This is Africa

A large chunk of Friday was spent at the Embassy getting more paperwork squared away and learning which post services I am eligible for as an "unofficial American". The first appointment was with the head of security who gave us a safety briefing. As we were waiting outside his office an announcement came over the PA system. It was a statement prepared by President Obama informing state department employees that Sept 11th is now a National Day of Service. I could have sworn the statement also said the day had been renamed Patriot's Day, but since I haven't seen anything about that in the press perhaps I just made it up. In any event, after the statement was read we were told that we could resume our business. The whole thing was very reminiscent of high school.

There wasn't much new information for me at the security briefing, but the officer did convey that he considers Dakar to be "Africa Light" after his posts in Mogadishu, Kampala, and Kabul. Fair enough. He also reminded us that crime rates go up during the major holiday seasons here as struggling heads of household try to get enough money to buy a goat or sheep to slaughter for korite and tabaski.

Even spending a few hours at the Embassy offers an interesting view of ex-pat life. We saw one woman in her mid-40s wearing the shortest denim mini-skirt I have seen in years. She has to know that showing three or four inches of thigh is totally inappropriate here (or anywhere after age 35 if you watch What Not To Wear). Thanks to my dear friends who are now in the foreign service I am becoming much more tolerant and nuanced in my evaluations of state department employees, but I had to raise an eyebrow at that one. It’s the month of Ramadan for crying out loud!

The most important part of the day was getting our security badges. They took all of a few minutes to make, but once we had them our status changed immediately. On our way in we were screened, our passports were taken , we relinquished our cell phones, and our names were checked against a list of people permitted to enter the Embassy. Once we had our badges we were free to circulate more or less as we pleased. We can get our mail, cash checks, visit the health post, etc. Not a bad deal and a very nice privilege of being a Fulbrighter. The post technically doesn’t have to offer us any services at all, so it is great that they extend some of these conveniences to us.

The end of the day was an iftar dinner at my friend S’s house. The TV was on during the meal, because that’s just how things work here, and it being the rainy season the evening news was giving the rain report. Total amounts of rainfall from various parts of the country flash across the screen set to cheery music. Once the rain report was over, images of smoke billowing out of the towers and other images of 9/11 began coming across the screen, still set against the backdrop of upbeat pop songs. A and I exchanged a look and commented on how bizarre it was that the local TV station got it so wrong. This is a case that our security officer would chalk up to “TIA”, this is Africa. TIA indeed.