Lifestyle > Train of Thought
Infinite African Westcoastin' Travel Blog 2010
Anunikke:
--- Quote from: M Dogg on January 28, 2011, 07:31:41 PM ---
--- Quote from: THE RAPTURE on January 26, 2011, 07:33:25 AM ---Since when do vacation photos belong in ToT? Mod please.
--- End quote ---
When they expose people to a more worldly view and allow for discussion about worldly topics, and are more important to todays world than Nazi's in space.
--- End quote ---
You're confusing your own personal opinion with the description of this section.
white Boy:
are you guys honestly arguing whether this does or does not belong in TOT, who gives a flying fuck? yall need a life, either talk about infinites trip, hate on him, or ignore the thread, but bring something to the table...
TraceOneInfinite:
My second day in Senegal...
My first day in Senegal I was mostly too excited to sleep. So I was running on no sleep. We hung out with the girl from Chicago and her Senegalese "business partner" Ali most of the day. Just being around them and being out we met a lot of people and had them all over to our hotel and also went out that night. The club we went to was kind of an American style club, and I wasn't really feeling it (because when you travel you want new experiences and it felt to much like back home), but my friend was. Then later on that night, I started to like it there, and he started to say he was feeling sick and wanted to leave. Without going into detail an argument did break out between my friend Idrissa and I, his cousin Dawda, and over a girl at the club. The argument got so serious and spilled into some other issues, like family issues between Dawda and Idrissa and also arguments over money between some of us. The arguments continued all through the next day.
My second evening in Senegal we went out with Ebony (the fashion designer from Chicago) out to the main mall/market in Dakkar, where she was meeting with some tailors and picking out some styles for the school uniforms back in Chicago she was contracted to provide. But before meeting up with her Idrissa and I had spent the day over at Goree island. Here are some pics and info about the world famous slave island...
Goree Island was one of the first settlements built by the Europeans in West Africa. The Porteguese were the first to make use of the island in the 14th century. Later the Dutch captured it, and gave it its name. But over the last few hundred years it has mainly been a possession of the colonial power of Senegal, the French.
Slavery is dramatized in great detail on the island. Although it has been disputed that the tales are greatly exaggerated by the 1,000 or so locals who live on the island and benefit off its tourism. Studies have shown that it was a major settlement and trading post, however human slaves were only a minor commodity on the island compared to the other goods being transported, such as beeswax, hides and grain.
However it has been so well-preserved over the years, in comparison to other European settlements in Africa, that it is still considered one of the best locations to visit for people seeking to better understand the history of the slave trade. The slave house located on the island is very well-preserved as you can see in the following picture...
First I have to post an old pic from my 2008 pics, because it is the best pic I have showing the overall layout of the slave houses.
This is me on the bottom floor of the slave house. The top floor of the main slave house is said to be where the slave masters lived, while the bottom level is said to be where the blacks were divided up by groups. Then in the back is the place they call "point of no return" where they say the slaves were tragically shipped off to America, and "goodbye Africa".
Today the island is home to about 1,000 locals, and although people do get emotional seeing some of the historical images on the island, it is also home to beautiful beaches, resteraunts, concerts, and other avenues of entertainment/enjoyment. Here's a pic of the beach-side restaurant.
I have about 30 pics of Goree Island alone, but I don't want to spend too much time on it here, as it wasn't a new experience but something I had done and written about on my two previous trips to Africa.
.:DaYg0sTyLz:.:
--- Quote from: Infinite- African West Coastin' 2010 on January 31, 2011, 10:48:42 PM ---My second day in Senegal...
My first day in Senegal I was mostly too excited to sleep. So I was running on no sleep. We hung out with the girl from Chicago and her Senegalese "business partner" Ali most of the day. Just being around them and being out we met a lot of people and had them all over to our hotel and also went out that night. The club we went to was kind of an American style club, and I wasn't really feeling it (because when you travel you want new experiences and it felt to much like back home), but my friend was. Then later on that night, I started to like it there, and he started to say he was feeling sick and wanted to leave. Without going into detail an argument did break out between my friend Idrissa and I, his cousin Dawda, and over a girl at the club. The argument got so serious and spilled into some other issues, like family issues between Dawda and Idrissa and also arguments over money between some of us. The arguments continued all through the next day.
My second evening in Senegal we went out with Ebony (the fashion designer from Chicago) out to the main mall/market in Dakkar, where she was meeting with some tailors and picking out some styles for the school uniforms back in Chicago she was contracted to provide. But before meeting up with her Idrissa and I had spent the day over at Goree island. Here are some pics and info about the world famous slave island...
Goree Island was one of the first settlements built by the Europeans in West Africa. The Porteguese were the first to make use of the island in the 14th century. Later the Dutch captured it, and gave it its name. But over the last few hundred years it has mainly been a possession of the colonial power of Senegal, the French.
Slavery is dramatized in great detail on the island. Although it has been disputed that the tales are greatly exaggerated by the 1,000 or so locals who live on the island and benefit off its tourism. Studies have shown that it was a major settlement and trading post, however human slaves were only a minor commodity on the island compared to the other goods being transported, such as beeswax, hides and grain.
However it has been so well-preserved over the years, in comparison to other European settlements in Africa, that it is still considered one of the best locations to visit for people seeking to better understand the history of the slave trade. The slave house located on the island is very well-preserved as you can see in the following picture...
