Tag: Senegal

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Political Situation in Senegal (update)

We last wrote about the political situation on our blog in July 2023 after Senegal had experienced a week of intense riots across the country. Things have been relatively quiet since then, until just this past week.

On Saturday, President Macky Sall announced an indefinite postponement to the election which was supposed to take place on February 25th. I (Adam) was taking part in a softball tournament that day at a field owned by the U.S. Embassy. When Sall made his announcement (around 3pm), the Embassy immediately cancelled the tournament for the day for fear of protests breaking out across the city. While Saturday remained relatively quiet, protests did materialize Sunday night into Monday morning. These protests (even peaceful ones) were met with strong force from the police who quickly used tear gas to break up any demonstrations.

On Monday morning, Senegal’s Parliament met to vote on the decision to delay the presidential election. At around 10pm and after a full day of debating, police were called in to physically remove members of the Parliament who opposed the bill and were trying to prevent the vote from taking place. After their removal, the bill passed and the elections were postponed until December 15th. This effectively extends President Sall’s presidency, which was slated to end on April 2nd since he has already reached the two term limit, for another six months.

Many are calling this move a “constitutional coup” and are saying that Senegal’s democracy has died with this delay of the presidential election. If you’d like to know more, you can click on the picture below to read a New York Times article which does a good job summarizing what has happened recently.

We ask that you join us in prayer for the following things:

  1. That democracy and a fair election process would be preserved.
  2. For peace here in Dakar and across the country.
  3. That protests would be peaceful and would not lead to the destruction of property and the loss of life like was seen last summer.
  4. That God would use this political situation to draw Senegalese people to Jesus, the Prince of Peace, who alone provides true and lasting peace.

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Joy in the Mundane

The Senegalese people are hard workers.

There are times when this doesn’t seem the case because the culture doesn’t emphasize (American-style) efficiency when it comes to formal processes and because (American-style) timeliness isn’t as highly regarded (ex. expecting a mason to come work at our house in the morning, but waiting for hours because when he said morning he actually meant late afternoon). This is more of a cultural adjustment on our end though as we come from a culture that emphasizes efficiency and timeliness, arguably to a fault.

In general though, the average person who works is working hard for long hours each day, often for very little pay and doing a job that, from my perspective, seems monotonous and lacking in reward for the effort required. We live across the street from a boutique, which is a little store selling all sorts of things from eggs to juice to brooms to flip flops (seriously, these stores are filled from floor to ceiling with quite the assortment of goods!). Two men run this boutique 7 days a week. Each morning between 7 and 8 am they are out there opening the doors, setting up the stands of potatoes, oil and beans that sit outside the store and sweeping the step leading into the store which is perpetually covered with sand from the dirt road we live on. All day they help hundreds of customers, using a wheelbarrow to transport goods from the storage unit around the block when things need to be restocked. Senegal has a strong night culture so they remain open until 11pm and sometimes as late as 1am (and yes, they are still hopping at these late hours!). They pack everything back up, lock the doors and prepare to come back the next day. We have lived here over a year now and I have never seen the boutique closed, nor seen someone other than these two men running it. Talk about long, repetitive work.

This has prompted some thinking lately on the work God has given me as a stay at home mom. And in this I have been learning a lot about taking joy in the repetitive tasks of each day which is a lot of what my job is. For example, much of my life revolves around mundane, everyday tasks: cooking meals, packing lunches, encouraging potty breaks, wiping children, changing diapers, nursing a baby, laying her down for naps, picking up toys, cleaning up messes, doing dishes, filling up our water pitcher to keep our filtered water supply up, putting laundry away, wiping things down, meal planning, ordering meat deliveries, giving baths and so on. Of course there are plenty of other things in my day as well, but just maintaining a home takes a lot of daily tasks done on repeat.*

It can be easy to feel like I’m stuck in a never ending loop of figuring out what to feed the family and cleaning things which will just become dirty again the next day (or later that day, or later that hour). Yet, isn’t this a reflection of God? Day in and day out He causes the sun to rise and set. He brings the rhythm of the sun’s passing and the seasons changing. There is an order to life, an ebb and a flow in nature and even the things and seasons we experience as humans. Even in the garden, before the fall, He had created plants and animals, day and night. He had given Adam tasks which were a delight to him and had invited man in to work alongside the Creator.

