Senegalese Customs

Time: The Senegalese concept of time was one of the first cultural differences that was hammered into our heads during training. Similar to many places around the world, punctuality is not a value here. You can set times for events, but don’t expect people to show up on the dot. Most volunteers eventually stop showing up at the exact time of the events they plan because otherwise they could be waiting an hour or two. Most events are also planned around the 5 prayer times each day. They’ll say after Tisbaar (around 2:00ish) or after Tokosan (5:00ish).

I’ve really come to enjoy the way time slows down here. It’s of no importance how long things take. One of the most beloved traditions – making tea (attaya) – takes a crazy amount of time to make compared to typical tea in America. They’ll boil the tea until it’s very hot, add sugar, etc. and then toss it back and forth between the little shot glasses over and over again to cool it down. It’s all a part of the ritual. It they cared about doing it faster, they could. But that’s not the point. Making tea is an enjoyable activity to pass the time – not a chore.

This attitude has reminded me to slow down and notice and enjoy the little things in life more. I think it does the same for the Senegalese.

Hospitality:

If there’s anything the Senegalese know how to do, it’s taking care of their fellow humans. Every house is always open to anyone who cares to stop by. That was one of the concepts that was hardest for me to understand when I first arrived. When I came to visit Fanaye for the first time, the volunteer showing me around told me to “just walk around the streets, and you’ll get invited into the houses and you’ll make friends and work partners.” I just stared at her. That seemed so awkward. But now I laugh at me from a few months ago. I can’t go anywhere, even now, without people in several houses shouting at me ” to come join them on their mats for tea or lunch.

If I’m lost and need to find a certain house, I just casually walk into a compound (fenced in area with several family houses and a communal outdoor area) greet them for a bit, and ask if they know the person I’m looking for. They almost always do, and point me in their direction, but not before telling me “Bismillah” (welcome) and inviting me to join them for tea.

Food in general is widely shared as well. If I’m at someone’s house anywhere near lunch or dinner time they’d laugh at me if I said I had to go home for dinner. Of course I’d be staying for the meal. Every family always makes a little extra just in case they have unexpected guests.

Family and Privacy:

As you might guess due to how much they value hospitality, the Senegalese are an extroverted group. They’re always surrounding themselves with people. There’s no such thing as “alone” time. Nobody has their own room, and I think they rarely have the desire to be alone. If you have the option to be alone, or with your family, why would you choose to be alone? People here seem to have bonds with their family, friends and neighbors that are much stronger than most have in America. They’re shocked when I tell them that we often don’t know our neighbors, or that I rarely see my extended family.

I think this is absolutely lovely about Senegalese culture, but I have to be careful because being such an introvert (and often just being exhausted of trying to speak Pulaar), I sometimes like to spend long stretches of time in my room. But that’s considered quite strange and rude. I have to make sure to emerge to greet my family every once in a while.

But again, I love this about the Senegalese. Family is always the most important thing. The 2 middle school girls I brought to our 5 day girl’s camp last week missed their families so much that they often called home twice a day. When we returned, I’d never seen them smile so much as when they saw their families again.

-          Greeting:  The very first thing we all learned in our language/culture classes is how to greet.  Greeting is crucially important if you want to be culturally respectful in Senegal, and it’s much more complicated than a simple “how are you?” . Greeting in Senegal takes some patience. Here’s an example of how it works:

o   Person 1: How are you? (No mbad da?) Are you healthy? (Ada selli?)

o   Person 2:  How are you? Are you healthy? Peace only (Jam tan)

o   Person 1: How are you with the heat? (No mbadu da e nguleeki?) I’m doing fine (Maudum kai)

o   Person 2:  I’m with it! (Ina wonda! – meaning there’s a lot of heat) How are you with work? (No mbadu da e liggee?)

o   Person 1: How is the leader of your house? (No jom galle ma wodi?). Peace only (jam tan)

o   Person 2: How are your children? (No sukabe ma wodi?) He is in peace (omo e jam).

o   Person 1: They are in peace (ebe e jam).

o   REPEAT – often if there is a lull in the greeting process, we’ll just repeat the same questions we just asked. It’s just respectful to show that you’re interested. Greeting isn’t about getting the real answers to these questions. You always answer the same way. If I have a bad cold, and in fact am not healthy, I would never actually say that. It’s just about showing that you’re thinking about eachother.

