Multi-cultural French, multiple projects

Another week has passed so quickly. I'm now going to French lessons 3 times a week after work. The approach is very academic - lots of grammar and lecturing, not particularly interactive, I'm not sure it’s the best way to improve language skills, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless. The class is like a mini United Nations, we have 2 Senegalese, and then a single rep for Mali, Spain, China, Japan, Mauretania, the Comoros Islands (look it up) and myself from the UK.

On the work front, the projects I'm working on are beginning to come into sharper focus now. The highest priority being a project to review the provision of satellite links within the West Africa region. WFP uses two providers for its satellite communication, which is a vital component of the relief work, since operations are often in locations where there is no 'standard' communication infrastructure (cable, cell phones, wireless etc.). In fact WFP often takes the lead role in providing communication links for the many different agencies involved in relief operations and so having effective, reliable communications is all the more important. One issue at the moment is that the two satellite systems used by WFP do not integrate well with each other, leading to delays and increased cost, so one focus will be to look at how this can be improved. Another project is looking at providing simple back up and disaster recovery solutions for country offices - which often have minimal ICT skills, but still have the need to ensure that their ICT systems are not vulnerable to failure. Altogether there are about 10 identified projects, with a couple of more 'opportunities' suggested to me over the last couple of weeks - so the first task will be to manage this down to a manageable list!

Starting French lessons, plus Griot Concert

On Fridays the office closes early (1pm). My French lesson (see yesterday’s entry) is nearby, but it’s not till 5.30 meaning I had a few hours to kill, so I took a walk down to the main market in Dakar (Marche Sandaga). It’s impossible to walk around this part of town without being constantly hassled and you have to be on your guard the whole time against pickpockets and new found ‘friends’ who want to show you their uncles/brothers/fathers shop. The Sandaga itself is in an old colonial building and is the main food market for Dakar, but the surrounding streets are crammed with stalls selling just about anything.

On arriving at the Insitut for my French lesson I saw a flyer for a Griot concert – so I bought a ticket (as a member this cost me approx $1) and then went to my French class. Took some time to find them – they’d switched rooms but hadn’t bothered to tell anyone – but once there I enjoyed the class – most of the other pupils are locals, so their first language is Wolof. Took a little while for me to get going – I’m joining part way through the course, but hopefully I’ll be able to catch up.
The concert was not till 9pm and the lesson finished at 7pm, giving me time to have a leisurely beer at the institut bar, while doing my French homework. The concert took place in the cinema, the band was a five piece band – 3 on stringed instruments (xalam and ngoni I think) one on some sort of percussion instrument and one singer. It was all in Wolof so I’ve no idea what they were singing about, but it was all very lively and great fun.

l'institut francais

Thursday 16th

If I’m to make the most of my time here in Dakar its clear I’m going to need to drastically improve my French, so earlier this week I went on the web to see what was available. I came across a 10 week course at the French Institue (l'institut francais) which sounds interesting, but it’s already started. Took a trip down there (its not far from the office) to see if I could find out more – I can still join the course, but need to take a test to assess my level of French, which I did this morning (Thu). Having done this (it seems I’m ‘intermediate’), all I needed to do was hand over the money, fill in a number of forms (all with the same details), join the Insitut itself (more money and more forms) and I’m on the course. It’s 3 sessions a week, each for 1 ½ hours, with my first lesson tomorrow.
The Institut itself is a really pleasant oasis of quiet and calm in the middle of the hustle and bustle of ‘downtown’ Dakar (known as Plateau). Its housed in an old colonial building (see pic) set in its own grounds, with a large Baobab tree out front, under which there is an outside bar and restaurant. There is also a small cinema and an outdoor arena. In addition to French I could also learn Wolof here – but, one step at a time, I think I’ll stick to the French for the moment.

Moving office and music on the streets

Well, the weather is still hot and humid, with not much sign of rain yet. It’s been a busy week. On the work front I’ve been getting to grips with the projects underway in the region. There are about a dozen projects ranging from setting regional hardware standards to implementing a fuel management database and they are at different stages of development and all being run from different countries – so I’m trying to understand current status, as well as familiarising myself with wfp processes etc. Up till now I’ve been based along with the rest of the regional ICT team in a separate building (the annexe) from the main bureau, but on Friday we started the process of moving back to the main building. It’s only a few minutes walk away, but it will be good to be closer to the rest of the regional team.

Outside of work – I’ve joined the Club Atlantique in Mermoz. It’s a short taxi ride away (or long walk along the corniche, depending on how I feel), and has a nice pool (see pic) and tennis courts, so I’m hoping to get some games in – so beware, my normal tennis partners (you know who you are), thinking I won’t be playing for a year and will be giving me a good thrashing on my return!

I’ve mentioned before that the area I live in is quite lively – there seems to be different musical ‘entertainment’ on the street every night. I tried to included some video of a couple of these events over the last week, but currently having problems uploading - but I have managed to include some video from last night's roller skating team who were performing on the street outside the apartment in front of a large and noisy crowd.

I’ve also been treated to some excellent local cooking over the last week, thanks to Cyrille, or more particularly Carole. Last week was her birthday and in addition to cooking a lovely meal we had birthday cake, I had been hoping to lose some weight while out here, but at this rate and I’ll be putting it on.

Note: after checking out the web I found a potential cure for my broken camera – not very reliable but maybe able to get some more pics after all. Will try and upload some in the next day or so.

Changing weather and broken camera

The weather has begun to change over the last few days, with a storm on Wednesday night (wind and thunder, but not much rain) and to-day, Sunday, being the first really overcast day since I arrived, with some rain this morning. However most days have still been hot, sunny and humid, so I’ve been trying out a couple of places to cool off. On Friday I went to the Club Atlantique in Mermoz. It’s a short taxi ride from my apartment, has a nice pool, tennis courts and a small bar with a TV which was, as I had hoped, showing tennis from Wimbledon. So I ordered a beer and settled in front of the TV to watch Andy Murray’s semi-final against Roddick. He lost of course - oh well, there’s always next year – but console myself with a dip in the pool which was lovely. Yesterday I tried out the Olympic pool – this is a large (50m) public pool in the Point E area, with a huge grandstand and full set of diving boards – all very impressive and again a lovely chance to cool off.
On the way to the Olympic pool I went through the campus of the main Dakar university (Cheikh Anta Diop University), with Cyrille and Carole – she’s studying medicine there and is waiting for her 3rd year results – good luck Carole! The university campus is large and modern looking and rather impressive.
Yesterday morning I was taking some pictures along the corniche, when I realised there was a problem with my camera, which I don’t think will be easy to fix, so I’m not going to be able to post as many pictures of life here in Dakar as I’d hoped. However to give you some more of a flavour I’ve included a couple of pics of the colourful local fishing boats (pirogues) taken before the camera gave up the ghost. I will also try and get some using my phone, but not so easy to use!