This is still true today, though sin has marred it. I’m made with purpose. I image God as I carry out my day to day tasks and rhythms. There is deep satisfaction and joy in taking part in ordering creation in the spheres God has put us in. For me that is creating a home and mealtimes which bring our family together and allow us to find a safe haven as well as a space to be hospitable and relational with others. Additionally, even if my work can feel unproductive at times, like weeks when the kids are sick or just needing extra one on one attention, I can find fulfillment knowing that God has called me to this work and there is immense purpose in that alone. So, whatever the Lord has called you to for this season, be it motherhood, an 8-5 job, caring for a sick family member, a time of waiting; know that there is purpose and that God can be glorified in it all, even the mundane.

– Selina

* I would be remiss not to mention that Adam plays just as big a part in many of these daily tasks to keep the home running and has lots of other roles on top of his regular ministry duties (ex. being the sole grocery shopper and our main dish washer). Additionally, our house help Fatou is an immense blessing as she washes almost all our laundry and cleans the house from top to bottom twice a week, a much needed aid given how quickly things develop a layer of dirt and dust – even when it’s not dusty season!

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Limon, Limon, Limon!

One thing that has been interesting here is that there are tons of people out and about selling things or offering services. Men walk around offering to clean shoes, trim toenails (seriously!), sew things, wash cars, trim bushes and so on. Women set up stands in random nooks on side streets and sell produce, fried pastries, sandwiches or nuts. Men stand next to busy roads or walk along the highway, taking advantage of standstill traffic to try and sell all manner of thing; cashews, peanuts, small birds to offer as penance for sin, windshield wipers, dresses, shirts, bags of water, toys, large framed pictures, rugs, cleaning supplies, sunglasses, kites…you get the picture. This is in addition to stands that are more permanently set up to sell fruit and vegetables, clothing, street food and so on.

Door-to-door sales are also very common and if you buy from someone once you had better be ready to have them show up to your door one to three times a week. It only takes one purchase to be considered a regular on their route. For example, we have a “fish guy” named Abdou who frequents our home. We are now in a rhythm of buying a kilo of fish each week from him and are then able to offer him a few moments of respite from the sun in our front entry. We chat for a couple of minutes and he downs a cup or two of cold water. We found out recently that he has 8 children who are 21 years old down to elementary age. His persistence is admirable and also understandable knowing how many people he is supporting.

Recently we added a “citrus guy” to our rotation named Muhammad. He is one of the people who sells things by chanting repeatedly what it is he is selling. Then, once you buy from him once, he comes to your door, chanting in between stops to try and garner new customers. His cry is especially distinct. A loud, deep chant of “Limon, limon, limon!” which is citrus in Wolof. For months our family has loved when he passes because we enjoyed chanting “limon, limon, limon” in our own home whenever we heard him, but we had yet to actually purchase anything from him. Then about a month ago I actually needed limes and happened to be at the front door when he passed. I flagged him down and made my first purchase. Muhammad now stops by two or three times a week and Desi is in charge of giving him 500cfa (about 80 cents) for the little bag of limes.

There are several other people who use the power of sound to indicate what they are offering and to let people know they’re there. For example, the guys who sew things walk around with an old fashioned looking sewing machine propped on one shoulder and shearers in their hand which they make a clacking noise with as they walk so you always know where they’re at.

This has made me think about the idea of proclamation. These people who are selling their wares have found ways to announce beforehand about their arrival so that those they’re approaching can respond and buy something when they come. They herald their arrival and the good things they bring.

As a follower of Jesus I am called to proclaim the good news, to be a herald of the saving faith Jesus offers, the hope we can have in Him. This is done through the way we live and love others, but must also be done with words (sound). Do my actions and words declare the good news and give an accurate picture of the God of the Bible? Am I quick to confess my own sinfulness and need for a Savior? Am I pointing to the hope of Jesus alone for salvation? Am I pursuing spiritual conversations with others and sharing the gospel with them? Does our lifestyle, family dynamic and home leave space to invite others in? Are we loving other followers of Christ well, knowing we’re all a part of one Church? What message is my life proclaiming? What do I need to change to more clearly herald the good news of Jesus?

