Royal Ramadan Rumble
We are currently around the halfway mark of Ramadan. I believe that it comes to a conclusion on Korite, which is supposedly on the 25th of October. Unfortunatly, my Ramadan knowledge is not up to par.
I give those Muslims who follow the monthlong fast much respect. Going from sun up to sun down with nothing to eat or drink is far from easy and then devoting yourself to prayer and the breaking of the fast at sun down is quite a fascinating site.
With the fasting though, people typically get more hostile towards each other. It is hot outside, people haven't eatin or quinched their thirst, they get a little cranky. For the white peace corps volunteer non-muslim-faster, you can find yourself in some pretty interesting situations as a result of this crankiness.
Up until Ramadan, I do not believe I had seen a fight in Senegal (other than Senegalese wrestling on TV). With the onslot of Ramadan, I have seen 3 or 4 fights...pretty interesting stuff. Here are the highlights of two of them, both occuring on different forms of public transporation...I can't alway jump into my BMW and drive to the garden.
FIGHT 1: I was coming home from downtown Dakar after a morning of working and then running errands much of the afternoon. I was pondering taking a taxi only because the bus from downtown takes forever due to traffic and usally you have to stand, but, I used my better judgement and took the bus. Once inside the bus, I found it not too crowded yet, but there were enough people where I had to stand (eventually the bus fills to about 75 or 100 tightly packed individuals). I went to the cashiers both inside the bus and paid my 175 CFA (25 cents). The cashiers sit in a caged stall by the rear bus door.
Three stops into my journey and now far past American fire marshall standards, a gentleman got mad at the cashier for telling people to pack it in. The continued to bicker for a stop or two, until the cashier had enough and leaped out of his cage and grabbed this gentleman's neck. Pushes and shoves were exchanged for a minute or two as the passengers really had no place to move.
Honestly, I didn't know what to think on this one as it was happening literally a foot away. It was a little intense for a minute, especially on a hot and packed bus towards the end of a day.
FIGHT 2: I was heading downtown after work one day last week on an Allhum (big, rusty, white bus) and alittle commotion occured. Commotion occurs fairly frequently on this form of transportation, but it is usually just verbal. It is alway over the same thing...25 CFA (5 cents I think). The cost of the fare on the Allhum and Car Rapide is based on how far you travel, so it could be as little as 50 CFA but no more than 125 CFA when traveling throughout Dakar. Sometimes, there is a dispute as to whether the fare should be one price or another....when this happens, usually somebody is trying to screw somebody (whether it be the cashier on the Allhum or the passenger)...its just how it is. I have gotten ripped off a few times and I've also argued a few times too.
So, on this trip, the passenger apparently thought he got ripped off. The cashier would not budge, which makes me feel as if the passenger were to blame. The commotion went from the back of the Allhum into the road. The passenger eventually started pushing and may have thrown some punches too, im not quite sure. He had a little posse too, but they didn't seem to help him out. Eventually the driver got out and cooled things down a little. We started moving again and the passenger started chasing the Allhum down, but soon we were out of sight...crazy people.
No comments:
Post a Comment