Ramadan and Muslim Friends

February 2004
Ramadan ended.  Alhumdoulilahi!  Praise be to Allah!  

Since Senegal is about 95% Muslim, Ramadan affects everyone.  Muslims fasted for 30 days.  Ramadan ends with Korité, one of our 21 holidays in Senegal.  Much like our Easter at the end of Lent, it’s a day of feasting and celebration.  Everyone eats chicken, rice and plenty of sweets, mostly dates, for dessert.

All this after 30 days of fasting from sunrise to sunset.  A typical Ramadan day 

for a Muslim begins at 5:00 AM.  They must eat before 6:00.  Actually the sun rises closer to 7:00, but the “marabouts”, the religious leaders, dictate the time of the sunrise.  A smart Muslim will stuff himself with a full breakfast and plenty of water, because nothing must pass his or her lips until 7:00 PM – sunset, according to Islamic tradition.

At 7 PM they have a “Break Fast”, which normally consists of tea, coffee, water or soft drinks plus dates and sugar cookies.  Later on they will eat a full dinner.  Surprisingly no one seems to lose much weight.  We understand that Muslims spend more on food during Ramadan than at any time during the year.

Ramadan takes a toll on everyone.  People get cranky and/or sleepy in the late afternoon.  Work suffers, and people leave work early.  Driving home is a nightmare in Dakar.  Everyone is so anxious to get home that any hint of road courtesy disappears.

Meet Rokhaya

During the last two weeks of Ramadan I had only one student show up for my English class – Rokhaya – my star student.  She’s an interesting lady: an intelligent, strong, intensely religious person with whom I’ve enjoyed becoming better acquainted.  She always shows up for class in a beautiful bou-bou complete with a head veil.  I swear that I’ve never seen her wear the same bou-bou twice.

Rokhaya works for the Senegalese government’s Dept. of Commerce – Division of Export Assistance.  Her job is to promote the sale of Senegalese products around the world. 

What products can Senegal export, you may ask?  Fish is the largest export – both fresh and dried.  Then comes ground nuts – peanuts and cashews.  They’re called “ground nuts” to distinguish them from tree nuts.

Next come vegetables.  The mangoes and watermelons are “sans pareil”, without equal.  Because of the warm climate, they can grow many veggies here while it’s winter in the northern climes.

Artisanal products – handmade leather goods, textiles, jewelry, wood carvings – are less amenable to government promotion.  Many of the craftsmen make their own deals internationally, either as individuals or through private syndicates.  Their private dealings stem from a belief that tax avoidance is preferable to government assistance.  Also, these tradesmen have begun to use the Internet as a marketing tool.

As one of her classroom presentations Rhokaya spoke of her plans for retirement.  Only 44, she plans to retire to Touba, a city in central Senegal that is home to the muslim brotherhood known as the Mourides.  The central focus of Touba is Islam.  The town is centered around a grand mosque that is not to be missed, although we’ve missed it so far.  No bars, discos or cinemas here.  Consequently, it is a tranquil city.  My other star student – Aminata – goes there frequently just to rest up from the hustle and bustle of Dakar.  Rohkaya owns property there on which she is building a house, slowly but surely.

Rokhaya has invited me to Touba to meet with the Grand Maribout.  At age 97 he is the great grandson of the founder of the brotherhood.  I plan to accept her invitation sometime before the end of the year.

Meet Adji

The other evening I was playing golf with a Senegalese gentleman, Adji.    During our round we discovered that we were the same age, 63.  He looks a helluva lot younger than me, and I told him so.  He then opened right up.  He has recently retired from the Central Bank of Senegal, has put three children through Levecque University in Quebec City, Canada, and has one son attending Suffolk U. in Dakar, who’s not doing well academically.

We ended up talking more than golfing.  One of the subjects we discussed was the relative stability of Senegal compared to other governments in West Africa.  Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Guinea have undergone recent coups d’état, some with considerable loss of life and human rights.  The same problem is prevalent further east in Angola, Nigeria and the Congo.  We both agreed that the root of the troubles in all of these countries is their precious resources, be they oil or minerals.  These resources beget human greed, which, in turn, begets violence and human suffering.  What does Senegal have? Fish, ground nuts, fruits, veggies and some nice beaches.  Nothing worth getting greedy about.  Nothing to fight over.  Sure, they’ve had their border disputes with Mauritania.  Sure, there’re problems between the Casamance people south of Gambia.  They feel, probably with justification, that the government is treating them like distant country cousins – that they’re not being properly serviced by their government.

Nonetheless, Senegal doesn’t possess the precious natural resources that bring out the worst in international human nature.  Alhumdoulilahi!

A la prochaine   Chuck