Just as our kids know the sound of the “Limon, limon, limon” guy, I hope that my life can be marked by the ever present proclamation of the gospel in word and deed.

“You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God!'” – Isaiah 40:9

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'” – Isaiah 52:7

“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim His name; make known among the nations what He has done. Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts.” – Psalm 105:1-2

“The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” – 1 John 1:2-3

– Selina

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Death Defying Masonry

A month or so ago we had a new wall A/C unit put into Evie’s room so that we could move her out of our room and into her own. The A/C units here have two parts to them: the unit that is mounted in the wall on the inside and a second box on the outside of the home. Depending on the location, this exterior unit is usually hung on the outside wall or placed on a balcony or rooftop. In our situation, Evie’s room is on the second floor and so it was easier to place the exterior unit on the roof and then run the cables up to it. This required making two holes in the exterior wall of our home for the cables to pass through.

Very quickly after the A/C was installed some birds began making a nest in the hole right behind the actual unit inside Evie’s room. It quickly became apparent that the sound of a mama bird making a nest in the wall did not have the same soothing effect that one might imagine when they think of the relaxing sounds of bird calls in nature. So we hired a mason to come and patch the two holes. He came with a really large ladder to reach up to our second story, but apparently it was not quite tall enough. I took him up to the roof to see the higher of the two holes which was high enough on the wall for him to patch from our roof, but I told him he would need a ladder for the other hole. He was in the process of tying some ropes together and he turned to me and said, “I’m making one”. He processed to create a loop in the rope which he tied off and threw over the edge. He then climbed over the edge of the roof until he could step down on a small perch above our window. From there he climbed into the loop of rope where he sat. He mixed some cement which he balanced in his lap and filled the hole. When he was done he simply climbed back up the same way he went down.

I was terrified this guy was going to fall and kill himself but this was clearly a normal practice for him. At the same time, I couldn’t help but laugh when I thought about the OSHA workplace safety poster that had to be hung in my bank office back in the States. I also was sure to call Selina to tell her to run outside and take a picture 😀 (see below). I told him after how much he scared me and that in the United States what he did would never fly. I also showed him the picture Selina took. He just laughed, told me the picture was “jolie” (pretty) and asked me to send it to him. It was a reminder that every task and interaction we have is a cultural learning moment for us!   

-Adam

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Hot Season

Now that we are a week into November, we are very excited for the imminent (we hope!) end to our first hot season here in Senegal. Many of you have asked us about the hot season so we thought we’d write a post about our experience.

October is said to be the worst month as the rainy season has ended and the humidity builds without any more showers to bring a reprieve. During October the average high temperature during the day was probably in the mid-to-low 90’s, or in the mid-to-high 90’s with the heat index. And if you are out in the sun it feels much worse. The temperature doesn’t really drop off at night, which has been one of the hardest parts of hot season because you never really get a break from the heat. In the middle of the night the temperature remained around 90 with the heat index. Because of this the temperature inside our home probably averaged in the high 80’s or low 90’s. Turn on a stove or oven to cook and the temperature in the kitchen can easily climb into triple digits.

All that being said, in some ways, hot season was not as bad as we expected. We felt like we could continue to function (most of the time) and I (Adam) was not grumpy 100% of the time like I thought I might be. We are very blessed to have air conditioning in our rooms to sleep at night. Without this, I am sure that this hot season would have been very different. In fact, a common question asked here in Senegal as part of the greeting process is to inquire about how someone slept the night before. We’ve heard many times over the last several months from students or our house help that they have not been sleeping well because it’s just too hot.

Just the other night our electricity went out at around 10pm and remained off until roughly 2am. Without having air conditioning or even a fan to circulate the air, the heat was truly oppressive. Thankfully our kids stayed asleep for the first couple of hours while their room remained somewhat cool, but eventually woke up because of how hot they were. I spent much of that time sitting in a folding chair in front of a window just hoping for a breeze. Many Senegalese will actually sleep on their rooftops during hot season and I was contemplating how to make this happen for our family right before our power was restored.

We’ve found that during the day if you don’t move much and if you stay in front of a fan, it’s not too bad. But once you remove any part of that equation, the sweating is quick to start. For example, and this may be TMI for some of you, we’ve found that often the worst room in the house is the bathroom because there are no fans or airflow. I proudly follow in the footsteps of my father in spending too much time on the porcelain throne. However, this way of life is not kind to me here. The picture in this post that you might think is me after coming home from a run. In fact, that is me after coming out of the bathroom. Here’s to the end of hot season!

