A Day in the Life

Abdoulaye, Oussman, Lawratou

 As part of youth month, I've interviewed a few members of my newly established english club. What follows is a simplified version of a spirited and trilingual conversation about a typical day in their lives. 

Naano: So I want to ask you guys about your lives. How old are you, and what do you do?

Abdoulaye Kane: I'm 20 years old. I'm a student at a French-Arabic school in Koalack.

Oussman Demba: I'm 27 years old. I'm a waiter at Fathala reserve.

Lawratou Diallo: I'm 17 years old. I'm a student at the lycee in Sokone.

Naano: Ok, so at what time do you wake up in the morning, and what's the first thing you do?

Abdoulaye Kane: On a school day, I usually wake at 8am. I drink some water, wash, and pray.

Oussman Demba: I wake up at 5:45am everyday. I wash, then I pray.

Lawratou Diallo: I get up at 7am. I also wash and pray as soon as I'm up.

Naano: How do you get to work or school?

Abdoulaye Kane: I can walk to school. It's not far.

Oussman Demba: I walk 5km to work everyday, rain or shine.

Lawratou Diallo: I also walk.

Naano: Abdoulaye, you go to a Franco-Arabic school. How many languages do you speak then?

Abdoulaye (matter of fact): Wolof, French, Mandinka, Arabic. Some English, because Gambia is not far, and some Puular, because my mother is Puular.

Naano: Wow. Oussman, what kind of food do you serve at Fathala reserve?

Oussman Demba (proud): In the morning, we have a buffet with yogurt, fruit, village bread, beans, butter, jam... At lunch, we have Spaghetti Bolognese, chicken, and pizza.

Naano: Lawratou, who do you live with in Sokone?

Lawratou Diallo: I have family members in Sokone, so I live with them during the school year.

Naano: Don't you miss your mother?

Lawratou Diallo: Yes! But I usually go back to Dassilame every weekend, because it's not far.

Naano: Abdoulaye, at what time does school end for you, and what do you do after school?

Abdoulaye Kane: School ends at 7pm. I often watch TV for about an hour, then have dinner, than do homework until midnight.

Naano: Do you know what you want to do later in life?

Abdoulaye Kane: I want to live in the United States, in Washington. I'd like to be a teacher there.

Naano: What about you, Lawratou?

Lawratou Diallo: I want to be a nurse in a hospital.

Naano: Oussman, how many children do you want?

Oussman Demba: I want two, a boy and a girl. You can invest more in your children when you have fewer.

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Somewhere along the way, we talked about:
-Cheb Shacks
-favorite foods
-the difference between "tree" and "three", "choose" and "shoes"
-the n-word...
-Rihanna

It's peanut-planting season!

Interlude

I started my service with every intention of exclusively vacationing in other African countries. After all, when else would I have the opportunity to do so? A close Peace Corps friend suggested Ghana, so we spent some time looking for the cheapest plane tickets and cooing over stunning google images. But somehow, our plans never materialized. 

Why? Well, to quote my friend: "we had to get out of Africa". I don't miss San Francisco or the Bay Area, but I do get intensely homesick for France--a place I've never called home. For some strange reason, it usually hits me like a ton of bricks in the cookie aisle of the toubab food store. I have but to lay eyes on Petits Ecoliers or Prince biscuits to be transported Proust-style to another temporal dimension infused with nostalgia.

It's true: I dreamt of broccoli, pizza, and guacamole. I wanted to spend time with family in a familiar setting. But most of all, I needed to reconnect with the part of me that's always carefully hidden in village. So I booked a ticket to Paris, and I don't regret it.