The value of saving

Saving is a principal some of us learn as a youth, others wish we had learned it as a youth, because now we are broke. A few days ago I was with Early and Adama, two 7 year old in my neighborhood. I was heading on out to meet my counterpart when Early reached in his pocket and showed me his 25cfa he just received. As soon as he held the piece up he demanded that I take him to the Maison Communal to play video games. Each game cost only 25cfa, which would alot him 3 minuets of fun. I explained I had to work first, but after we could go and play a game. On the long walk to my counterpart's house, Early pulled my hand and told me to stop. "I want to buy a candy Djiby." I tried to explain to him that if he bought candy now, he wouldn't have any money to play video games with. He looked at me and started chanting the word for video game. We continued until we got to another corner with a different store. Once again, "Djiby, stop, I want a candy." We went over the reason he should save his money once again and we continued on. After the fourth time, we finally go to the house, I had my meet and greet and my counterpart walked me out of her house. The first thing she said too me was, "Where are their shoes?" On the walk back all Early could talk about was playing video games and the different ones he would play. On the way back he ran into a store and to my surprise he came out not with candy, but another 25 piece. Early was working his young entrepreneurial skills to make some money for the video games. We finally got to the video game room and Early chose to play a Tekken fighting game. The only button on the machine that worked was the kick. Early quickly lost out to the computer, which had the capability to duck under the kick. After the two minuets Early looked a little sad and moved on to use his second 25cfa. It was a shooting game, with two pistols. M. Zeff let the other boy play also even without paying. The boys took the guns out of the holsters and started shooting at the targets. None of the boys hit one target and the game ended within a minuet. The kids just looked at each other in pure disappointment, but then I yelled shoot, shoot. The demo had come on and every single target got shot and then the next demo came on and so on. I watched the kids shoot at the demo for a good 10 minuets. They had the time of their lives and just wanted to keep on playing. Even though they weren't actually playing they had a great time and afterward all they would do was talk about who won the match.

So to get to the point, teach the value of saving, because in the end they will realize that they can eat candy for a second or they can parle that money to do something they have never done before. None of these kids have ever played video games, because they always spend their money right away. Also maybe these kids will grow up and have children, when they do they might even save enough money to but their kids shoes, instead of spending it right away on useless stuff.

Politics

Politics can be a very tricky thing to understand here in Senegal. I have lived here for almost two years now and I am having a very hard time grasping the the way people think about who they will vote for. For instance the guy who is running for re eliection in my town will get voted back into office because no one is going to run against him. It wasn't always this way, for the past year and a half my host mom has been leading the campaign for a man who was planning to run against the current mayor. The held several meetings and even had a few parties. As the elections are begging to get closer and closer they began to organize more and more. Durring one of these events I asked my brother why he wanted to change the mayor. He explained that the current mayor just throws money at people, but doesn't actually solve any of the problems. My response was, but in Dagana we have new roads, street lights, a new high school, new sugar factory, new stadium, new garage, and a historic district. We are in better shape than 95% of the country. He still disagred with me and said it wasn't the mayor who did all of this it was just chance that we got all of those things since we are a departmental capitol. (I have no opinion of the mayor and the work he has done, I just wanted to argue to see what his response would be.)

About a week ago the mayor came to town to campaign, he put up speakers and gave out free shirts to everyone n the crowd. People went crazy, except for a few people who prefer the other candidate. My brother attached red flags to our house to protest and didn't go to the rally. About two days ago, my brother runs into my room and throws me a tee shirt of the current mayor. He is running around blowing a whistle and is holding a sign giving the mayor and President (Who he hates by they way) support for the upcoming elections. To say the least I was confused and had to ask what was going on. Turns out that his candidate is running with the mayor now and has switched parties. If you can't beat them then join them. At the drop of the hat, everyone in this other party switched over and wanted to be part of the winning side. Morals and beliefs failed to the feeling of victory. Imagine if politics was like this in America. We would have a one party system with each President. Everyone would join the President's party.

Any who, I thought that it was funny to see how politics work here. People become political not because they believe in something, they do it to be part of something. If the guy my brother supported lost the elections, he would not be part of anything, by switching over he can say he helped campaign and is part of the socialist party. The candidate who witched over, gets power and recognition and his views really didn't matter any ways.

Happy B-Day Elana.

changes

So, many changes have occurred the last few weeks of my life. Such as 5 min ago, the Mosque only 30 feet from my room decided to add electricity and loud speakers. I knew the day was coming when I would have the call to prayer coming through my window, but I was hoping it would hold out for at least another 6 months. Speaking of only haveing six months left, I decided to add internet to my room so I could communicate alot better with the people back home and look for work back in America. So far the communication has been great, I have gotten to speak to my parents, my sister Lea, and my friend Gina. If your name wasn't listed, come on people, it is free to call skype to skype. No excuses any more. As far as the job search is concerned, i put in two applications to get my pre med credentials. One at Towson University and the other at The University of Maryland. So in for weeks or so, we shall see what happens. Wish me luck. Other than that, I have been working here at my site and spending a lot of time with the host family. My big project now is restoring the historic fort. We are turning it into a museum or sorts and opening 5 artisinal boutiques in it. This is for when the tourist boat comes once a week with 50 people or so. Hopeful we have success and are able to find our way into guides like "Lonely Planet" and other books.

Any who talk to you all soon.

Internet

Hey, I am back and in a new way. I just got the internet at my house so I will be updating my blog more and more. I have been a little lazy in the past with it, but will now try to make an effort to blog every few days. My new blogs wont be as epic as past ones, but more frequent. So I just wanted to say hello and I am now on skype. So talk to me for free if you want.