-Adam

*The day after typing this we had what we believe is the cold front that will usher in the cooler season! A breeze could be felt all day and the temperatures were in the 80s with a much lower humidity as well! I’ve declared that the end of hot season will officially be a holiday our family celebrates 😊

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3 Year Anniversary of our First Day in Senegal

I love journaling. I could write a whole blog post about that (and I probably will at some point). I love it because of how helpful it is in the moment, but also because of how helpful it can be days, months and even years later. When I read an old journal I get a glimpse into what I was feeling and thinking at that time, into what kinds of questions and concerns I was pouring out to God and into how He was working in my life at that time. I also get to see how He has continued to work in those areas. I just came across an amazing example of this when I found a journal entry I had written the very first night of our vision trip to Senegal.

October 2020. We had chosen Avant as our mission agency, done several phone interviews with various teams around the world and had felt that Senegal was the most intriguing. Avant and the team on the ground had encouraged us to take a vision trip to get a feel for the location and ministry. Mia was two and Desmond was only 5 months old, but we had decided to leave them with family so that we could spend the most amount of time getting to know our potential teammates and the place we were considering.

We arrived in country after an overnight flight. I was desperately trying to pump in the hopes of continuing to nurse Desmond once we returned home. We showed up in the height of hot season. Both of us felt run down and Adam especially was struggling with a cold that was much worse after not sleeping on the plane. We spent that first day napping, getting to know our potential teammates and going out to a dinner on the beach. Then we settled in for the night in our AirBNB apartment. At 2am I was up pumping and wrote this journal entry:

10/19/20 2am pumping

Adam and I talked in bed last night and are on the same page about how tough it would be to live here. This is not to say that we think this is not for us but that it would be hard, especially trying to think about this on Day 1. A lot about the way of life is just SO different. It would be hard to raise young kids here, hard to figure out the ins and outs of cultural norms and how to get by. We would lose so much that we are so used to and hold dear, but what is worth losing and what are things we are holding too dear? I think about things like going out and about comfortably as a family, family walks, seeing our family almost daily, a familiar home and access to things easily. These are things that are currently integral to our family. But are they the most important things? What do we want to teach our kids? What do we want to model to them as being of the most importance?

I think we are both a little stressed thinking about all of this; we miss the kids, are jet lagged, tired, sick and feeling inadequate. We also are struggling with feeling like we are failures if we decide not to come here. This is also not a motivation to decide to live here. Pride one way or another cannot be why we make our decisions. But neither can comfort or fear of the unknown.

Lord, wherever we end up, whatever You lead us to it WILL be hard. We WILL be uncomfortable and displaced for awhile. But we want to pursue Your will, we want what You want for us and our family. Please Oh Lord make that clear to us. We have confidence and eager expectation of how you will make this clear to us over the coming days.

I pray we can also intentionally connect with the Cousens and be wise and transparent with our words and feelings.

As I write all this out and journal and pray I think the coolest thing, and a great comfort to me, is how much all of this is drawing us to You. It is SO easy to forget just how dependent on You we are when things are easy and comfortable. That would not be the case here. It won’t be the case for the rest of support raising or language school or adding more kids or moving away from family or settling into a new culture, wherever it ends up being. But being pushed past what we thought was possible is not necessarily a bad thing, for in our weakness You are strong. Less of me Lord, more of You. Amen.

As I read this today I am just amazed. The raw emotion of that first night is clear and to be honest, many of the things I was wrestling with were spot on. It is hard to live here. We deeply miss our friends and family in the States and so wish that we could just go for a walk around the block as a family. The culture is something we’re still trying to adjust to and probably will continue to flounder in for a long time. Support raising, though a sweet process, was intense. Language school was grueling (especially for me). Adding in kids is always an adjustment. And so on.

One of the coolest things to me though is to see the verse that God brought to mind as a comfort that night. In my weakness, He is strong. If you’ve read some of my other blog posts than you know that it was that verse that I leaned heavily on all through language school last year. God has spoken comfort and assurance to me through that Scripture countless times since I wrote that journal entry. Man, He is faithful.

