30 hours: a new record

Friday, October 3rd, 2008

30 hours without electricity. A new record. Not happy. No. Not sleep much in the heat and darkness, wondering if the kids are OK …
I’ve walked down to the Shell station twice in the last 24 hours, going down to fill my jerry cans with petrol for my thirsty little generator. I only fill the […]

The Korité Kid

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

Those who imagine the Muslim world to be a single unified block of believers might be surprised that in just one West African country, Senegal, there are any number of different groups of Muslims, none of whom conform to the supposed hegemony of Saudi Wahhabism. In Senegal, as in many parts of Muslim Africa, Sufism […]

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

One of Senegal’s main newspapers, and the best known outside the country, is Le Soleil. Its most remarkable feature is that it is government-owned, which means that its editorial independence is comparable with Pravda in Soviet times. All content is filtered to be pro-government, or else is simply ignored.
The two main themes are (i) things […]

Bara the Wifebeater

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

It’s not the name he would choose, and no one dares use it to his face, but with his empire in our street reduced to his wife’s chop shop, Bara has little left to show for himself except his frustration and his fists. Yet at the peak of empire, the ruler of Rue 103 was […]

Sidewalk scholar

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

I almost fell out of the taxi, holding baby J under one arm and dragging out her buggy behind me.
Source of great amusement to the devout beggars lining the sidewalk around the mosque. Baby J waved wildly at the old men and got big smiles in return.
Having broken the ice, I asked the nearest guy […]