Hello Everyone! Before I tell you about life and sunshine I have a general request for all...
A couple of you very hip youngsters have driven across america in the last year and have been kind enough to send me postcards as you move along. I've started a rather large map of the US on my wall made entirely of post cards (One must keep one's creative energy flowing even in Senegal...) and I am inviting you all to make a contribution! If you happen to travel to a fun place pick me up a postcard and send it to Bryn Cain BP 32 Richard Toll Senegal West Africa. Its a good excuse to say hello to me and it will make my wall ever that much more interesting. The Northeast and Northwest are seriously lacking...
In other news, this like all weeks has been an interesting one. Last Friday I was invited to dinner with two French missionaries who came to Richard Toll a little while after I did. They invited another missionary, a 22 year old American named Bethany and we had a pretty nice dinner. We spoke french the whole night and it proved challenging and validating. At point they were asking me about my work and after explaining the goal of updating business practices here and increasing profitability they remarked that my work was pretty much missionary work too, just the economic kind. In a way, I agree.
My work involves altering the business environment here, making it less personal and more accountable. Entrepreneurs here are not as interested in making a profit as they are in providing a good quality service for their neighbours and family (which are very extensive here.) Often business owners sell at a low price which doesn't cover costs or provides a less than adequate profite margin. One of the reasons for this is the lack of market cooperation. Instead of pooling resources, individuals tend to buy little amounts of a product and compete against others doing the same thing. This keeps prices higher rather than acting to lower them because the grossists (wholesalers?) can sell at higher prices. At the same time, it gives a lot of people "work" that they would not otherwise have. Sitting selling vegetables in the market is much more empowering than sitting at home with no stimulation, even if you barely make enough to buy more vegetables the next day. Everything here is about community, so it makes sense that everyone wants to be involved in some way.
Our work involves helping people realize their costs and fix their prices in order to make a profit. That means offering the same price to family as you do to a stranger, and that is just not Senegalese. Haggling over prices is a one-on-one affair every time you buy anything and its just part of how people interact- though it drives me f'in bonkers. It personalizes the transaction and part of our work is to de-personalize the market. I do so much like my job and very much believe that if Senegal WANTS to develop it has to change the way its market functions, but it would be very sad if it lost that community feel about it. I don't think Senegal's market provides an alternate to capitalism, but it is nice to have a relationship with the people you buy from.
In other news, I had my first encounter with Malaria this week. No, I didn't have it, I still take my mefloquine twice a week (which is good cause I've gotten about ten bites writing this...) to the constant protests of my central nervous system. But in my next door neighbours house, where I spend a considerable more amount of time than I do at my house, one of the little girls who came up to Toll for the summer vacation got diagnosed with Malaria earlier this week. Lord. I can not imagine what parents must think the first time their children fall ill. I barely know this girls name (its Oumy) and I was almost in tears seeing her so so ill. She was an oven and sweating and vomiting everywhere. Shes getting better now and is on medication, but I was pretty scared the other day.
At this point, I really am being too bitten up to continue, so I will let you know how my training goes on Monday! Wish me luck!
