Fleeced?

The end of a busy day and a busy weekend. This weekend was what's known here as 'the long weekend', that is the weekend which marks the divide between one half of a term and the other. This is the one time during the term when most parents will get to see their kids. Parents came from all over Senegal, the Gambia, Mauritania and other countries just to spend the weekend with their children. For the single staff this usually means a chance to get away for a few days and relax on a beach. I went with a group of 10 others to nearby Saly where we spent a refreshing two days in a small tourist resort, occasionally brushing shoulders with one or other of the five BCS families who had also chosen Saly as the venue for their long weekend. It was actually very nice to play in the pool with the kids without the responsibility of having to look after them.

On the Friday afternoon we visited the art market in the village where there were lots of little stalls selling souvenirs from carvings to jewellry to paintings. Shortly after entering this densely packed maze of little shops we were set upon by hordes of Africans inviting us to 'come look my shop!'. I was with a group of four girls and so was naturally asked which one was my wife which caused some amusement. The funniest part was what happened next though. I suddenly felt a strong hand grabbing my wrist and before I knew it I was being dragged away by a big black woman saying 'looky my shop'.

Ten metres away and down a passage I found myself in a cramped little stall faced with hundreds of tourist trinkets, none of which I had any desire to purchase. Next she reached over to part of her display and produced a necklace which she proceded to fasten around my neck with the words 'un petit cadeau'. Before I could refuse it (I don't even like necklaces) she had pulled out a little bench and sat down, pulling on my wrist, still firmly grasped, to join her. At this point I knew I was in the hands of a professional and would leave her humble shop poorer than I entered it. After I had joined her on the bench she got out her fan and started fanning me and encouraging me yet again to view her wares, probably accompanied by some reference to her good prices, I don't remember exactly. I sat in silence, not knowing what to say or do and definitely not wanting to buy anything and so she started showing me individual items.

When she ran out of things within her reach she got a friend to bring down higher items but I continued in my attempt to resist her. At some point I realised I had lost and decided that if I was to spend money I would get something I could use so I pointed at a shaker hanging beside me and asked her what one does with such a thing. She took it down and promptly demonstrated the technique before placing it in my hand so I could have a go. At which point I was assured that this instrument was in fact always played in pairs and I needed two. I sat there with two strange looking shakey things and decided it was time to go for it so I asked how much for just one of them.

She started at 15000 cfa (~£15), I made my fist move, 500 cfa (~50p), she laughed at me (I like to think I drive a hard bargain). She came down to 10000 and placed the second shaker in my lap assuring me that I really needed two. I went up by a few hundred cfa, I think she knew at this point I wasn't going to rise to where she wanted so she changed her method and got her friend to get down another instrument, a type of rattle, this was added to my pile. '5000' she says for the lot, I'm not having it. She starts throwing in bracelets, 'pour ta famile' she claims. I'm getting fed up by this point and want to get out of her shop. So we eventually settle on 3000 cfa, much more than I wanted to pay but I couldn't be bothered any more. I reach in my money belt to find the cash but unfortunately the smallest note I have is a 5000. She readily accepts this and closes her fist tightly on the crumpled note.

'Where's the 2000 change?' I ask. 'My friend will get it for you' she assures me. I look at her friend in the entrance, a slimmer woman but equally capable of fleecing me. My heart sinks. I dutifully follow her out of the shop to the stall next door where again a bench is pulled out and I'm made to join her on it. 'Look my shop' I'm instructed again. I had suspected upon pulling out my 5000 note I would never see my 2000 change and now I knew. This second woman intended to give it to me in the form of goods from her shop. She starts by getting down a small wooden model of a 'car rapide', a very Senegalese mode of transport that all the tourists love because they're so colourfully painted and un-western.

I didn't want a car rapide but this didn't matter by this stage, it would make a good gift back in England and by this point I was aware that the story that would accompany it was going to be a long one. I tried my best to argue in French that this model was not worth my 2000 cfa and so she reached over for a bracelet, this time a thick one that looked like it was made of leather stuffed with something and she fastened it around my wrist. This alone, apparently, was worth more than 2000 cfa; 'Yeah right!' I thought, being the sarcastic Englishman that I am (you realise how much of a cultural stereotype you are when in such an international community).

It seemed like my ordeal was finally over, she wasn't going to give me anything else and I wasn't in the mood for collecting more souvenirs I didn't want so I thanked her, in my polite tourist way, for ripping me off and left her shop, having a close shave with one of her neighbours who also saw me as rich pickings.
The rest of the staff were wondering where I'd got too and I was sad to find that Ruth, who'd also been dragged away by the arm, had come off far better than me, escaping with her free gift and all her money.
Nevertheless, the story amused us all on the journey back to the hotel and hopefully has amused you too. All sarcastic English comments are welcome and appreciated as the sign of affection as which we (culturally) use them.

