What does the Senegalese village live

Sights and all that is great, of course, but a real traveler is interested to see not only the polished cover, but also the real picture. And what can be more real than the most ordinary inhabitants of the country living in the most ordinary conditions. So, during our trip to Senegal, we decided to call in an ordinary Senegalese village and see how ordinary Senegalese live there.

We simply drove along the road from Dakar to Saint-Louis and, in order to somehow diversify our path, asked our Senegalese guide if we could stop by some village and see what was there and how?

- Sure! - he said, - that's just empty-handed do not go to visit!

We took off and bought gifts at the nearest store - ordinary products and some delicious things - all that people really need. And now, no longer empty-handed, we turned off the road and drove into the first Senegalese village that came across.

First, the guide went looking for an elder to ask permission. But you never know, maybe people do not want to see uninvited guests, and even from a foreign land. But we are not empty-handed! So after some negotiations we were invited to the village.

Naturally, the first people who met us were local children. I think ... although no, I'm sure white people rarely visit them, if at all. Therefore, it is still unknown to anyone who was more interested - we look at them, or they look at us. But what I can say for sure is that they liked to take pictures and posed with great pleasure. Moreover, the kids did not require anything in return, they only wanted to see the photo on the small screen of the camera.

The guide, meanwhile, handed the elder our “gifts”, and I had a few candies in my rucksack and a packet of our corn sticks, which I gladly presented to the villagers. These sticks dispersed very quickly and truly made a splash, because Senegalese for the first time in their lives saw sticks that can be eaten, and not used for brushing your teeth. I even regretted taking so little. Next time I’ll go to Africa and take more.

Having distributed all my gifts, I armed myself with a camera and went on a photo hunt.

Residents were very nice and took pictures with pleasure. Either our gifts acted on them, or they were just so cool, but no one was hiding, no one was closing, people posed sweetly and smiled at the camera lens.

Well, I somehow somehow took more pictures of the kids, it was painfully cool and interesting here.

Take a walk around the village itself. Right on the ground, or rather on the sand, are the straw huts in which the locals live. Wood and straw is all that is used to build them. Although a new concrete house is already being built in the distance, most of the huts are made of straw.

There is no electricity in the village, but some wealthy residents have generators, and judging by the antennas, there should also be a TV. But this is very rare, and most likely, this is one house in the whole village, to which all residents go to a movie theater. Or maybe this is a village cinema?

In the "houses" themselves they just sleep, inside there is nothing except the beds (but there are beds, and even some kind of mattresses), but the food is prepared right on the street on a fire or in small clay stoves.

Near one house just some kind of brew was being prepared in such a pressure cooker pan.

A separate topic - local teapots! These are ordinary teapots, but how colorful they are! You will not find a single pale teapot here - they are painted in bright colors, and all are completely different! We can say that a teapot is a unique identifier for each family. It will not work to steal, so you can safely leave it on the street.

But what are people doing here? We were in the village during the day, so there were practically no men here. In Muslim society (and Senegal is a deeply Muslim country), a man works, and a woman takes care of home and children, and this village is no exception.

Most of the men went to work in a nearby town and plantation, but some were present in the village.

The two drank seagulls and shook the line. Apparently, they were preparing to go fishing, because the ocean is not so far away, and there are plenty of fish there.

And this one was completely lying in the shade and playing with his phone. By the way, this is a paradox, there is no electricity, but there are phones! And there is a connection, moreover, a very good one. But how to charge the phone if there are no sockets? It turns out that they charge them in the city at work, and those who do not work, give the workers to recharge. Although with their amount of sun, they would have long ago acquired a pair of solar panels and would have been charged by the whole village.

Naturally, all edible animals are bred in the village, and vegetables are grown in the gardens around the village.

The main women's work (except feeding her husband, of course) is to give birth and raise children, which they are happy to do. There are many children here, so there is no time to be bored.

Well, we have to say goodbye. Alas, no matter how good it was at a party, but we must go further.

We were escorted by the whole village. Wonderful people still live in Senegal. Kind, cheerful, hospitable and so smiling that they charge you with positive at first sight!

Here it is, Senegalese village. Yes, they live very poorly, but does this prevent people from living and enjoying life? This village left me only positive emotions, a lot of impressions and a bunch of wonderful shots! And how many impressions the local kids had, I think they will remember for a long time a big white uncle with a magic box that can make beautiful pictures.