Another cool thing is that I came across this journal entry as I worked on our October newsletter. I just finished writing part of it about how affirmed we have been feeling about our calling and purpose here. We have felt such affirmation that we are where the Lord wants us and He has work for our family to do here. This is especially sweet to think on in light of our uncertainty when we first visited.

-Selina

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Clarity of Call

I recently joined a men’s Bible study in which we’ve been studying the Gospel of John. As I was reading through John 1, I was really struck by the actions of John the Baptist.

In verses 6 to 9 we are introduced to John the Baptist as one who was sent by God to tell people about Jesus, “…the true light that gives light to everyone” (John 1:9), and prepare them for His arrival.  

Later in verses 19 to 28 we see John being questioned by the religious leaders about who he is. He openly denies being the Messiah, Elijah or the Prophet and instead responds to their questions by quoting the book of Isaiah saying, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert: ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” (John 1:23). John had a very clear understanding of who he was and what God had called him to do.

Verses 29 to 34 describe to us the scene when Jesus approaches John in the wilderness and John realizes for the first time that it is Jesus (his own cousin!) who is the Messiah, the Light that shines in the darkness and gives light to all people. John calls out, “’Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29). Though not described in this gospel, we know it is at this time that John baptizes Jesus, after which the heavens open up and John sees the Spirit of God come down like a dove and land on Jesus and then the voice of the Father declares from heaven the pleasure He has in His Son Jesus.

It’s a truly remarkable scene. This is the moment John has been waiting for, the revealing of the promised Messiah, about whom John says, “’He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’” (John 1:27). This is the One the Israelites had been waiting for for hundreds of years. This meeting is made even more incredible by the fact that Jesus requires John to baptize Him, after which John is a firsthand witness to one of the clearest examples of God’s Triune nature that we have recorded in the Bible. He baptizes the Son. He hears the Father speak from heaven the love He has for His Son. He sees the Spirit descend from heaven and alight on the Son. What an incredible scene this must have been to take it!

What really struck me though in studying this passage was what happens next. John 1:35 says, “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.” John had just had this incredible experience. He met and baptized the Son of God. He heard the Father speak and saw the Spirit descend like a dove. What does John do in response? He wakes up the next morning and goes right back to where he was, doing exactly what he was doing before. Even more, verse 36 tells us John sees Jesus passing by and so he calls out, “’Look, the Lamb of God!’”. The two disciples that were with John then leave and follow Jesus instead.

I tried imagining myself in John’s shoes, thinking about what I would want to do here. There is no doubt in my mind I would want to go with these two disciples and follow Jesus. I would want to get to know Jesus, learn from Him and see what He was going to do. Instead, John stays. Not only that, but He points out Jesus to his own disciples so that they can leave him and follow Jesus instead. John continues in the role God prepared for Him, pointing people to the Light who was to come (and who has now come).

There is a very evident clarity of calling seen in John here. He knows what his role is and what his role isn’t (becoming a disciple of Jesus). As much as I think John would have loved to follow Jesus, to listen to Him teach in the synagogues, to be taught and poured into as one of His disciples and to see Him perform incredible miracles, this is not God’s plan for John. And John knows it. And because he knows it John has this incredible humility to stay and perform the role God has for him while at the same time sending off his disciples to follow Jesus.

Later in John 3:22-23 we read this, “After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where He spent time with them, and baptized. Now John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized.” So John is still at work, proclaiming the coming of Jesus and baptizing. An argument breaks out between John’s disciples and another man, and they come to John saying in verse 26, “’Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan (they are talking about Jesus)—the one you testified about—look, He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.’” We read John’s reply in verses 27 to 30, “’A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of Him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.’”

In case we were wondering if John was embittered, feeling like he was left behind while others get to follow Jesus, these verses show us this is absolutely not the case. John is full of joy. He knows the role He was called to, and because of this clarity of call John reaps a harvest of humility and joy.

I have thought much about this idea of clarity of call over the last couple of weeks since studying this text. We have been in Senegal for nearly 9 months now, and are still very much figuring out what long-term ministry will look like for us. My prayer is that God would give me greater and greater clarity of call in the months and years to come, that I might serve Him in humility and joy in whatever work He calls me to.

