Our 5-week program officially ended last Friday, however there were a number of people who were going to be staying anywhere from a week (my roommate, Erika) to a month (me) after the program was finished. We were assured it would be fine to remain in the house where we have been living these past 5 weeks and everything seemed to be in order. Dennis came and talked to us about the prices and what it would end up costing each person was 10 euro a night. The only exception to this price was myself, I was to get "some kind" of a discount because I was staying so long.
Ok so fast-foward to this Tuesday. Dennis was out of town but returning that night and packing because he would be leaving Dakar. During the day on Tuesday, we were told that we would be having a meeting with the dean of the school, Abdul, at 11 am to just finalize pricing. A man who has been helping the program the entire time, Hady, came to make sure we were up at 10:30 and said he would be back to pick us up. Well he didn't come back until after 1 pm and I had left the house to go run errands, therefore I did not get to go to the initial meeting but was assured that it was alright and that I really did not need to meet with the dean because Hady was the one who would be collecting the money anyways. Note here something interesting: we were not allowed to give money directly to the dean ourselves but had to go through an older male intermediary, therefore we were completely under the control of Hady's schedule but to what extent we were not aware at the time. Tuesday night there was a REALLY bad storm and the power went out.
Wednesday morning rolls around and still no power, which means the fridge is thawing and creating a lake in the kitchen and we have no internet as well. Hady came Wednesday morning to tell us that he would be taking us to an ATM to withdraw money to pay for rent, he would take that money to the dean, and then he would return with a receipt. There were quite a few problems however. Many people needed to check there accounts online to make sure that they would not be overdrafting, however this was impossible to do at that point due to the power situation. Additionally, there was still not an absolute price I would be paying each night and no one had been given an individual bill, there was just an overall amount typed onto a spreadsheet. We told Hady a couple things, one being that I was going to pay less that what was listed because I had been told by Hady, Dennis, and Abdul that I would get a discounted rate and that if it ended up being more they could just bill me for the remainder, because what I have learned since I have been here is that if you overpay someone you do not get reimbursed. We also told Hady that we would not be giving him the money right then because of the internet situation but that we would be sure to go and get it as soon as the power came on and then we would give it to the dean ourselves. This actually seemed to really upset Hady, so much so that one girl who had enough money on her to pay rent just gave her rent money to Hady as kind of a way to make peace and not cause him to be so upset about everything. He left telling us that things would be fine and that we should call him when we had our rent money. So far so good, we would get the money on Thursday and things would be fine.
Later that day on Wednesday, Erika and I are in the living while Emily is taking a nap when Hady enters the house and walks up to us and tells us "I have visited the dean, he is very upset. You must flee the house tomorrow." Obviously this came as a shock and Erika and I thought he was joking at first because he likes to give us a hard time. However he became very serious and continued to tell us that we must vacate the house by Thursday, he was not kidding, the dean did not want to see us, and that he had the rent money to give back to the girl who had already paid. Needless to say, we freaked out! We woke Emily up and knew that we had to find the dean, even though we were told he would not receive us, in order to attempt to straighten things out. We found the dean and the co-director of the program, Barbacar, together. What was interesting was that Barbacar, even though we were his students, had no idea what was going on, the dean was going to evict us without even telling anyone. It was shocking to think that someone would throw us out onto the streets and wash their hands of responsibility. Anyways, we start to talk to the men in order to figure out what we did wrong, because we were not given a reason to why we were being evicted. The dean just stood there and yelled at us, in French, that Dennis had left and the program was over and that he didn't do this for us but for Dennis and Barbacar and that the house wasn't a hotel....ok, so still no real answer. It was so frustrating and terrifying not being able to explain what had happened, because they wouldn't let us talk, and to be told that something has gone terribly wrong but not knowing what it is and the dean looked like he had made up his mind. Emily and I, both, had breakdowns in the office, resulting from being flooded with too many emotions. Barabcar finally chimed in in the attempt to figure out what had happened but he was not really able to figure it out either. The final answer we were given was that it was because we had not all paid together! I'm sorry but that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. What we think really happened was that Hady was so mad at us for not allowing him to do his job the way he wanted to that he made up some excuse for why we would not give him the money (the dean was not aware of the fact that we needed to check our accounts and that as soon as the power came on we intended to give him our money all together). Hady and the dean are brothers so it would not be difficult to convince the dean that we were contesting our rent amounts or were slacking off on payments. I still have no concrete idea as to why this happened. Anyways we worked everything out and agreed to pay all the rent money together as soon as the power came on.
Now what is important here is not so much that we resolved the conflict, what's important was the fact that it occurred at all. Emily, Erika, and I left that office feeling ill; we felt to so vulnerable, upset, frightened, powerless, and, ultimately, betrayed. We were told that these were people we could turn to for help once the program was over but the event that had just occurred refuted that notion entirely. And as people were beginning to leave and I would be alone in a week or so, I started wondering what I would do if something happened to me and I needed help quickly. No one would be there that could help me resolve any problem I had, there would be no way of ensuring that anyone would be available should an emergency arise. The continued absence of power also contributed to this feeling that when conflicts do arise and you need to deal with them swiftly you might not be able to do so because of external forces. However, we got back to our house that night and waited it out in darkness.
Thursday morning, Erika and I woke up and there was two inches of water on the floor of our room! And the power was still out. We spent two hours, literally, pushing the water out of our room, down the hall, and out the front door because the supply of towels and sheets we had was nowhere near large enough to soak up the water. Finally, our neighbor came over and took apart our pipes but we had no idea if this actually solved the problem because the one shower taken early that morning by another girl would not have created the quantity of water that flooded the house. And this was the breaking point. I had come to the realization that I would be on my own for a few weeks and then I came to the realization that should something go wrong, like a flood, I would not be able to take care of it on my own but I would also have no one to call. As far as I'm concerned the living situation had become unlivable; the house was no longer a place we could turn to when the problems or complications of daily life in Dakar were overwhelming, it was not someplace any of us felt particularly safe or welcome...
And that's when I called home. I left Dakar early Saturday morning and arrived in Portland Saturday evening. Thanks so everyone who has been reading the blog, sorry to end early. I know this entry has a lot of negativity in it, however I really did enjoy my time in Senegal. It was an experience that taught me SO MUCH about myself and opened my eyes to new ways of thinking and living. I did not expect the intensity of the entire experience but I am actually glad it drained me so much, physically and mentally; I think it had the effect a cultural-immerison experience should have on people, I am just sad it ended the way it did.
