Dakar - 17 Mar 08 to 20 Mar 08

I arrived in Dakar, Senegal at about 5:30 in the morning on the 17th of March. I waited for the sun to rise then set about the task of arranging an onward flight to Conakry, Guinea and another one from Conakry to Abidjan. After that, I went and looked up my friend Cheik Wagne, who I'd met on my last evening in Dakar before leaving for the States. He and his family welcomed me into their home and I spent the next 3 days hanging out with him in Dakar.

I only got a small taste of what Senegal is about, but this included a visit to the isle of Goree, which proved an invaluable learning experience regarding the history of slavery. It marked the beginning of several opportunities to see the remains of this gruesome trade and learn more about both its history and modern effects which are still with us today; more installments on this theme are to follow in my future blog posts on Ghana and Benin.

The first afternoon Cheik and I went walking around downtown. This tree was painted in the design of the Senegalese flag.

I asked to take this woman's picture along with her wares to show the juices she is selling in the little bags. These juices are found virtually everywhere all over West Africa. The red kind is made from a flower called Bissap. The brown ones are really strong ginger juice that I drank everytime I felt my immune system getting worn down; because of them I never got a cold. I forget what the bright red ones are.

Water in West Africa is also sold in little bags. You simply bite off the corner of the bag, suck out the contents and then throw the bag away (usually right on the ground wherever you are as most places don't have trash collection).

These cats scored big time.

I thought this building looked cool. It is a big bank, I think.

My friend Stacey from the United States has many close friends in Senegal. On my last night in Colorado she loaded me up with presents and I arrived with my bag stuffed full of earrings, dresses, knick-knacks and such. I spent most of the next day getting in touch with her friends there, hanging out and handing over the stuff. Below is a picture of the Blaise Senghor Cultural Center in Dakar, the one place I went that day.

On my last day in Dakar Cheik took me to see the Isle of Goree, a small island about a km off the coast of Dakar. Here we are walking down toward the harbor. The huge billboard shows the president of Senegal. I didn't understand Cheik's translation exactly, but it reads something like "count on the Old Man".

The ferry ride out to Goree. As it is a World Heritage site, the island is often visited and the ferry is brand new and really nice.

Arrival on Goree. The whole island is like a living museum, with all period buildings. In addition to studying history, there are many vendors selling paintings and crafts and the sounds of traditional drumming can be heard as people come here to study drumming and dance.

Vendors with their wares for sale.

A view over the island.

The old cannons on top of the fort. When the French left, they cut notches in the end of the cannon barrels so that they could no longer be fired.

The most important site on Goree. This place is the old "House of Slaves", where uncounted millions of souls were held captive for many months before being purchased and sent across the Atlantic to start new lives of toil in the fields of the United States, the Carribean and South America. Slaves from all over West Africa were transported here and sold into captivity. Goree is the northernmost of a series of former major slave-ports stretching down the coast of West Africa to Nigeria and beyond, down into Central Africa as far as Angola.

This tiny room was crammed far beyond capacity with people waiting to be sold to the highest bidder. They were not allowed to leave, even to bathe or go to the bathroom. Thus they were made to stay in their own filth. The slaves were often kept in these conditions for many months.

This tiny room underneath the stairwell is where the "bad" (i.e. rebellious) slaves were put as punishment. The tourguides said that when Nelson Mandela came to visit Goree, he went inside this cell and stayed for several minutes.

The "Door of No Return".

Looking out across the Atlantic through the Door of No Return.

Upstairs in the Maison des Esclaves is a museum with informational displays on the economic history of slavery, characterizations of the lives of slaves in the New World, and many artifacts of the time. Below are shackles used to restrain slaves and a rifle. Manufactured goods such as this rifle were used to purchase slaves and formed one part of the "Triangular Trade". This trade route saw goods coming from Europe to West Africa to purchase slaves, then the same boats would load the slaves and take them to the New World. After unloading their human cargos, the boats would then load the agricultural fruits of the slaves' labors from the New World and return with these riches back to Europe, and the Triangular Trade would continue.

Those of us living in Europe and America can reflect on the incredible wealth available to us in our societies and how much of it came from the ill-gotten gains of slavery.

A view from the entryway of the Maison des Esclaves.

A statue outside the Maison des Esclaves celebrating emancipation from slavery.

A view of the Dakar skyline in the distance across the water.

My friend Cheik Wagne checking out the work of a local sculptor.

The soccer field on Goree. Although it is a historical site, people live on the island and of course soccer is very popular. A game was in session when we passed.

Sunset over the island as we were leaving back to the mainland.

The next day I got up early, before dawn, to get a taxi to the airport. Many people were already out and about preparing for a huge celebration: it was the birthday of the Prophet Muhammed. I would have liked to have stayed to see how people in Senegal celebrate the occaison, but it was not to be. My next stop was Conakry, with a mission to finish my study of doundoun music that had started way back in December. Look for a short posting on my last stop in Guinea coming sometime in the near future.