Last night on the radio during dedication hour…
DJ: Ngadef! (Wolof for how are you?)
Caller: Waay, suma xarit, mangi fi rekk! (Friend, I am here)
DJ: Naka waa ker ge? (How are the people in your family)
Caller: Nunga fe! (They are there)
DJ: Naka sa baay? (How’s your father?)
Caller: Munga fe! (He’s there)
DJ: Naka sa ndey? (How’s your mother? )
Caller: Munga fe? (She’s there)
DJ: Jamm nge am? (Do you have peace?)
Caller: Jamm rekk, alhamdulilay! (Peace only, thanks be to God!)
DJ: Donc, avez-vouz une dedication? (Switching to French - Do you have a dedication?)
Caller: Wow (Wolof - Yes)
DJ: Ok
Caller: Donc, premierement pour m’est amis a Dakar. (First for my friends in Dakar)
DJ: Wow
Caller: Et ma t’ante in Pekine (and my Aunt in Pekine)
DJ: Wow
Caller: Mon auncle Abdulaye Gueye en N’Gor (My Uncle Abdulaye Gueye in N’Gor)
DJ: Wow
…. this continues on till most of his conceivable family members and friends are covered.
DJ: Mais! N’avais vous pas de parents en Dakar!? (But, don’t you have parents in Dakar!?)
Caller: Wow! Merci! Je voudrais donne un “shout out” a eux aussi.
DJ: Ok, Dierrediouf! (Ok, Thanks!)
Caller: Ciao
DJ: Ciao

The DJ then picks up the next caller and the same process starts again! Needless to say, dedication hour is not the time to catch up on the latest Senegelese hits.

Today was a great day. For the first time, I have begun to feel at home. My headache from speaking French 24/7 has started to go away but I’m still waiting for my tongue to catch up with my mind. Actually, I’m still waiting for that to happen with my English, so I may be waiting for quite a long time. Overall though, it’s been wonderful to be working in a French environment and I am increasingly thankful that I opted to polish up my French in such a fashion instead of spending +$20K at Thunderbird to attempt the same.

Mmm, mmm good

Chez Balbe
Today was another success in that we found a local charamawa place in which to frequent. For those who don’t know, a chawarama is sliced beef on pita, covered in a yogurt kind of sauce and stuffed with fries. They are the lebanese version of a gyro (or tacos arabique as they were called in Mexico) and constitutes Senegal’s primary form of fast food. Anyways, we found a small hole in the wall shop run by Ibrahima Balbe and we definetly will be returning often. On our next visit, I’ll be sure to take pictures to better share the experience.

Cyber Louma, marché Sandaga, Dakar

Cyber Louma
Today was also really good in that I think I found a great open source/web based accounting package for the Cyber Louma. One of my main projects with DFI will be working at the Cyber Louma which is basically a computer lab with phone services, etc. What makes the Cyber Louma importantly unique is that is based in Sandaga the big market in Dakar and its primary purpose is to serve the needs of the merchants/commercants of the market. One of my goals is to offer some basic business services, starting with a simple inventory tracking program to offer these merchants. The ultimate goal is to make the Cyber Louma self-sustainable at which point it could potentially be replicated across Senegal and other countries in Africa by DFI and other USAID sponsored projects. Before that can happen, I need to get a sense of the current financial health of the center. The staff there is currently doing a good the books with an Excel based system, however, a robust accounting system in the long term is needed. So far the leading candidate is WebErp. What I really like about it besides its price (free) and the robustness of its features is that it is being actively developed by software companies from developing countries like South Africa, Costa Rica and Pakistan for their clients who can’t legitimately afford ERP systems like SAP or People Soft. Thus, they’ve taken the ERP challenge in their own hands and have done a very good job thus far. Enterprise systems for the bottom of the pyramid… you gotta love it.

Orientation

DFI provided us with this brief cultural orientation guide in case your interested.

Well it’s taken me long enough to finally make a first post from Dakar. Things have been pretty hectic, but I realize I have probably already disuaded my potential blog audience of about 5 people from checking back but let me begin.

For those who didn’t already know, I just started a 3 1/2 month stint with the Geek Corps where I will be working with the Digital Freedom Initiative (DFI) a USAID/Government of Senegal collaborative whose goal is to improve local small and medium enterprises (SME) through technology. Dakar is the capital of Senegal a country in western Africa. Dakar also is the place where I spent most of my formative years from age (7-15ish) growing up. So in many ways this is a homecoming of sorts.

First Impressions
I got into dark at about 8:00PM after about 24 hours of travel (Chicago –> Paris (8 hour layover) –> Dakar). At the airport (where nothing apparent has changed in 13 years accept for some new xtray machines), I was picked up by some of the DFI staff and one of my new roomates Raffaelle an Italian who had already been in Dakar now for about 2 months.

While it was dark in the ride to my house, I could tell that Dakar had definetly changed. First, the level of construction homes that have been built is staggering — what had been open space is now filled. On the other hand, the decay is also noticable but jives with the old African proverb, “Instead of maintaining what you got, just build something new”. Another major shock was that globalism was in full effect in that there was a fast food joint (complete with Mountain Dew) just down the street of where I lived.

Le residence de DFI is quite nice. I live in a communal apartment and a nice bathroom with working hot water, alhumdulilah! Better yet, we have a dedicated 256K connection with a wifi (albeit having to deal with a jacked wireless router) which makes all the difference in the world. I also live above the DFI offices where I do most of my work which means I’ll be spending less time commuting on Car Rapides to my parent’s great pleasure.

Les Mamelles Light House

First couple of days
My first couple of days in Dakar have consisted primarily of:

1. Being amazed by the dust - Dakar sits on the fringe of the Sahel, which is basically the last bastion of plant life before the rapidly advancing Sahara. Due to rapid deforestation and shifting weather trends, the level of desertification and dust has increased noticably from when I left. The dust is amazing here and will probably require dedicated future posting to truly understand how the little orange powder coats everything.
2. Figuring out what to eat - My first couple of days, I think I have survived on french bread, peanuts, coke and Gazelle the original version of the African 40oz. Most I purchase (accept for the beer) from the boutique on the corner from Abdou Diallo a young Guinean who works and lives in his family’s shop everday from 6am to about midnight. Remind me never to bitch about work

 
Zidane inspired pirogue

Sandaga market where I will be working

View more Dakar Pictures »

Just a quick note to say I made it in safely. Dakar (from what I can tell) has grown tremendously. I’m out in a new area in the village of Yoff that didn’t exist when I was here as a kid. Anyways, I need to force myself to go back to bed to beat this jet lag. I hope to explore Dakar tommorow and will post some pics.