Sorry I've been out of touch. Have been dealing with a bunch of different things at the same time...
Here's a brief update:
1) I interviewed Serge Houchard (drumming mentor of a friend of mine, and someone who performed at FESMAN '66 when he was 15 years old). Turns out he's been quite obsessed with following the development of FESMAN 2010 and has been keeping a scrapbook of articles. He's been doing my work for me, it would seem! Needless to say we had a lot to talk about and the interview was rich and informative. He's a kind, amicable fellow. I thank my friend Zal for introducing me to him.
2) I interviewed Ablaaye Thiossane, a 75 year-old artist and musician who composed the theme song for FESMAN '66. He is incredibly sweet and soft-spoken and quite charming. He was generous with his time (he traveled to Dakar from Thies, several hours away) and with his stories. I heard a recording of his song from an album yet to be released - despite being somewhat of a celebrity in Senegal, he's never recorded an album until recently. His theme song from '66 was performed live throughout the country, from '64-66, and it helped advertise the Festival at a time when there was no TV in Senegal yet, many did not have radios, and many could not read the French paper. I thank my friend Robert for introducing me to Ablaaye!
3) I have moved to a new place. I now live in a nice apartment in SICAP Baobab with my Wolof teacher and a Togolese-Canadian who works for a Canadian environmental NGO here. My situation with the former host family was deteriorating and I needed to find a better environment in which to work. Since moving, things are MUCH better - I'm able to concentrate and not worry about anything. Needless to say, those of you who have been sending letters, please don't send anything to the Amitie III address anymore. Please send everything to the US Embassy address. Thanks.
4) I now know how the police reporting system works here. It's quite intriguing. I had to file a police report against my former host family. Everything is fine now - they were trying to cheat me out of some money but everything has been resolved and I don't have to worry about it anymore. I will be writing a formal complaint to the research organization that put me in touch with her, so that they will take her off of their list of host families. I am not the first to file a complaint against this family, and I am doing my upmost to make sure students in the future don't suffer similar problems with them. My Wolof teacher has also promised to complain to the same organization on my behalf, because he knows many other students who have complained about this same family as well. I'll explain more about the wonderful world of the Senegalese police system in another blog another time.
5) Matt's mom has taken a turn for the worse and I am leaving tonight for NY in order to be with him and support him through this difficult time. Thus, I won't be blogging on here for a while.
Ba baneen yoon (til next time)...
