Today is my 23rd Birthday. Today also marks 9 months in Senegal. To put that in perspective.. I could have had a baby in that time. Guys…a baby. Don’t worry, I don’t yet have a child, and don’t plan to any time soon. But in all seriousness, I have grown more in the last 9 months, been pushed to my limits, and learned more about myself than I could possibly describe. I can only hope that the change is for the better and that it will stick around long after I leave Senegal.
I confess, this blog post will be a combination of a few very different topics, but I assure you, they link together in one way or another. So to begin I would like to talk a little about what life has been like for the last 22 days in Senegal. As you may know from previous knowledge, or from my all too frequent Facebook, twitter, and Instagram posts, this month is Ramadan for the Islamic faith community. Ramadan is a month long period of fasting in which Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, sinful actions and sexual relations. Ramadan takes place during the 9th month of the lunar calendar every year. It is believed that this was the time when the Quran was first revealed to the profit, Muhammad.
This year, Ramadan began on the morning of June 7th. This being my first Ramadan, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Other volunteers had told me that you usually wake up around 4am to eat the morning meal. So on the night of the 6th, I reluctantly set an alarm for 4am and went to bed. That morning, and every morning after that, at around 4:30 my host father comes around the compound as a wake up call telling everyone to get up and come have the morning meal. Each morning we have another portion of what we had for dinner the night before. After eating ‘breakfast’ and drinking as much water as physically possible I go straight back to bed along with the women and any of the children that happened to wake up. The men in the family stay up for the morning call to prayer around 5:30 and the day continues as usual.
As you can imagine, not eating or drinking anything all day is very hard, not only physically, but mentally. I decided that in order to prevent the worst case scenario of me passing out in front of my whole family, I would continue to drink water in my room when my fasting family members are not around. The first day was very hard. I spent most of the day hanging out with my family, and napping/watching grey’s anatomy in my room. I fasted for a full week with my family. It was hard, but got easier as the days went by. At the start of the second week I decided to start eating a little something throughout the day because I could feel the effects not eating was having on my body. However, I eat much less than I normally would in a day.
Now for the fun part…break fast! That first day of break fast was so fun for me. I had no idea what was going to happen or how it would work. I was told to buy bread, so I got some from my aunt. At around 7:35pm my second mother told me to bring my drinking cup. I was a little confused because it seemed to me that the sun was not down yet, but in fact it was! I brought my cup and she filled it with cold water. Ice is something that we don’t have very often in my village. But during Ramadan, all around Senegal, families buy ice for break fast. I mean, you didn’t drink anything all day..in the words of Tom Haverford and Donna Meagle, “Treat. Yo. Self.”. Another staple of break fast is bread and coffee. Sometimes served with butter or onion sauce, this is the first thing that people eat after a full day of fasting. In wealthier places, dates are very common to have for break fast. Although I did not really follow the rules, I still felt very accomplished during that first break fast. I don’t think I will ever forget that excitement that I felt, and that emanated from the people around me.
I had heard from other volunteers that the village would completely change during Ramadan. People will be grumpy and not a lot of work would get done. That is partly true. There are definitely some grumpy people and I see people sleeping out under a tree a lot. I sleep out under a tree a lot! But the idea that they don’t work as much is a little off. The time of work is different. For instance, I got a new roof on my hut the other day and the men in my family started working before the sun came up. At around 10am when it started getting hot, they paused their work and picked it back up at around 5pm when it started cooling off. In those 7 hours though they didn’t just lay around. They did other work and managed to get things done despite their hunger, thirst, and copious amounts of sweat. Long story short, I am amazed by the strength and resiliency that I have seen over the last month.
Here is one of those topic changes I mentioned in the beginning. Religious differences have fueled disputes since the beginning of time. For some reason, religion makes people a little crazy. I think this is partly because a majority of religious people don’t take the time to learn about other religions, and a lot of people who aren’t religious don’t take the time to try to understand any of it. Now I’m not trying to generalize here, there are huge amounts of people who spend a lot of time doing research in order to understand different religions and make decisions based on their findings.
