mercoledì 6 febbraio 2013

An interesting afternoon chez Tierno




Being a curious, or maybe a nosy, guy I often bisiege my Senegalese host with too many questions. Yesterday I exploited Tierno patience and sympathy; we were sitting on his sofa while his lovely child Bigue was watcing some cartoons on the lap top and his huge nighbour family rushing frantically and noisilly preparing for their new born baptism ceremony. Tierno explained that in Senegal getting pregnant out of a wedding is still a huge taboo, a shame for all the family and its not uncommon that the gulty woman is asqked to leave the house and run away. As a result Senegalese men generally don't like to get involved in a relationship with a woman who already has a child letting these women with a very few options like searching for a Nasaran  or white man (this is the real African Dream) or for the same purpose but also for getting a better paid job, they start a prostitute career in those centreville or Almadie or saly disco and bars filled with foreign tourists. When I went to Le Patio bar with Mario, I liked to talk with these girls perceiving immediately the huge difference between those professional, cold, tough ones and a bunch of still nice, discouraged but sill hoping others.
In Senegal too habits are changing fast, especially in Dakar, anyway, if you go to smaller town like Kaolak or to the villages, virginity is still considered a great symbol of purity, respect and honour to the point that in some houses a first night wedding blood stained  sheet is proudly hung on the wall for years.
I didn't dare to ask my friend if his nice spouse, who actually is a cousin of him, got virging to the wedding, but I do suspect she was.

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