Day 27

Something around 95% of Senegal is Muslim. So I am a minority. One of the more interesting parts about this religion and the culture is a saying that goes Inch`Allah. It means God Willing, and the senegalese muslims say it after every single thing that in any way has to do with the future. meeting at 4pm tomorrow? Inch Allah. And I think thats pretty cool, because its to say that certain things are beyond our control and even if we do what we can to keep our appointments, it wont always be the case. There are two things that result from this way of looking at the future. The first is that everyone is late for everything. Punctuality doesnt exist, it doesn`t have to.If you`re late, it isn`t your fault, god simply did not will for you to be on time, so no worries. The second result is that I as well as any outsider to this religion is going to be creeped out by this. The first time it creeped me out, I was talking to guy and he asked me how old I was. I said I was 21, but that I will be turning 22 at the end of the month... He said Inch Allah. being as my birthday was only two weeks away I guess I took it for granted that I would live long enough to experience it, and he must have thought that was an unreasonable assumption. It isn`t just him though, that`s the culture here. And although it generally has to do with anything that takes place in the future, I think theres a second motive which is to be as creepy as possible about it. When I first told my boss what my estimated time of arrival at the Dakar airport was so they could arrange for me to be picked up, she said she wished me a safe trip, inch allah. Anyway I`ve taken a bit of a liking to this second motive and have used the saying inch allah myself, always sarcastically, and in the creepiest ways I can. But the people are very receptive to it and instead see it as a compliment of sorts, it makes them happy that I`m acknowledging the future is out of their hands.
Anyway, all this to say that 4 of the other volunteers and I are going on a trip for a week to the region of Southern Senegal called Casamance. It is known for being a very beautiful river and rain forest, and is also known for its civil unrest of sorts. Its considered somewhat unsafe, and advised that we be careful. We will be careful, all will be alright, and I will post a blog again when we get back next week.
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Inch Allah