Reflection of the Day
I believe there’s something to be learned everyday. So the lesson that was reinforced in me is that there is much to benefit from if you don’t walk around with walls built up around you.
The streets of Dakar are filled with people selling all types of goods: roasted peanuts, oranges, printed fabric, beads, wooden carvings, cds… the list goes on. Being non-African is an automatic bulls eye for all these sellers. Automatically you are greeted, sometimes followed, some are too pushy demanding for your name, and others just smile and silently see if you’re interested. Usually I just say no thank you and keep walking but today while on my adventure to find a small Senegalese restaurant, I inevitably got lost, and had to rely on them to direct me around. I trusted the help of Moussa ( I now know his name) and he led me to the restaurant which wasn’t necessarily close. After I ate, he asked if I would look at his boutique, which I figured I would have to repeatedly explain that I’m not going to buy anything. But instead we had a good conversation talking about the importance of experiencing different cultures and people and of building inter-cultural relationships. I didn’t buy anything, though I’ll probably come back and buy gifts from him before I leave Senegal. After I looked at his boutique, he led me back to an area that I recognized again.
I could of easily ignored his help and assumed he just wanted to pressure me into buying things, and if I would of done this I would of missed a chance to connect with a genuinely good person. He explained to me that “tu tombe sur les bonnes et tu tombe sur les mauvaises,” meaning you come across good people and you come across bad ones. He reminded me that if you always let the fear of what’s unknown build up walls, you miss the chance to relate and connect with those unlike yourself.
And there you have it, my reflection of the day:)
posted by Meghan Salveson @ 6:35 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Wow meaghan, you learned a very important lesson very early on. I think it took me a month to realize that there doesn't always have to be a wall. For example, in Ghana, the vendors, children, old men, old women, everyone, calls Obruni, meaning white man, as I passed by. It's wasn't meant to be offensive and I knew that. For the first weeks, I smiled and waved but the calls were so numberous that I never got anywhere or anything done. After a while, I curled and clenched inside at the sound of the word. I just didn't like having my white skin pointed out. All I wanted was to fit in and be a local. I ignored the calls or cursed them under my breath which was completely uncalled for on my part because they just want aknowledgement from a person who comes from the country which they unreasonably hold in such high esteem. I learned how to say please don't call me obruni, my name is Rachel in the local dialect and I used that to no end. This made me feel better and it created a dialogue between the people that was deeper than just wanting to say hello to a white. I don't know, it made us both happier because they weren't being ignored and I reducing the number of people who would yell obruni at me in the futur. In fact, many of the people who I introduced myself to became my friends and we would greet each other in the markets or along the streets. I even made a very close friend. So there you are. Turning something negative into a posative isn't always easy but it is more rewarding.
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