This past weekend I went to Kaolak for the Baptism (Bapteme) of my new little brother. My family (Muhamed, Astou, Coumbis, and the new baby) left a few days before me and my host brother Amadou. I had classes so we didn’t leave until Friday. My friends Alyssa and Erica came along too. On Friday we woke up and packed our things. We met up with Ousmane, my host fathers younger brother to go to Kaolak on the bus. When we finally got to the bus, someone had taken our seats even though we already had tickets and there was some yelling over it. Senegalese communicate through yelling in these types of situations and everyone around gets involved. We were on African time, which was the real problem and we almost missed the bus all together. It actually started moving while the arguing was going on. We were told that it would take 3 hours to get to Kaolak but it really took six. The roads to Kaolak are so bad that there are potholes about two feet deep and the bus had to zigzag across the road at ten miles per hour to avoid them. The landscape was covered with hundreds of year old baobab trees and flat planes. Senegal is really flat.
When we arrived in Kaolak we took a taxi to the “grand maison de la famille” which was a huge commune where at least 20 people lived at any given time. It is the main house hold of Muhamed, my host dad’s family. When we walked into the courtyard there were at least thirty sheep running around and forty or more people sitting amongst them, the men sitting and talking, while the women sat together cutting onions and sifting rice for dinner. We were a bit overwhelmed by the amount of activity and really tired after the long bus ride. We were herded upstairs past a group of twenty women who were praying and into a large room with oversized furniture. The senegalese love huge comfy furniture, despite the size of the room. No room to walk?...as long as the furniture is big and comfy. We were fed a huge plate of fish with rice (saved for us from lunch) and about forty five minutes later, we ate dinner. So much food! No matter how much you eat, your hosts will be mad that you did not eat more and tell you to eat. However, they just want their guests well fed and if you insist that you ate well and that it was good they will stop yelling after a few minutes. Rice is really filling, so it gets tough to eat a lot sometimes.
After relaxing a little, I said hi to my family, who were very happy to see us, and we took a cab to a friend of a friend’s house to sleep for the night. Teranga is the Senegalese hospitatlity and it was wonderful in Kaolac. People take strangers like us into their home and treat you like family. That night we watched a billion Justin Beeber music videos and made three rounds of attaya, which didn’t help us sleep at all. So much sugar!
In the morning I woke up and we got ready to go to the Baptism but Amadou had to get a haircut before we went, so when we showed up the sheep were already dead and the baby had a name. I was so mad. I really wanted to see the ceremony. However, the ceremony is only a small part of the day. For the rest of the day the women prepare food and we eat the sheep that were sacrificed at the exact moment the baby is given its name. The baby’s head is also shaved during the baptism. The men sat around and made attaya all day and socialized. Astou, my host mom, got dressed up and got her hair and make up done. She was so beautiful and I barely recognized her when she was dressed up because there was so much color and fake hair. Someone videotaped the events during the day and in the afternoon, members of the family sat with Astou and Muhamed and gave their praises to Astou and her family. It really shows how tight the family is here and the importance of community. Everyone was so sincere. My host dad told me and my friends that he was so happy that we were at the baptism and that we were really part of the family. Every one treated us very well. In the evening the women had a ceremony where they all got together and shouted praises of Astou and danced. It was really powerful to watch how passsionate everyone was and how caring they were. If you didn’t understand what was really going on, the women looked like they were yelling and arguing with each other. In reality they shouted praises of Astou, another woman would agree and shout more praises. So Senegalese.
In the evening we went to a neighborhood festival and watched some theatre skits in Wolof. It was kind of strange but comical. One skit presented a group of men who had lost their sex parts in the Holy War and were searching for some new ones and their adventures along the way.
After all this we were really tired and we finally went to sleep. In the morning we got ready to go back to Dakar. Amadou thought it would be a good idea to take the taxi back but we all regretted it. There are taxis within the local vicinity of the cities but also larger taxis that go from one city to another. Alyssa, Erica, and I sat in the back seat (an added seat in the back of a station wagon hatchback). Because it was a modified seat it was too small of an area to sit up straight and Erica and I had the wheel wells, so we had no room for our feet. The fumes from the taxi and all other cars collected in the back and the windows didn’t open. Usually the taxis are faster but we got stuck in traffic and it took over six hours to get back to Dakar. I could barely walk when I got out.
Anyway, besides the car ride back, it was awesome and I will put up pictures soon! I will be returning to Kaolak for Tabaski, the biggest holiday of Islam in a few weeks! My host dad that we are going to eat the sheep that ate my shirt and to get him to Kaolak, they tie him to the top of the bus. Crazy! I bet there will be a lot of sheep up there.