First I have to post an old pic from my 2008 pics, because it is the best pic I have showing the overall layout of the slave houses.
This is me on the bottom floor of the slave house. The top floor of the main slave house is said to be where the slave masters lived, while the bottom level is said to be where the blacks were divided up by groups. Then in the back is the place they call "point of no return" where they say the slaves were tragically shipped off to America, and "goodbye Africa".
Today the island is home to about 1,000 locals, and although people do get emotional seeing some of the historical images on the island, it is also home to beautiful beaches, resteraunts, concerts, and other avenues of entertainment/enjoyment. Here's a pic of the beach-side restaurant.
I have about 30 pics of Goree Island alone, but I don't want to spend too much time on it here, as it wasn't a new experience but something I had done and written about on my two previous trips to Africa.
--- End quote ---
I gotta ask you man. And be honest. Do you ever get people actin funny towards you when youre out there? Because youre...you know...white. And Im not bein a smartass either or anything. Its an honest question. Maybe not even just being white, but a white American. Youre visiting spots that have a long history of really bad shit happening to these peoples ancestors, carried out by yours. Obviously you have nothing to do with it. But sometimes there is still resentment you know?
TraceOneInfinite:
--- Quote from: .:DaYg0sTyLz:. on February 01, 2011, 03:30:23 PM ---
I gotta ask you man. And be honest. Do you ever get people actin funny towards you when youre out there? Because youre...you know...white. And Im not bein a smartass either or anything. Its an honest question. Maybe not even just being white, but a white American. Youre visiting spots that have a long history of really bad shit happening to these peoples ancestors, carried out by yours. Obviously you have nothing to do with it. But sometimes there is still resentment you know?
--- End quote ---
It's a fair question, and it's something I thought about and considered...
...but let me tell you, most of that shit was just in my own head, in my own imagination. See, coming from America, let me tell you, black people in America are very racist in comparison to locals in Africa. See it's easier for blacks in America to think of whites as evill, and not knowing what it is like in other countries, blacks in America can come to think they live in great struggle, poverty, and oppression. However, on the other hand; blacks in Africa look at blacks in America and think that they are living a very nice life with many opportunities that they don't have in Africa. Also, blacks in Africa see whites coming there in today's times generally on business, or tourism, or through aid and charity organizations and usually their time in Africa is of benefit to the locals there, because they are spending their resources over there, and often the locals are beneficiaries of that.
Another factor is the historical. Local blacks in Africa know about the tribalism that existed there, and the tribal warfare. Because in some ways those tribal frictions are still alive. They know that they weren't just one harmonious family that the whites came and seperated and enslaved. The locals there know that they were fighting against each other and enslaving each other for centuries in tribal warfare. Blacks were being sold as slaves long before whites came on the scene in Africa, they were sold across tribal lines, or to other races and groups in the region such as Berbers or Arabs. They were going to be sold to the highest bidder. It just so happened that Europe became wealthy after the Renaissance, and whites were to become the highest bidder on African products, including slaves. This is not to make light of the brutality of slavery as it existed in America, and Africans are aware of that, but they understand they played a role in it and they have to take their own share of the blame.
So, to answer your question, racism is not present in Senegal and Gambia, West Africa. I can honestly say that, there is no racism. I'm telling the truth. And most the time I thought there was racism it was just in my own head, in my own imagination.
Let me give you an example. One night we were all sitting around waiting for the 10 oclock local news. There was an interview being done of a TV Journalist named Clive Smith. Clive Smith grew up a British Citizen but his parents were Jamaican immigrants. He is doing films in Gambia, Africa about daily life in Africa to expose the West to the beauty of African life that isn't usually shown on TV. He does good work. However, in the interview he was going on and on about how "mistreated" he was growing up in Britian, and how the kids in school used to tease him, and they would make jokes about "was your skinned burnt, can it come off if I touch it" and this kind of teasing that goes on in school. He said he ran into a local African woman with a baby, and the woman said, "Please take my child to Britian with you!". He got angry and he said that he would never subject them to the kind of racism he faced growing up, and then went on to say that Africans should stop accepting second hand products such as computers from the West and that they should kick out all the white aid organizations "exploiting" the country.
I looked over at my friends, and I was waiting to see their reaction to all this being said. And straight away they said, "This man is a fucking racist. He's been growing up in Britian, gotten his education there, and they've allowed him to come up to such a level where he has his own television show, and gets his work played on the BBC, and he's going to complain about racism and tell us not to accept anything else from whites. When we are sitting here without computers and without a lot of these things, and if they want to give second hand products to us we have to take them and appreciate that!"
Hope that helps explain the feeling of people there. Really, their culture naturally is open to outsiders, whether they be Arab, Indian, Japanese, or any race, they are hospitable and open, especially to people who show an effort to learn the local languages and culture of the country. Also, with my background of 10 years of being involved in Islam, that helped me get around some race issues as well, and helped make it easier for me to be close and accepted more readily by the locals there.
Now sometimes, you would get little kids, who had never seen a white person before. So when they would see me they would start running and laughing and playing games, and they all call me "two-bob" which means white person, calling me that as if it was my name. But it is all playful, it is not done in any bitterness.
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