-Adam

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Wolof Worship

As we mentioned in our August newsletter, we have decided on a church to plug into. It is a small (40ish people on an average Sunday) church with Senegalese leadership. The service is held in French and Wolof, the largest local language here in Senegal. While the sermons go back and forth between French and Wolof based on who is preaching that week (they are always translated live into the other language), most of the songs we sing tend to be in French. However, this last week all of the worship songs were in Wolof. The woman who usually leads worship on a keyboard just starts singing a song and everyone else joins in. There is no projector with lyrics and although they do have hymnbooks, the song being sung is not usually announced.

This last week, however, someone in the congregation shouted out the number of each song as it started which allowed Selina and I to follow along and do our best at pronouncing the words to the songs. Thankfully the worship is very lively and we are in a small room, so I don’t think anyone heard our voices!

Above is a picture of one of the pages from the hymnbook. While we had no idea what we were singing, it was a joy to stand alongside our Senegalese brothers and sisters in Christ, praising God in Wolof. It was a great reminder of why we are here. We know that amongst the Senegalese, there are those whom God has called, but who have not yet come to call on His Name and be saved.

As Romans 10:14-15 says, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?”

We are so thankful to be here in Senegal, and to have the opportunity to proclaim the good news of the Gospel to the Senegalese. And we are thankful for all of you who have sent us. Without you all, we would not be here. Please join us in praying for the harvest here in Senegal, that many would come to call on the name of Jesus for salvation and that God would raise up local churches passionate about reaching their own.

-Adam

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Guards

I wanted to write a short post about an incident I had yesterday that I feel helps illustrate some of the daily safety things on our mind. While Dakar is a pretty safe place, especially in comparison to many other parts of Africa and even West Africa, it is still a huge city which comes with risks and safety concerns. We know of many people who have had their homes broken into in our neighborhood or who have been mugged on the street.

As someone who grew up in Midland, Michigan I definitely did not grow up with these kinds of safety concerns (if you know Midland than you can understand this). In a town of 40,000 with low crime rates (in the parts of town I lived) it was easy to feel pretty “safe” without having to take a lot of specific safety measures. I knew that when we moved I would have a lot of growing to do in being more aware of my surroundings and thoughtful in my actions from a safety and security standpoint.

Thankfully, our agency sent us to an intensive security training in 2021 before we moved which was an invaluable preparation tool. We also have a great missional community here who give us wisdom and guidance in this area. Additionally, the Senegalese people are a protective people. Most homes are surrounded by walls and many have a guard stationed outside, but there are also boutique owners, store employees and neighbors who have looked out for us.

One tip we were given from an American family who used to live in Dakar is to befriend the guards all along the paths you typically walk. Not only is it culturally appropriate, but it ensures that you have an extra set of eyes watching your back. Coming from the Midwest this practice has been quite enjoyable to implement. Each time we pass guards we smile and say hello, how are you, how is your family and so on. The guards on our most frequented routes through our neighborhood to get to Mia’s school, our teammate’s house or the store are the ones we know the best and we’ve even given them sweet treats. They are incredibly kind and friendly with us and our kids. It really is a beautiful culture.

A final piece of background information that will be helpful for this story is the route we take to get to DA (Mia’s school) from our home. Especially for me this is the main route I walk throughout the week. When we leave our home we walk our short dirt road to get to the first busier street. After that we can choose to take a side street (which we refer to as Mawa’s Street since there is a restaurant named Mawa’s on that street) that is a direct shot to Mia’s school or go a block further and walk the busy, main street to her school. Mawa’s street is typically what we take, as does most of the DA community heading to the school from that direction.

We have been warned, however, that this street has a bad reputation as a hot spot for muggings since it is more isolated. In general in our area the biggest threat for muggings is from men on motos. Two of them will ride one moto so that the person on back can hop off, snatch a bag, jump back on the moto and then easily take off and jump on the highway not far from us, never to be seen again. This is unfortunately all too common and these moto-bandits especially like to target people on Mawa’s Street where it is less likely for a passerby or guard to be around and intervene.

Thankfully this year DA has stationed a guard partway down the street which has certainly helped increase security on this road. Aside from that we just use wisdom. If it seems particularly empty down the road we opt to take the main road. I don’t wear my purse on display or keep all my valuables in one, obvious spot. Things like that. In general it doesn’t feel too unsafe because there are typically lots of other DA families walking that same route during the times I would be walking it (for pick up or drop off).

