Agosto 2009
Ogni volta che parto per il Senegal è sicuro al 100% che qualche senegalese italiano mi da l’incarico di consegnare qualcosa a un membro della propria famiglia.
E così il 4 I land in Dakar in August and after a few hours I get a call from Same Pape Sarr. It 's the brother of Ibrahim. To him I brought a pair of shoes for playing football and a camera.
shoes for football is an article that is selling like hotcakes in Dakar. But I think it is all over Senegal, and if we want to exaggerate, in the whole of Africa. The ball is the most popular tool for socializing. If you have a ball, you also have a lot of friends, that's for sure. And if your shoes come from Italy, are a great cool and you have to do in order to get her to all your friends.
in Dakar is about to start the football competition between districts, and so is central to the height of shoes the tournament. And Ibrahim knew when he decided to use me as a courier to send it to his nephew, the son of Pape.
The call is very short with Pape. He tells me that the next day he will HLM4 the shoes, that is right, that I do not have to move and he knows that they are probably tired from the trip. Indeed it is. I'm broken, but happy.
When Pape comes with its motorello, all eyes of the boys of the football field are focused on my bag. You see a tick shoelace. And here is Maud, a dwarf of 8 years, I had met on the island of Gorée May 30, approaches, takes my bag from his hands and pulls out the treasure. A pair of shoes brand new football.
If they could, the boys from HLM4 would do a Mexican wave.
Pape invite to follow up at home. We talk as if the mere fact of knowing Ibrahim would make me a member of their family. Pape does nothing but encourage me and thank me for what I plan to do in the days to follow.
Yeah, what I plan to do in the days to follow? And because every time I tell it to Senegal, he replies that "ça ira", and if I tell my mother, she says, "is the biggest mistake of your life"?
If the dreams of boys pitch leading up to a pair of football boots, my first came from Sardegna in Milan, and now I want to transfer from Milan in Senegal. Here's what I do in the days to follow. I want to find a place for me to Dakar. My place.
Why is it so hard for me to believe that "ça ira"?
Pape is optimistic. Salif is optimistic. Ousmane, the best friend of Ibrahim, is optimistic. Maseck, is optimistic. Daour is optimistic. Dolce's brother Salif who died in July, was optimistic. And then I must be too. I have to learn by osmosis optimism.
There is one thing that makes these people optimistic. Believe. We believe in God with such force and intensity, which nothing could convince them that God will not help me. Since I started telling my dream to move to Dakar, a multitude of prayers were raised for me from the houses of Dakar. I am not Muslim, I do not know if I am a Christian. But the fact that there is such a concentration of people committed to pray for me, comforts me, gives me courage and strength, and makes me think that perhaps "ça ira".
to say that I have a fear fucking Pape, who are perfectly aware of infinite difficulty I meet, I expose them to him, tell him that I often feel like crying in Dakar, the loneliness becomes very violent when I fight with my ignorance of the language . Pape smiles and tells me that when I go to live there, everything become easier than I think. Thanks Pape.
Riaccompagnamo his motorello Pape and David's eyes and the other "footballeurs du coin" on me. Suddenly I realize I have become for them the drug dealer Toubab of football boots. In fact, when Pape goes away after a tight hug and endless Alhamdulillah, David approaches Salif, speaks in Wolof and the only thing I understand is that it is begging. And while she smiles at me as if I could understand what he's asking.
Then he returned home, Salif tells me that David asked him to sell him a pair of football boots like the ones I brought Pape. From that day on, every time David meeting, addressed his words to me were "Miss, je t'en Prie, vend des chaussures-moi."
And now a part of the game. The game that allows me to fit into the company of neighborhood so happy and united. The game is to keep doing that I believe David has come to Dakar with a couple of suitcases full of football boots and that alone can decide the fate of those shoes, you Salif. Moussa Sarr, Salif Pierre and ask me to carry the game. And so every time David comes close to the company, everyone is talking about beautiful football boots that have seen at the home of Salif, as if they were the most precious treasure ever come to HLM4.
E 'cruelty. See pleading eyes of David creates enormous feelings of guilt in me. So on the one hand I start to feel part of something, the other I will cut the power to give him pain. Suffering that comes from the frustration of not having something that so many people. I think this sums up what is a Toubab in Dakar. And 'someone who has the good fortune to be born at the "right and fortunate of the world, and is in possession of all that part of those" less fortunate "have not. Salif
I tell that I do not like this game. But he says it is not serious to joke and make fun of David. All are having fun, so what's wrong? I find it cruel. So
David asked me when I say the shoes "depends on Salif, maybe tomorrow you from the, incha allah"
Incha allah. God willing. Whatever happens, whatever we are talking about, not a Senegalese never fails to talk about God or give thanks. What is going on around me, every time I open a conversation with someone, is that it raises a kind of mystical aura in which everything exists thanks to God, where all the good that comes in the days, it is thanks to God, where if death comes, comes by the will of God, where the pain for the dead is disguised in His clemency appeals to welcome the deceased to the afterlife in the best possible way, with forgiveness of his sins.
I reflect a lot about football boots and the fact that if one has the will thank God for me Those shoes became a symbol of so many material things that people dream of owning, even for a moment (because many then sold on to other necessity) and the symbol of what everyone is allowed to have. They become the symbol of everything that we in the West now we no longer believe, and how much faith there is in an African country.
