Lindsay's Adventures In Africa: Ramadan (and an Ebola-Free Senegal)

Ok – I’m going to start off with what I’m sure everyone wants to know. Senegal does NOT have Ebola :) I know many of you have heard that Peace Corps evacuated volunteers in 3 West African countries – Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. Senegal remains unaffected. There have been no positive cases of Ebola identified here, but Peace Corps Senegal is monitoring the situation closely and keeping us well-informed!

Now onto Ramadan! For a little background, Ramadan is the month in the Lunar calendar during which Muslims fast. Fasting occurs from sun-up to sun-down and includes both food and water. For us, Ramadan started around the end of June, and the entire village eagerly awaited the start of the month by watching the for the crescent moon. For someone who has followed a “normal” western calendar system my entire life, seeing the people in my village sync their activities based on what moon appeared was a completely new experience. Frankly, I was shocked at how coordinated it all was.

The first night of Ramadan was probably my favorite. Typically, people pray 5 times each day, the 5^th prayer being right after dinner at the mosque, and the mosque being used exclusively by the men in my village. On this first night of Ramadan, however, as darkness fell and it was time for the 5^th prayer of the day, everyone (women included) started moving towards the mosque. The village turned into an oasis of darkness with little balls of light from flashlights bobbing along the pathways. Soon, every adult in my village had gathered at the mosque for what turned out to be an extremely lengthy prayer session to commence Ramadan. I was so intrigued that I wandered the perimeter for a few minutes just to listen. There was an eerie beauty to the moment – the darkness, communal praying, and melodious chanting. In that moment, I felt witness to a very intimate and special moment.

Thus began the month of Ramadan. I decided to try and follow along as strictly as possible, which meant 4:45am alarms and 5am breakfasts! Evening prayers continued to be much longer than usual and contained both men & women, though I stayed home during prayers! If I went into Tamba to the volunteer regional house for work I usually took that day off from fasting, but if I was in village I adhered to the no food/no water policy. My village was really excited that I was trying because they saw how much I wanted to experience their culture. They were also really good about cautioning me to take breaks and not fast on certain days if I got sick.

I managed to fast almost entirely the first half of the month before I became sick with some gastrointestinal issues (if you know what I mean!) that also turned into a bit of malnutrition. So I still woke early with my family to eat breakfast, but started sneaking small bits of food throughout the day if my appetite agreed!

As the month came to a close, it was hilarious to try and figure out when Ramadan would actually end. I kept asking, and the response everyone gave was “I don’t know. It depends on when the moon comes.” So each night we watched for the moon, and when the crescent shape finally appeared the kids in my compound went CRAZY! They were running around shouting and pointing at the moon. And immediately, just like that, prayers at the mosque returned to normal and Ramadan was over.

Next came the party! The day after Ramadan ended we had a village-wide celebration called Korite. The 2-3 days leading up to the expected end of Ramadan included many activities to prepare for the party, mainly for me another round of henna and getting my hair braided…not a cute look for me!

Getting my hair braided!

My village pooled money together to buy and slaughter a cow, a VERY big deal for us (though I only ate one tiny piece and left the meat for everyone else). The day started with a large village prayer session at our elementary school.

Village Prayer Session

Then everyone cooked very fancy meals, shared food, and walked around the village to greet each other. It was a fun day to get dressed up and hang out with my family, but I was really glad to get back to a normal eating and sleeping schedule :)