WHAT: The Mbeuleukhe Gamou. What is a gamou you ask? First and foremost, it is a "learning." The point of the celebration is two big gatherings where religious leaders discuss the Koran and Islam. But, being Senegalese, they make quite a party out of it. Everyone dresses up in their finest, with several outfit changes throughout the day, massive platters of rice and beef (a BIG treat) make appearances at every house you visit, and best of all, you are boisson-ing all day long (read: fancy drinks like soda and juice). The "learning" barely begins til dark falls, and they are lecturing, praying and singing til maybe seven in the morning. As far as I know, all villages celebrate gamou, and the celebration also has something to do with Muhammad's birthday, but every village has their own day, with no rhyme or reason, so we aren't really sure what is going on there. Fae's village turned out to be far more religious than most, so literally hundreds of friends and family showed up, and we had to cover our heads to attend the learnings. It was a jam packed couple of days, but so quintessentially Senegal, that you had to love every minute.
WHEN: A two day fete, going all through the night. The Senegalese know how to party ALL NIGHT LONG.
WHERE: The village of Mbeuleukhe, in the region of Linguere. To give you an idea of what it's like up here, all the volunteers have these t-shirts with the quote "Where things go to DIE." It is phenomenally dry up here, pretty much nothing grows, rainy season is a blip for them, and hot season here is more like a vacation on Mars. They have lots of cows, herds of camels, and we sometimes refer to it as the Wild Wild West. These kids have some Peace Corps street cred.
HOW: This was probably my favorite part. Got to check a new form of African transportation off of my list - the bush taxi. I'm sure you've all seen pictures of them on the news before. Resembles a broken down pick-up truck, with metal railings going up the sides that have wooden flats laid across. Luggage is stuffed underneath into the bed of the truck, and when I say stuffed, I mean exploding out of the sides, and the passengers are launched onto the top to sit on the impromptu benches, squeezed in 4-6 to a row. As we sail through the bush, the only rule is to pay attention and occasionally suck for trees. I loved it, of course.