Why we do not believe in anything? I can not answer this, but I know why you breathe in Senegal a faith so strong. In Africa there is so much need to believe in something, that faith is necessary. E 'must find a justification to divine what's happening and everything that does not happen. If it were not God to decide the fate of so many millions of people, the pain to be endured for the injustice suffered by the entire continent, it would be too strong. This I believe. And so anything that happens during the day and destiny. E 'fate if there is a job today and tomorrow is not there. E 'fate if a brother died of a malaria treated badly and no one had noticed in the preceding months he had virtually stopped eating. E 'fate if a child dies prematurely from diseases that the parents have provided for a sexual behavior not just prudent.
I do not think My destiny has been written by someone else. I do not know if this is a point in my favor, but I definitely know I'm writing every day the pages of my destiny. My will. I strongly believe in my will and my abilities. And not just believe it, but I use them to get where I want to get.
I think that my way of thinking can coexist peacefully with the inhabitants of Dakar. Do not ever try to impose my point of view. Normally when we talk, I ask questions, to reflect: "How long are not working? Are you looking for another job? "
behind such a request, I hide an application that wants to say" if you move that ass, work non verrà a bussare alla tua porta”. Conosco le difficoltà nel trovare un lavoro a Dakar, ma continuo a credere fortemente che per arrivare a ottenere qualcosa, occorra innanzitutto tentare.
Una sera torno a casa sfinita da una giornata di ricerche che sembravano totalmente inutili e che vista la lentezza con cui procedevano, sembravano non portare proprio a nulla. Entro in casa e la prima cosa che Daour mi chiede è: “hai pregato oggi?”
I musulmani normalmente pregano 5 volte al giorno a orari ben precisi, con un rito ben preciso.
Io gli ho risposto con una domanda: “e tu?”
Ho visto Daour pregare solo quando è iniziato il Ramadan. Ma questo del ramadan sarà un another matter.
He said: "No, not today"
I said, "but I will, I prayed on my way to Sandaga fast car."
At that moment, in the living room was me, Daour, and Pape Salif. I state that I do not know if the way I believe is part of the Muslim religion or another religion, the fact is that every time my thoughts turn to a higher entity which I hope very much that there and protect me. I do not know if I believe, but certainly hope so. So I try. A little 'groped like winning the lottery. One test, and we hoped.
So Daour opens her eyes and tells me the car faster is not the place to pray. I gli dico che Dio (l’entità superiore a cui do per convenienza questo nome) mi ascolta ovunque io sia e in qualsiasi momento della giornata, e non solo agli orari stabiliti per un musulmano. L’orario di ricevimento di questa entità superiore è 24 ore su 24, quindi mi permetto di disturbarlo quando voglio.
Gravissimo.
Sapevo che stavo entrando su un discorso minato, ma sapevo anche che la mia intelligenza non mi avrebbe fatto mancare di rispetto a nessuno.
Pape mi stupisce e nelle ore successive inizia finalmente la nostra amicizia. Pape dice “Daour, elle a raison, on peut prier et parler avec Dieu quand on veut”
Pape è un nipote di Salif e Daour. Ha circa 20 anni e studia university. I believe it does philosophy applied to the law, but I'm not sure. However, while Daour tries to explain how important it is to turn to God in places and ways "appropriate", as if there is a God who snub the street who asks for help, the faster car, the beach, or lying on a bed Pape is from a speech that I appreciated very much.
Pape says you have to respect the religions of others, it is not necessary that I begin to follow the "rules" of religion in the community where I'm going to add that Daour must respect the way I put myself to God, which There is only one God and that is otherwise only the ways in which faith is practiced. Pape says he has read a book by an Iranian writer who is entitled "Why I'll never be a Muslim."
I swear, it seemed almost see the eyes of Daour out of their sockets. For him it was inconceivable to read a script like that. "I never read the book to anyone who wants to persuade me to change religion or to find negatives in my religion." I was happy
responses Pape. Pape said that it is important for anyone trying to know the views of those who think differently. And the debate, until dinner, it went on like this, with me and we were trying to understand Pape Daour in the book was not written to convert Muslims, but only to describe a way of seeing things from those who studied the Koran, read many texts and murid murid, and was able to argue the his thesis on why was not in harmony with the Muslim religion. And a Daour shocked by the idea that others can write books like that, or draw inspiration to abandon useless to explain that God was not a book-call stop believing, but a text that explain why the writer does not want to be a Muslim.
Daour diminishes all saying that this book was written only to make money and to harm the Muslim community. It is hoped that no other Muslim read it.
The debate has allowed me to take different sides of this new world. There are the "elders" and are "young". The former, as in all parts of the world, do not accept the change, proposals to broaden their perspective, and contrary to the thesis in which he has always believed. The second, curious, attentive to everything that happens in the world, interested in meeting with the different interested parties to exchange with a neighbor, concerned above all not to close their eyes as their "elders" have done so many times.
Pape is growing well. It 's a Muslim who does not mind meeting with someone that accepts diversity and possa non pensarla come lui.
Quel giorno è nata un’amicizia, una complicità e è stato uno dei giorni in cui mi sono sentita parte di qualcosa. Quando vivrò a Dakar, Pape sarà li con la stessa voglia di parlare e di ascoltare di quella sera. E’ una delle ragioni che mi fan stare bene e sentire al sicuro.
Non scorderò la violenza con la quale Daour voleva imporre il suo punto di vista senza neanche dare argomentazioni valide. E non scorderò mai le risate mie e di Pape alla vista di ogni vena del collo di Daour che si gonfiava. Un alleato. Ne avevo proprio bisogno. A volte a Dakar mi sento molto sola. Non lo nascondo e non lo negherò mai. Pape mi ha dato grandi soddisfazioni e quel giorno ho sentito di volergli own good.
I have a nephew in Dakar. And this is one of the reasons why I even begin to think that "ça ira".
(Posted September 13, 2009)
