This past weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the third edition of the Jotaay Ji Feminist Festival! I can’t believe I almost didn’t go.
Earlier in the week, our internship coordinator told all ten of us students about an upcoming feminist festival at the Place du Souvenir. I was really excited, especially because I am planning to complete the internship portion of my study abroad experience at the Association des femmes juristes, where I’ll be observing and assisting with their legal work to improve women’s rights in Senegal. I asked my friends if they wanted to go with me and people were all very enthusiastic!
Saturday morning, the day the festival started, I texted our group chat asking if anyone wanted to go. A few minutes passed. A few dozen more minutes passed. It was almost noon, when the festival was going to begin. Did I want to go alone? I knew vaguely where the place would be, but I would have appreciated someone to go exploring with me and help me figure out how the festival worked. I had no idea what to expect and the thought of going alone, especially when I continuously get comments while walking around as a white woman, was definitely a little scary.
I have never been the kind of person to let fear get in the way of doing something I’m excited about. I put on my shoes, grabbed my water bottle and sunscreen, and left.
While walking over, a man riding a motorcycle pulled over on the side of the road, called me pretty, and asked if I wanted a ride. “No, thank you! I like to walk!” I said. He pulled away and I kept on walking, enjoying the sunshine and the view of the ocean to my right. I wish I could say random men saying things to me was uncommon, but it even goes so far as proposals sometimes. I’ve gotten less uncomfortable with these interactions as I’ve lived here longer, but I was oh so happy to be heading to a feminist festival after this moment.
I arrived and entered the meeting hall. The panel had already begun, and seemed to be entirely in Wolof! I could pick out a couple words here and there, but that was all. For about 20 minutes I sat, just listening to words I couldn’t understand. Then, one of the event organizers tapped on my shoulder and offered me a headset! Clearly, he could tell that I didn’t speak sufficient Wolof. On the headset, I could turn the channel to 1 for English or 2 for French. I selected 2.
For the next hour and a half, I learned about the Senegalese Family Code. The panelists spoke about issues such as marriage, divorce, and abortion, detailing their own experiences and providing an overview of Senegal as a whole. When the panel concluded, all of the audience members and panelists stood up and began to discuss with one another. Not quite sure what to do, I stood up awkwardly with my headset in my hands.
Then, a woman waved to me and asked if I was Cati (the name Senegalese people call me)! She introduced herself as Wasso, the woman who reached out to my school’s internship coordinator about the event. She asked me about the panel and my time in Senegal so far, and then introduced me to many of her colleagues and friends.
I spoke with various Senegalese women—named Awa, Dior, and Bineta—working in similar areas to Wasso. I had a long conversation with Coumba, a Pulaar woman who was very interested in the differences between Senegal and the U.S. During these conversations, sometimes there were more technical French words that I didn’t understand. However, each time I asked for clarification, they very patiently explained it to me in simpler French. Between conversations, I paused for a few seconds to think to myself: I was networking in French! And networking successfully!
Perhaps networking isn’t quite the right word, but these women definitely use these festivals and discussions as a networking event. They discuss pertinent issues and solutions and how to work together, all for the purpose of improving rights in Senegal. Therefore, I think this process absolutely merits the label “networking,” but includes a very human aspect as well.
I had such a wonderful time speaking with all of these women, eating lunch afterwards together, and I returned the next day with two of my friends from school. I am so happy I didn’t let the fear of attending alone stop me from having such an amazing experience and meeting such incredible people.
And of course I wrote a LinkedIn post too! Gotta put the “study” in study abroad!!
Ba ci kanam / À bientôt / See you soon,
Caitlin