Notice too that you’ll usually ask another question before answering the question you were just asked. You’ll also talk over each other often…asking the next question before the other person has even finished asking the first. This process goes by so fast. It was quite a challenge to learn. This is also a relatively short greeting. I’d do this greeting with every person I buy anything from in the market (or a longer one), or with several people I pass by on my way to the market.  As you could guess, my trips to the market take a very long time. Often people will try to do greetings like this from a very far distance, which always makes me laugh. Usually, if you pass by someone you know within earshot, it would be considered extremely rude not to stop and greet them. Additionally, if you pass close by to anyone (whether you know them or not), you should at least ask how they are, and if they’re healthy.

I love this custom. It’s very representative of how much Senegalese people care about each other, and how much they value their relationships. Greeting is where a lot of foreigners get tripped up in Senegal, and thankfully where Peace Corps volunteers thrive. So many people at site have told me that I’m “better” than other foreigners that have come to volunteer in Fanaye because I greet people. The emphasis on the importance of cultural traditions like this is one of my favorite things about the Peace Corps.

-          Snapping: This is just one of those things that have different meanings across cultures. In a classroom, or open discussion setting, instead of raising your hand to be called on to speak, you’ll snap. It makes perfect sense – you’re making a small noise to make sure that the facilitator is aware that you have something to say. This is by no means rude in Senegal, but I think Americans tend to equate it to the kind of snapping you might see in a restaurant from an extremely rude customer. I’ve started doing this, and it’s very effective!

-          Hissing: This is another custom similar to snapping that Americans find rude. Unlike snapping… I’m still not used to it and cringe inside whenever I’m “hissed” at. Basically when you’re trying to get someone else’s attention (usually passing by in the street or maybe in a crowded room,) you’ll just make a “tssss tsss tsss” sound. The louder the sound, the more you want their attention. I think it still bothers me because I often get this from genuinely rude men who want to tell me that they love me and want to marry me. But it can also come from friends with good intentions. Many volunteers have starting using the hissing method themselves to get people’s attention, because it works better than anything else. When I start doing that, I’ll consider myself fully integrated.

-          Lines: Waiting in line is not a thing in Senegal. Want to buy something at the local store, but people are in front of you? Just shout what you want from the back and reach over all the people in front of you to hand the shop owner your money. Yet another thing I can’t help but consider rude, but I’m starting to realize that the less time I spent being frustrated by the “rudeness” and the more time I spend just doing as the Senegalese do, the happier I’ll be. Usually when people cut in front of me at the store I just sigh in my head and patiently wait. Today, instead of waiting, I just asked for my bread before the shop owner could finish serving the guy behind me. I got mine first, nobody thought I was rude, and I became just a little bit more Senegalese. 

-          Trash: I wouldn’t say I’m proud of this one, but another way I’ve started to integrate is by occasionally throwing my trash on the ground, as everyone else does. If you have anything to get rid of, simply throw it on the ground wherever you are. This is entirely normal here. There’s no point in keeping it because trash cans don’t exist. If you want to be as responsible with your trash as possible, you could find an open field where a lot of trash has collected and put it there, but often such fields are far away, or non-existent. This is actually a project that a lot of economic development volunteers (me) work on in their sites. They’ll help locals start a trash collection business. I’m hoping to do something similar at my site, but for now…. I still throw my trash on the ground.

*I feel like in this post, I’ve emphasized a lot of cultural customs that seem “rude” to Americans. I don’t want to give anybody the wrong impression that the Senegalese are at all rude people. In truth, my favorite thing about the Senegalese is how deeply they care about each other – how they’re willing to drop everything to help friends as well as strangers (including me). In no way are they a selfish culture. These were just some of the most obvious cultural differences I’ve noticed, and I feel the need to point out that there are so many things that Americans do that would be considered just as rude, if not more by the Senegalese – not greeting, not sharing money, eating without offering to share with everyone, only inviting certain people to parties, and any form of public display of affection are just a few examples.