Bedspring improv

Monday again. Not much happened today to tell you about, just some guitar some football and some bed springs, so I'll tell you about the weekend instead. We had a great day on Saturday. The morning was the date of the much hyped staff vs. inter's football match. I was in goal for the staff and we gave the intermediates a good lesson in how to win a match, we won 7 - 3. It was my first time playing in the hotter part of the day (not that it's ever cool during daylight hours), I think, had I been in a more active position, I would have run out of energy quite quickly but playing in goal is relatively effort free when your defence is of any quality. The match ended up in a bit of a water fight as the water cooler we'd brought up to the field for team refreshment became the focal point of quite a chaotic episode of splashings and soakings, quite nice if you were hot and sweaty. In the afternoon we had a whole school trip to the beach which was great fun. I cycled there and back which was good (although the bike I was on was horrible). I spent most of my time with Josephine, the youngest girl in our dorm, a Nigerian, who had never swam in the sea before and was quite afraid of it. We spent most of the time sat on the edge of the sea getting pushed around by the heavier of the incoming waves but ocasionally I carried her into the deeper water where we enjoyed the bigger waves until she got too scared and asked me to take her back out. On Sunday morning I took the senior kids for the teaching part of our Sunday meeting. We did a bible study on different old testament prophecies which reveal things about the coming Messiah (Jesus). It was really encouraging for me to prepare it just seeing the sheer volume of prophecies undeniably fulfilled by Jesus and I think those who made the effort to participate properly were encouraged too (although it was hard work sometimes having such a wide age group and so many of them). In case you were wondering about the bed spring reference earlier that was one of the pieces I found today for the drum kit Chris and I are making, it should work very well in my bass drum pedal design. Bye4now...

Volleyball Match

It's a while since I last wrote so apologies if that distressed you although I doubt anyone looks at this regularly enough to care. It's Monday again, my usual blog writing day (my day off!). It's been a great weekend. On Saturday morning we had a visit from the Dakar Academy (DA) senior volleyball team (our main rivals) and we played a friendly match against them in our sports hall. DA is a much bigger school than BCS and some ex-BCS-pupils go there for post-GCSE studies; as a result, their senior team is made up of year 12 and 13 boys who are quite tall. In contrast, our senior volleyball team usually has two year 11s, a boy and a girl (one of which is currently ill), two year 10s (one currently recovering form illness) and a bunch of younger kids some as young as year 8. DA practice daily for several hours, BCS practice weekly and play very little outside of that. Despite this obvious disparity we put up a good fight and in the first game we went several points ahead early on. Unfortunately this didn't last and we were quite well beaten by the end, although we put up a good fight. Most of the school was in the hall to support our side. There are some crude stands on one side of the hall which were well packed with spectators of all ages and we made a lot of noise (I took a drum in with me which was fun!).

The afternoon's activities were meant to take place at the beach in Popenguine (including the birthday of Immanuella, a Nigerian girl in my dorm), however the weather was pretty dismal which meant we spent the afternoon in the dorms playing games which was great fun. In the evening we played hide and seek in the dark which the kids really enjoyed. The boys from the Korean dorm joined us and the youngest attached himself to me whilst searching for the other kids as he was afraid of the dark. On Sunday we had our usual whole school meeting in the chapel for which I was able to play the Djembe and then my team was on Sunday lunch prep and Lesley and Franziska made stew and mashed potato (very tasty) whilst Margrith made a delicious yoghurt and stewed apple flan/pie/cake thing for pudding. After siesta we had the first adult intermediate level French lesson which was fun (although rather basic, being the first lesson), after which we had a big football game outside, Aunties and boys vs. Uncles and girls (school staff are referred to as Auntie or Uncle, so I'm Uncle Andrew). We won 4-3 even though Uncle Adam became an Auntie half way through to even things up a little. In the evening we had FIX which is a monthly-ish worship event which this time was based around the opening of the new prayer room which was set up over the summer. The kids had spent most of the afternoon decorating it and it looks really cool. Hopefully they'll take ownership of it and it will be a really great focal point for prayer for many of the kids (and staff too). I've probably written enough I think, off to the beach later hopefully...

Roller disco?

It's Monday again and my day off which means I have more time than usual to do emails and stuff. This week I've stayed on the compound for my day off. I was planning to cycle to Popenguine (the beach!) with a couple of friends but decided that it was stupidity to attempt to cycle several kilometres in the midday sun and tried to persuade them we should go at 4pm instead. Unfortunately they wanted to go into the village (our nieghbours Kinniabour) at 5pm so they decided to go ahead and cycle. They're not back yet so I hope they're still alive and well! A new school timetable came into effect this morning as there were several problems with the old one so this week's teaching schedule is looking quite different. Hopefully I'll find it better in terms of the lesson prep load but it doesn't look too friendly on paper!

The weekend was fun. Chris (our dorm 'dad') and I set up a roller-disco in the sports hall; we carted the school PA system across and I turned up the amp full (still wasn't load enough though - only 200W RMS I think). The playlist was a mixture of child friendly metal and 80s nostalgia (Chris used to be a professional metal drummer and spent some of his formative years in the 1980s) and the kids loved skating round and round the hall in their roller-blades. Chris also enjoyed being a very cheesy and very bad (and therefore perfect for the atmosphere) DJ.

