working at the Embassy again and I have planned several interviews this week, including one interview with Molly Melching (the founder of Tostan). I am very excited to meet her and I can't wait to hear her answers to my questions! 

After all, time is flying. I am already half way my field study!! Two months to go before I will go home.  

I keep you updated! 

Lots of love,

Annemarie

Tamkharit & Reggae Concert!

The past week was quite a surprising week. I had many appointments planned, so I expected this week to be very fruitful. However, after all, no interview did take place this week... I was a little bit disappointed, because I called so many people (I used disproportionally many pre-paid telephone cards this week), I e-mailed so many people, but in the end no one was available this week and the appointments that I had were cancelled. It took a lot of energy, with no clear results yet, but I think it is the plight of a reseacher... It cannot always go as smoothly as the weeks before. Nevertheless, I think (and hope) to have many interviews next week and the week after. Apart from working many hours this week (and be a little bit frustrated from time to time), I also had a lot of fun! 

On Monday afternoon I went with Marieke (a Dutch girl who works for an NGO here in Dakar) to the tailor. A few weeks ago we bought some nice fabrics at the market and now it was time to make some nice dresses! On Monday the tailor took our sizes and made some nice drawings of the dresses that we had in mind and on Saturday morning we could pick them up! We were both very satisfied. It is amazing what this tailor could make! 

Measuring our sizes. 

My dress is almost finished!

On Wednesday night we celebrated Tamkharit (the Muslim celebration for the New Year). The mother of Bijou did not go to work on Wednesday, but she was cooking all day instead. There is a traditional dish served in Senegal for this holiday, called Thiéré. It is Senegalese couscous served with a tomato sauce, vegetables and meat. People eat as much as possible, untill they cannot eat any more. After the meal, all the children (but also many adults) go out to celebrate and play on their home-made drums (mostly tin cans and sometimes just a plastic container is sufficient). This celebration is not the same like other traditions. It was quite funny to see - especially realizing that I am in a Muslim country - that men were dressed like women and women like men. The children go from house to house to do a small performance and to collect money. They sing a traditional song when they are in the house and the man says "tajaboon” the woman replies "waley” and they say good wishes to each other. Again, a nice experience! :-)

Preparing the food.

Making the tomato sauce with meat.

Ready to cook the couscous! 

The traditional dish for New Year's Eve: Thiéré

On Thursday night there was again a ceremony at the family of Bijou. Although Bijou and Bocar were married a couple of weeks ago, Bijou still lived in the house of her mother and not with Bocar, because she wanted to finish her university study first. However, Thursday night was the 'big day' from which Bijou and Bocar would officially live togheter. It was a night with many traditions and protocols and again, so special to be part of it. She was wearing a nice dress and her hands were decorated with henna. When she entered the house of Bocar, she had a cloth over her head, fastened like a turban. She was sitting like this, in silence, for more than an hour. The Imam prayed and she received many presents (that she of course couldn't see): from pots and pans to a blender and cutlery. Afterwards, all the women brought her upstairs to the bedroom of Bocar where he was waiting for his bride. All the ladies started to become very excited and yelled and screamed in the bedroom. It was so funny. ;-)  

Bijou with a cloth over her head.

Giving presents to Bijou.

On Friday I worked in the afternoon at the French Institute. There is such a nice atmosphere at the Institute and I am a big fan of their delicious cappuccino's. ;-) At the Institute, I wrote a letter to the Prime Minister (Aminata Touré), because a friend-of-a-friend of the mother of Bijou knows her very well and is willing to ask her if she would be available for an interview with me. That is very excited of course!! I hope it will all work out! She was previously the Minister of Justice and worked for many years for the UNFPA in New York. It would be very valuable for my research to talk to her!

Typing a letter to the Prime Minister of Senegal.

On Saturday I went with Jessica (a Dutch girl who works in Dakar as a teacher at the Dutch School) to the beach at N'Gor. We met each other during a night out in the city center of Dakar and we decided that we should meet again! After a week of hard work, it was nice to relax and enjoy a cold Flag bear on the beach. :-) 

Beach at the Island of N'Gor

Enjoying a beer at Saturday afternoon

Saturday night we went together to a reggae concert of Filentre at the French Institut. It was so much fun, we really enjoyed it! Most of the songs were in French, but occasionally he also sang in English. The band was Senegalese, which I found fantastic. I'm especially a fan of the percussion! It is so nice to see how the musicians blend in with the music!

Filentre 

Such a nice atmosphere!

There were also 2 special guests, they were awesome!

Today I transcribed an interview and I had lunch with the mother of Bijou. Thanks to my interns, I am up-to-date up to now with all the transcriptions, with which I am so happy!! I hope we can continue this till the beginning of February, that would be great!!! 

We'll see what this week will bring. I hope it's gonna be a fruitful one!

I keep you updated. 

Warm regards,

Annemarie