waiting.

{ June 7, 2011 @ 11:35 am } · { Uncategorized }

Sometimes, days in Senegal make me feel pessimistic, tense and overall just a little bit crazy.  Yesterday, I needed some sort of punching bag, meditation video or muscle relaxant.

I went into Kedougou for the weekend to see some friends and get some work done, assuming I would catch the morning car out the next day back to Saraya.  Usually there is a car in the morning and a car in the afternoon, but of course at no set time, and it is never sure to be there, to be running or to leave that day.

The way most transportation works in Kedougou is, you go to the garage routière and there are a bunch of “sept places,” or converted station wagons where they put an extra row of seats in the very back and they stuff at least seven, sometimes up to nine or ten people in it, sort of like a converted hearse.   Or what Peace Corps volunteers call “alhums” or minibuses that are big vans with many rows and they almost always say “alhumdililai” on the front.  Most cars would not only fail any sort of inspection available in the United states, but many of them are held together with chicken wire, tape, gum and have to be started by putting together wires, by pushing and kept from overheating by pouring water somewhere over the engine, which often overheats so much it is difficult to keep your feet on the ground of the car.

But this is not the worst of it.  The cars do not leave at a specific time.  The drivers wait until they fill up until they leave.  Now sometimes, you can get lucky, if you arrive and there are just one or two spots left (although that means you get the worst seats in the back with little to no leg room), or you arrive as one has just already left and you have the first or second spot (at least you get the front seat) but this means you could be waiting for hours for it to fill.  If I counted the hours I have waited for cars to fill in this country I think I would throw a temper tantrum.

Yesterday, we got the first and second spots on the alhum, or the minibus, which fills to about 20 people.  So we knew we would have to wait a while, and when we asked if we should just go back to the regional house and they could call us when it is close to being filled, they said noooo the car will leave “saayin saayin” (now now), kana taxa (don’t leave).  This was at about 9am.  After eating breakfast, walking around the market, chatting with some people and sitting and sitting and sitting.  The car fills at about 1pm.  But wait, people went to go eat lunch, so we have to wait for them.  Ok, I could wait another 15 minutes, whaaatever.  An hour later, we still have not left, we are waiting for two fools who for all we know are taking a nap somewhere in Kedougou and forgot they even purchased tickets for this car.  Everyone in the car starts fuming.  And one person starts yelling at the driver which leads to lots of people complaining to each other about how absurd this is.  The driver says he cannot just take people’s money and leave them.  Seriously? This is not how business works, if you leave for two hours that is your issue, the car leaves.  But no, this driver refused to leave.  After another 30 min of the rest of the car complaining the driver walks leisurely to the car and starts driving.  We were about to be on the outskirts of Kedougou and what happens?  The two fools we were waiting for show up with two carts full of baggage they need to put on top of the car, which will take another half an hour.

So everyone just freaks out.  Now we know why the driver was waiting for him, he could charge these guys another 10,000CFA for their bags.  Not because he “feels bad” they paid for their seats already.  I am fuming. I start yelling to nobody in particular in English which doesn’t help any situation but it is the only thing I can do because if I started yelling in Malinke or French, I would probably say something I regretted, or people would laugh at me because they think it is cute when white girls get angry and are able to yell in Malinke.  And one guy says to me “well, it’s just god, this is how it is.”  Um, are you kidding me? This does not have to be like this.  And it is this sentence that sends me on a rant about why I think this country is taking so long to develop.

This “its god who decides” passive mindset is keeping people from realizing that their lives to not have to be like this.  Whether it comes to wasting nine hours waiting for a car all day or taking charge of their healthy behaviors, many people in Senegal choose not to act because if it is god who decides and not them, why change?  This transportation situation does not have to be like this.  If they said, we will leave at this time, and stopped waiting for people to take naps and eat lunch for four hours and just left at a specific time, at first they would leave a lot of people behind, and probably make them very angry.  But eventually, people would figure out that this is the efficient way of living life and show up on time.  If people started telling people that this is not the right way to run a business instead of saying “oh this is Senegal, T.I.S, they would realize that they could take their lives into their own hands and change things.  And my ideas on this are not because I hate religion or anything like that.  I think that the conservative culture does some productive things for this country, for example, most people do not drink here, which is good for their health and they are probably are a lot more productive in the fields and work in general because of it.

But the mindset of having their lives run like God playing a video game and we are his players stresses.me.out.  And makes me think that I have no point in here because there is no way that I am about to change the mindset a whole country.

But then I have to think about things that make me realize its potential.  For example, Niokolo transports.  This is a bus company that runs all over Senegal.  From Dakar to Tamba to Kedougou, and in Kedougou, it runs a smaller service out to Saraya and surrounding villages.  They have a followed schedule.  They have a phone number you call to make a reservation, and if you do not pick up your tickets in advance, they will cross your name off the list.  They have set prices for baggage.  Of course sometimes the bus breaks down, but these fewer breakdowns and bypass of the regular garage keeps my blood pressure from raising through the roof.  I would like to buy a Niokolo T shirt to show everyone how much I love it.  Other drivers of these ragtag cars have complained that Niokolo is taking away their business.  Well duh, they are giving people hours of their life back, they run a business like a business should run.  The Niokolo gives me hope for a better Senegal.

Another thing that gives me hope is students.  Mostly middle school students.  As biddy as some of these girls are and as fresh as some of these boys are.  They say things to me that give me hope for this country.  They realize that things do not have to be the way they are, they have recognized that things will be up to them to develop this country because while everyone else is saying “oh, this is Senegal, god wants us to be poor, too bad, we’ll be poor,” the students are by far less religious, less passive and educated about the world and their future.  And even though the schools here are less than perfect and kids here probably go to school half of they days they are scheduled to, many manage to get by.  And I look forward to seeing where they go and how they take Senegal into their own hands and stop all Senegalese people from sitting and waiting.