Trip to Dakar

Today was my second day off and this week we went to Dakar! This was my second visit to the capital (excluding my initial arrival) and it was great fun. The Senegalese are a very friendly people (although often in the towns it's because they want your money). We got a ride in with the father of two of our weekly boarders on his way home from dropping off his sons. Unfortunately his car was having problems and he had to stop in Keur Massar (spelling??) on the outskirts of Dakar to see a mechanic so we got a bus from there to the town centre. Buses are one of the more normal forms of transport from a western point of view but they are still very African. After quite a wait to get on it we couldn't find any seats and had to stand up for what should have been maybe a half an hour journey on a good day. This was ok at first as the bus was no more full than your average English service bus on a busy school route, however as time went on more and more people quickly joined us and soon I was literally cheek to cheek (of the lower variety) with my fellow passengers. The sweat was dripping from my elbow onto the poor guy sat below me and I was growing steadily weaker and more tired as I had to refrain from drinking the ice cold water in my bag I so sorely needed out of care and respect for the bus full of Muslims around me who are now fasting for Ramadan. The journey took nearly two hours and after an hour and I half I seriously thought I could faint but I found my strength renewed as I contemplated the free gift of salvation I have in Jesus and the fact that he has paid the ultimate price so that I don't need to fast for a month and pray four times a day to earn salvation because it cannot be earnt. I spent the rest of the journey singing to myself and proclaiming this truth to myself in song (I couldn't muster the courage to proclaim it to a bus full of fasting Muslims and they wouldn't have understood the words anyway!). It's been a long but great day, one which has refreshed me, if not physically, at least spiritually, for the week ahead.

Not Autumn

Friday week 2, term 1. I nearly wrote Autumn term there but of course there's no such thing as Autumn here. We're curently in the wet season and in a few weeks it'll get less wet and cool off a bit for what we would call the Winter months. I've just come from the dorm where I had to put David to bed; there's only one boy in our dorm at the weekends (at least for now). The power went out at the exact moment I tried to turn his ceiling fan on (I thought I'd done something for a second), I had to make my way allong the corridor walls back to the lounge where I managed to knock my tourch of the table and ended up scrabbling around on the floor in the pitch black trying to find it. Quite fun really. I'm still enjoying the teaching although sometimes a little more prep wouldn't go amiss and I feel a little bad at making the older kids write so much; the IGCSE Computer Studies course is really theoretical, they never get to use the computers, it's all talking and writing. I'm really enjoying the younger years ICT classes, we're just getting into some fairly interesting projects which is more fun for the kids and less lesson prep for me which is great all round! It's been a tough week in some ways. There are a lot of staff ill and many of the kids in our dorm have been having trouble sleeping and some pretty nasty nightmares. As a staff we feel there may be a spiritual element to all this (which has been going on since the leadership change over last month) and we've been spending a lot of time praying with and comforting the kids. We can be confident that when we call on God he will help us as Christ defeated evil once and for all by his death and ressurrection therefore evil powers must flee when we call on His name. That is a great comfort to the kids and we've been looking together at encouraging passages from the bible which the kids can use when they're afraid. I had a great day off on Monday. I went to Thies with Franziska and Jacqui, two other general helpers, and we went shopping and generally wandered around town before eating lunch at Les Delices, a local restaurant with nice food that's dirt cheap compared to eating out at home. We travelled back in an old Peugot 7 seater which was falling apart, inside and out, the three of us squished on the back seat (made for two) with three africans in front of us and the driver and another passenger in front of them. It was great to get off the school compound and relax and to experience some more authentic transportation too.

A tough first week

I've just come to the end of my first week of school. It's been tough. It was great on Tuesday to see all the kids arrive; the whole site atmosphere completely changed and I started to realise more fully what I'm doing here. I'm helping in the youngest dorm, Eagle, which has been great so far. The kids there are really lovely and the house parents, Chris and Brianna, are great. There are only two boys in the dorm (and eight girls) which makes life easier for Chris and I at bed time because the two boys share one room so there's much less chasing to do than in most dorms. Being the youngest they go to bed fairly early which is a help too. I'm usually back in my house by 8:30 in the evening. The teaching is going fairly well (after a slightly dissatisfactory first lesson) and I'm enjoying it. I am finding the prep hard though and have found that I've been flat out this week trying to squeeze in time to prepare for lessons at the last minute. I had four periods first thing this morning and was up 'til 2am last night preparing them. I hope that's a one off and I can do things a little more in advance from now on (hopefully I'll get quicker as time goes on too). What I'd love to do now is crash out for the weekend but unfortunately, being a general helper, I'm in the dorm all weekend with the kids so I'll have to wait 'til my day off on Monday but I'm not planning any more super late nights in the meantime.