On our first day in Guinee-Bissau, we find a place to sleep in the catholic mission of Ingore. Two Italian nuns run the place, one as a nurse and the other director of the large mission school. They are friendly and have a bed for us, dinner (with a creative Baba-au-rum desert because it is Easter) and even a shower. We feel very lucky.
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Archive for March, 2008
In Europe and in the United States, we mostly know Africa through the news. News about natural disasters, about famine and about war. When we say Africa, some of us might think of elephants and national parcs, but most of us picture children with big hungry bellies and babies dying of aids. But what is it really like in black Africa? What have we seen since we crossed the Mauritanian border?
I fall almost off my chair when I read the email in Nouakchott: My dad wants to visit us in Senegal. What a nice surprise! When we get to Senegal we have only a couple days left to make it to Dakar, in order to pick my dad up from the airport. We are never going to make it. Luckily we find an affordable ride from the Zebrabar, close to St. Louis, to the airport.
‘Salut les racistes, salut les racistes’ a young man yells at us as we leave a bakery in Dakar after buying fresh bread on a Sunday morning. I am not sure if I am hearing it correctly so I turn around and listen carefully. ‘Salut les racistes’ he continues, hello racists. I am shocked and offended. For a moment I want to walk over to him and talk to him. Does he even know what he is saying? Does he know that he hurts me?
Then I realize that someone who yells something like this must be either full of frustration or crazy. Antoine says to me that the guy is a racist himself. Getting involved with this is maybe not the best idea. I decide to walk on and continue a quiet Sunday morning, but it keeps bothering me. A smart decision or a missed chance for a good conversation?