Anyway, onto the story. This was supposed to be short, but I’m long winded, what can I say *picture me shrugging my shoulders*.

Yesterday Desmond and I walked to Mia’s school to pick her up. We left a little early to hit up a small market that is held on campus on Mondays. Since I knew I would have a lot to carry back I decided to wear a back pack and carry our cooler bag, stuffing my valuables into the back pack. On the way there I noted that the roads were unusually quiet for the afternoon, but quickly remembered it was a holiday and many people were out of town. Still, as I went to turn down Mawa’s road I hesitated because of how empty it was. Before committing to this route I made sure the DA guard was out. The walk down this road is about three blocks before reaching Mia’s school. Desmond and I greeted the guard as we passed and continued on without issue. We did our shopping, chatted with some friends and picked up Mia. Then we headed home.

Again, the road was quite empty, but I knew the guard was still there so Mia, Desmond, too many groceries and I headed down the street towards home. Almost immediately I noticed a moto driving behind us with two men on it. This is something I am always aware of so that I can keep an eye on them. I noted that we were walking on the sidewalk to the left of the street and they pulled off and stopped on the right of the street. They were behind us so I wasn’t sure why they stopped, but I just made sure to keep my ears open for when they started moving again. Soon we got to the guard. Since I had only done a short greeting earlier in order to make it to school on time to pick up Mia I stopped and chatted with him for awhile. The kids groaned and inched forward, wanting to get home and out of the sun.

After saying our goodbyes to the guard we kept walking. At this point Desmond and I were walking in the road and Mia was on the side walk next to us. As we approached an even smaller side street connected to Mawa’s street I noticed two men interacting loudly. One was in a dirty, brown shirt and seemed disheveled. He had his voice raised saying something to the other man who was in blue.

In our security training before we moved, one of the concepts we learned was JDLR which stands for Just Doesn’t Look Right. It represents that off feeling you sometimes get when you see someone or some situation and you know that something isn’t right. The man in brown was a definite JDLR and for no other reason than his association with the man in brown, so was the man in blue.

The man in brown broke away from the other man who just stood in the street watching after him. As the man in brown drew near us Desmond and I were walking right past a car parked on the sidewalk to our left (Mia was passing the car on it’s other side since she had already been on the sidewalk). I had already slowed my pace and intentionally put Desmond and I as close to the car as possible to give the man a wide berth to walk down the middle of the road past us, but I slowed even further as he stared at us, saying something I couldn’t understand. Then, at the last moment, instead of passing to the right of us he swerved in front of us, causing me come to a complete stop and shift further into the road to allow him space to pass between us and the car. I still couldn’t understand what he was saying (it may have been in difficult to follow French or the local language Wolof, which I don’t know), but I just shook my head and avoided eye contact, trying to indicate I was not interested in interacting, regardless of what he was saying.

He walked past us but slowed and kept his head turned, still talking at me. I turned as well, not wanting my back to him and to ensure Mia made it past the car and came by Desmond and I. At this point I could see that the DA guard had seen the whole exchange and was coming towards us, not with worried haste, but with definite intentionality. I turned back the way we were headed to slowly move forward with the kids and to check the status of the man in blue. He had also watched the exchange, but then kept walking. I felt concerned about his intentions since I had first seen the two of them talking, but was thankful he was walking ahead of us in the same direction so I could keep an eye on him. The DA guard met the man in brown in the middle of the road, spoke with him and after that the man walked away from us.

As all of this took place the moto from earlier began moving up the street again from where it had been stopped. The DA guard continued to walk a little ways behind us in a protective manner. Since he was in the road the moto pulled up, stopped next to him and the two men said something to him. I was already on edge from all of this and thus quite wary of these men, but needed to cross the road so used their stop to talk to the guard as an opportunity to cross, then kept all three of us on the side walk and moving at a fast enough pace to be moving quickly, while still leaving space between us and the man in blue up ahead. I watched closely as the moto passed us and turned the corner. I was so relieved the DA guard followed until we had turned the corner as well. Up ahead we had one more stretch of street to walk before turning down our street. Thankfully there was a group of guards we know on that corner having lunch.

