On the Road Again

Back in the “field” with sporadic internet access, so I don’t know when I’ll be able to post this. We had planned to get out of Dakar early in the afternoon, managed to get away a little before 4:00. Our destination was Sokone, on the way to the Gambia, but we didn’t make it quite that far.

One of the people I’m traveling with, a consultant for the other organization on this trip, has a hard and fast rule against driving at night in Africa. It’s a rule that's hard to argue with, and it seems to have served her well, as she has made it through thirty odd years of living in various parts of West Africa and hasn’t died on the road yet. When we realized that we had no hope of reaching Sokone by nightfall, which comes at about 7:00, we decided to stop in Kaolack, a pretty big city 200 kilometers from Dakar.

We still broke her rule, but only by a little. By the time it got dark, we were already into Kaolack, and so not driving very quickly. Even so, the chaos and confusion of the Senegalese streets was magnified by the darkness—I’m sure glad I wasn’t driving.

I’m getting anxious about my role here. We’re supposed to spend Thursday and Friday visiting health facilities and interviewing people to figure out what needs are not being met. But I feel like I have missed so much in the meetings over the last couple of days, and even in general conversation. That’s not a big problem in day-to-day conversation, but now I’m supposed to be collecting data that people will actually be relying on to make decisions. The plan is to conduct interviews two or three at a time, so I guess I’ll just hope that others catch whatever I miss.