A posting from Emily Prior, class of 2011.
To me, the term Rural Visit sounded somewhat administrative. Stupid, maybe, but I pictured us formally “sitting in” on a rural village, clipboard in hand, acting as the overseers or even playing the role of the high school principal that quietly sits in the back analyzing some particular developmental aspect of a class otherwise foreign to him. We were prepared for the even-greater-than-Dakar language barriers between us and our particular rural village and prepared for the vast cultural differences we were bound to run into as well. Through all these warnings, however, I somehow overlooked the possibility of having the simplest yet most powerful week of my time in Senegal thus far.
Mbam, Senegal is a little village located on the River Delta, about a six-hour trip south of Dakar. But then again a six hour trip could very well translate into a mere 20 kilometers for all I know - the pot-holed roads, vehicles, and general “always on Senegal time” attitude of every public transit driver here (30 minutes late) messes with my notion of distance covered. Either way, after sept-place (Volkswagen-looking cars packed with 7 people and driver), bus, pirogue fishing boat, and of course horse chariot, Katy Heerwagen and I trotted into Mbam.
We knew we were to stay with Bineta Bass for our week in Mbam. Bineta is the vice-president of the local NGO Association Populaire des Voluntaires pour la Réhabilitation, (ASPOVRECE). In fact, thanks to ASPOVRECE, Mbam has made a tiny little name for itself as an Eco-Village and is proud to be the only village in Senegal with Bio Fuel tanks. The tanks were constructed in 2003 and will hopefully run near the end of this year… Senegal Time.
Turns out Bineta Bass would soon become near god-like to me. She has no children of her own but instead acts as the mother to fifteen students who live there for the school year. But nobody would ever know that the packed compound is full of boarders. They care for each other, cook, know the ins and outs of every other person in the house, and love Bineta immensely. She also hosts travelers from all around the world, Peace Corps volunteers, anyone who, through their travels, happens to run into this remote place.
Village life was a breath of fresh air from hustling bustling Dakar. We stayed in huts, took bucket showers, picked peanuts, wrote in journals, watched the stars, swam in the river, attempted that oh so difficile Senegalese cookin. We weren’t awkwardly sitting in the back, doing our observatory work but through broken conversations we not only talked to everyone on the compound but thanks to the open and loving atmosphere that Bineta seemed to have created, we connected with them and felt a part of this makeshift family. Standing over “the hole” throwing water on my head and calling it a shower, I couldn’t help but think that in many ways, I really admire Mbam.