marriage

Well I am back in Kaolack to celebrate several birthdays of volunteers. Should be a good time but the house will be packed. Everyone is coming in for the celebration. There are technically only beds for 10 of us to sleep but there are mattresses that we can put on the floor too. I will let you know how I fair.

Well let me tell you about my morning. Everything was fine and dandy, cooked breakfast, swept the hut and finished packing for the weekend. I found a horse cart out of the village with a couple of other men from my village. (side note- horses are much faster and less stubborn than donkeys and have now become my prefered method of transport from my village to Kaffrine.) We made a stop at some other village and were sitting around for you know about 2 seconds before I got another marriage proposal. I blew him off and said he was ugly. but then a guy on my charet said to the other guy "I will sell her to you." I was livid (and a little happy because i understood what he said). I told him off and said that i was not his to sell and called him rude (which is a pretty good insult in Wolof) and he just f***ing laughed. I fumed the whole ride into kaffrine. I have since let it go because i vented to another volunteer and now to you but I was pissed.

On top of this I had one 51 year old in the village want to marry me yesterday. I threw him everything I had but he just didnt get it. I told him that in America the dowery for a wife is really expensive and he wouldnt have enough money, that he was old, that he needed to understand english...even tried telling him I already had a husband and didnt want another one. It got really old after a while. I just tried to laugh but at times it was really frustrating. He said at one point that I would have to marry him if he asked my (senegalese) dad. I again tried to explain that no one can just give me away unwillingly. I guess sometimes here you can be given or sold a wife so it is really hard for me to explain to them why that is so wrong. Something to work on as my wolof improves.

Ok well thats about all that I have for you now. Should be back with a birthday bash update later this weekend. I hope you are all doing well. I miss you and love you!