Feeling a bit rattled we walked up the street and prepared to cross. As I looked I realized the men on the moto had gone to the end of the road and turned around so they were heading back towards us. Even though we had plenty of time to cross I waited until they had passed and watched the guards across the street. One of them watched the men drive away as well then shook his head reproachfully.

We made it the rest of the way home without incident. It turned out the man in blue just happened to be headed the same way. The man in brown was very likely mentally ill or intoxicated. And there’s no way to know for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the men on the moto were thieves.

All of this to say, I am learning! You just never know who is passing you or what their intentions are. Don’t ignore those gut feelings. Say hello to the guards, you want them watching your back, especially as a woman walking alone (or alone with kids). Don’t do things to make yourself an obvious target (wearing a purse, having a phone out etc.). And type out a blog post to process those feelings of anxiety and mistrust that can come from living in a foreign culture or a big city. Be thankful for the people God has placed in your life (guards, neighbors, Christian community, boutique owners, cleaning women, friends, goat herders, soccer players) and for the privilege of living overseas to live life alongside them, even at the risk of moto-bandits and other potentially unsavory characters.

– Selina

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Political Situation in Senegal

As many of you might have seen in our newsletter or in the news, Senegal saw several days of intense demonstrations and protests at the start of June during which at least 15 people were killed, more than 500 people were arrested and much property was looted, burned and destroyed. Throughout its history, Senegal has been known for its democratic stability in West Africa, so these types of clashes are far removed from the norm. We discussed these protests in our June update, but did not provide any background on the cause which is what we hope to provide for you in this post.  

The current president of Senegal is Macky Sall. Sall was first elected in 2012. At that time, the length of a presidential term was seven years and there was no limit on the numbers of terms a president could serve. In Senegal’s history, there have only been four presidents: Leopold Senghor served from 1960 to 1980, Abdou Diouf served from 1981 to 2000, Abdoulaye Wade served from 2000 to 2012 and Sall has served since 2012. In 2016, Sall introduced a constitutional referendum which reduced the presidential term to five years and introduced a two-term limit.

In 2019, Sall was re-elected for his second term. One of his challengers in 2019 was Ousmane Sonko. Sonko was the youngest candidate to run and ended up coming in third place, collecting roughly 16% of the vote. Sonko continues to be very popular amongst Senegal’s youth and is considered Sall’s greatest opponent for re-election. Sall has stated that he believes his first presidential term should not count against the two-term limit seeing as the referendum did not take place until the middle of his first term.

In March 2021, Sonko was accused of rape and arrested. Those in Sonko’s camp have rejected these charges and say they are politically motivated. Sonko’s arrest led to several days of riots, which much like this year, garnered headlines from across the world.

This charge and the resulting journey through the court system has been drawn out over the last 27 months. Anytime Sonko was due in court, there was the potential for further riots. On these court days, it was not uncommon for the government to issue bans on motos (which allow a lot of people to gather quickly) or for bus transportation to be shut down. However, any protests that did occur were usually fairly small in size and duration. That was until June 1st of this year when the courts finally reached a verdict. Sonko was acquitted on the rape charge, but was found guilty of the charge of corrupting youth, which includes using one’s position of power to have sex with someone under the age of 21.

Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison and due to this conviction, he would be disqualified to run for the presidency in 2024. An arrest warrant was not immediately issued and still has not been issued to this day. Sonko remains essentially on house arrest. Again, Sonko’s proponents say this points to these charges clearly being politically motivated since the government does not seem interested in having him arrested, but only in disqualifying him from running in next year’s presidential election. During this time, Sonko’s party was calling for Sall to publicly announce he will not seek a third term.

On July 3rd, it was announced that Sall would give a speech the following evening regarding his intentions for the 2024 election. In response, Sonko called for his supporters to take to the streets if Sall indicated he would seek a third term. However, Sall announced that he would actually not seek re-election, while maintaining that he has the constitutional right to do so if he wished to. This was surprising and welcome news to many who were bracing for further riots.

Since then, the country has been peaceful. However, Sonko has still not actually been arrested. Some of my students at the English center told me that they think this is the only thing keeping his supporters peaceful and that his arrest would lead to heavy demonstrations again. There is also some skepticism as to whether Sall is truly stepping out of the race. Only time will tell.

-Adam