Personally, I was raised a Christian. I was never exposed to anything else until I was old enough to find it on my own, which is completely reasonable, and I am thankful that I was raised in a Christian home. I also regret to say that when I did have the ability to do my own searching, I didn’t do much. It wasn’t until getting my call to go to a country that is 92% Muslim that I really learned more about this faith that nearly 1.6 billion people follow. The number one thing that I have taken away from my findings.. Generalizations are way too dangerous. We all know people who swear by the fact that Muslim and terrorist go hand in hand. If we don’t personally know them, we know of them *cough *cough … he’s a frontrunner for POTUS 2016. The truth is, saying all Muslims are dangerous is like saying that all blondes are unintelligent. As the other frontrunner for POTUS 2016.. Hillary Clinton proves that generalization wrong in fractions of a second.
When I told people that I would be coming to Senegal, most people were concerned by the fact that Senegal is 92% Muslim. This is a reasonable concern considering recent events in Middle East and Africa. But, I am here to say that just because a country is a vast majority Muslim, does not mean it is dangerous. During my time in Senegal I have learned a lot about peace. Whenever greeting a person in Senegal in local language, the word peace is used multiple times. ‘Peace only’ is a phrase used for just about everything. How is your family? – Peace Only. How is your work? – Peace Only. Are you in Peace? Peace only. Does that sound like the kind of culture that fosters hate and terror? Let me tell you, it is not. This peaceful way of life is not only just in Senegal. Islam is rooted in the basis of peace, love, and mutual understanding and acceptance. A few bad people cannot allow us to change our entire perspective on a major people group. It is not just and it is not safe.
Generalizations are dangerous because they dare to cross a line that cannot be crossed over again. Insert “do not dare cross this line” scene from Dudley Do-right, here. Once an idea is put in motion, there is no stopping it. The actions of one bad person can ruin the lives of many. If that person doing those bad things was a Christian, or a Jew, or loved a person of the same sex, does that mean that all Christians and Jew’s and LGBTQ individuals are evil? No it does not.
In the wake of the tragic shooting in Orlando, I feel that this is a very important time for us to come together. Not just us as Americans, but us, as a human race. Of course world peace is not going to happen over night, but you can change your own outlook and your own actions, and encourage others to do the same. The LGBTQ community is one full of life, love, and beauty. It is time that people give up the hate and start loving these people for who they are…people. This concept goes for every single label that you could possibly put on a person. Underneath all of that judgment is a person.
My main point through all of this is that hatred and bigotry are not qualities that we, as humans, should strive for or even allow in our hearts and minds. We are all humans. We all live on this planet, breathing the same air and walking on the same ground. If you are a Christian, than you believe that the same God created us all. A God who loves, and a God who heals. Yes, we live in a fallen world. But that does not mean that we, as humans, need to lower our standards to meet those expectations. We can be more and we must be more.
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela
So yes, I am hungry, physically, and metaphorically. Ramadan has shown me what it really feels like to be hungry, and has taught me patience. But aside from that, I am hungry for a change in this world. I want to live in a place where no one is looked down upon because of his or her race, religion, political beliefs, or sexual orientation. To me, love is more important than all of these things. War is necessary at times. There are evil people, and good people who do evil things. But I encourage you, and hope that you would look into your hearts and into your minds. Think about your actions, your behaviors and your speech. Do not foster an unsafe or uncomfortable environment for any other human being. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Not all blonds are unintelligent. And as I have learned all too well over the last month, not all gung-ho Peace Corps volunteers can successfully complete Ramadan. M&M’s are just too good. (Thanks for the 3.5 pound bag by the way Aunt Angie, it’s a dream!)
This pic of Omar. Because look at that face!
Abby's Adventures in Africa 