WUMM: american politics in senegal

My phone rang at 7 o'clock this morning. Hearing the seemingly distant tune of Fraggle Rock, I was able to open my eyes enough to look at the screen and realize that it was not my alarm, but my dear sister. I looked at my watch in disbelief, and opened the phone to hear "HAPPY FIRST DAY OF JOB AND INAUGURATION DAY!". Shuffling out of bed so as not to disturb my roommate with this wake up call, I was overwhelmed by the vibe of excitement coming through my little phone. I was thus questioned about why the heck I wasn't awake yet and in front of a television. Obama is becoming president today, why would I be sleeping?! So one cup of coffee later (with more in the pot), I find myself sitting in front of the television, listening to our friends on ABC analyze every single minute of the day today. A historic day it is, today. And thanks to my sister, I get to tell my kids and grandkids about how I watched every single minute of coverage on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama got sworn in.

My father is in Washington D.C. right now, lost somewhere in a crowd of people on the National Mall. As I watch the images on the screen, they show millions of people crowded into a relatively small area. Some of these people will be up to a mile and a half away from where the ceremony takes place, and yet they're going to be THERE. That's what I've been telling my dad for weeks now. It doesn't matter if you aren't in a seat, it matters that you're there. This is history, this is an opportunity that will never come again. To be present at the inauguration of the first non-white president of the United States.

I had the unique experience of being in Senegal for election day 2008. In fact I was in my village, in the boondocks of Western Africa, when Barack Obama was elected as the 44th president of America. Many people ask me "Did you vote?" and the answer is "Yes of course!!". Being a young person, this was my first chance to vote in a presidential election and I was not about to miss it. Before leaving, I was responsible enough to sign up for my absentee ballot, and as October came I waited impatiently for it to arrive. I was not alone in this, the other MSIDers were just as impatient as I was. By the time we were supposed to vote (two weeks before the rest of the country), less than a third of our ballots had arrived. And so we took a group field trip to the American Embassy in downtown Dakar to cast our votes. Out of the 17 of us, there were 16 outspoken liberals and one just as outspoken conservative (let's just say we were pretty Obama-tastic). We were an overwhelming presence at the Embassy that day, excited college students voting in a historic election. We even got in trouble for trying to take a group picture in front of the Embassy to commemorate the event. Even though none of our votes got counted, because there was no need for a recount, we were all amazingly proud to be able to be a part of that election.

Everyone that I met in Senegal were Obama fanatics. Though, most of them had no idea what Obama stands for or what he wants to do as president. Most of them support him because he's black and not republican. So many people that I talked to just saw McCain as being another Bush, and none of them wanted that. I did encounter a few people who knew almost as much about American politics as I did. One of the most amazing conversations I had was with the man who runs the cyber cafe that I frequented. The night before leaving for my village (about a week to election day), I paid one last visit to the cyber cafe to find it packed full. As I waited for a computer to open up, I had a wonderful conversation with the man in charge. We started talking about America and he asked if I was going to vote. We then launched into a pretty intense conversation about Obama, McCain, Bush, the election process, and everything. He could even cite the 2000 recount in Florida, and I was just blown over. Here was a man, living a life so far from what America is and knows, and he knew more about what was going on than a lot of Americans. The other person who had an amazing insight, and I had the amazing privalege to be with on election day, is my village host mom, Bineta.

November 4th came one week after my arrival to Mbam. That night for dinner, Bineta served me fresh vegetables (something I hadn't had in SO long!). She had arranged them beautifully on a silver plate, and presented the plate to me saying "In honor of Obama's anticipated win...". It was so amazing, I almost cried at the thoughfulness and excitement. That night, we hunkered down in the living room to watch the French news coverage of the election. We turned it on somewhere around 10 p.m., which would have been 4 p.m. CST, and sat there watching until 5 in the morning. Even though there was almost no doubt the entire time that Obama would win, I was still on the edge of my seat nervous. My Senegalese family members tried to keep telling me that there was nothing to worry about, that he would win, but I kept telling them that anything can happen. But he did indeed win, and I stayed awake long enough for the official announcement.

The following day was certainly a day of celebration. I ran around the compound yelling "Obama won Obama won!!" and everyone, though not nearly as excited as me, was definitely pleased. I bought cookies and soda for everyone and we had a little celebration that night. My host mom was so great, and it was amazing to be with her on that day. She was overwhelmed with joy. She was also disappointed that America could have 43 presidents, and ALL of them were white. She said she couldn't believe that it took us 43 presidents to finally elect a man of color. In spite of this feeling, she was almost speechless for joy. She said that this is a sign of change in the world, that Obama becoming president is going to mean so many good things for a lot of people. Martin Luther King Jr is one of her heroes, and one of the only English phrases she knows is "I have a dream..." It was an honor for me to spend this election day with her, and to hear her insight of the whole deal.

So as I sit here in my pajamas, in my apartment in St Paul, where it is very cold outside, I will continue watching Charlie Gibson and Barbara Walters as they give a minute by minute breakdown of everything. But I am thinking about Bineta Basse in Mbam, Senegal, and thinking about her smile when she heard that Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States. I will never forget that face.

When I left Senegal, many of my Senegalese friends and family asked if I would say hello to Obama when I got back. So hello to our new president from all of your fans in Senegal...