Tales from Baobab Country

I have discovered the Mad, a fruit grown in the Casamance region of southern Senegal. It came into season with the mangoes, around the end of April, and is now available at many fruit stands throughout the city. The price depends on the size of the mad, ranging from 100-500 cfa, or 20 cents-one dollar.

This is the inside of the mad, pronounced mod. You slice off the top, use the knife to loosen the seeds inside and add sugar, salt, and hot pepper. You suck on the seeds to eat the fruit.

Side view of the Mad. The toothpick is used to get the seeds out. You can also use your hands, which is easier...just like when eating fish.

The vendeuse who was selling Mads on the beach on the Ile de Ngor (Ngor Island)

There were so many new tastes and smells in Senegal that I could never have imagined, some good some bad, but all provoking and interesting. As an intense fruit lover, I tried every fruit available. This type of fruit, the Mad, is something I have never seen before or even heard of in my life. I hope I will be able to have it again someday, inchallah (god willing).

These past few posts have been written since my return to the United States. I have found it easier to catch up on things I wanted to post about due to the internet access here. I am extremely sentimental and reminiscent as I recount just a few of my experiences that are easy to share. The moments that I have shared here are just a tiny tiny portion of what I have seen,

felt, and endured while in Senegal. I already miss things that I never thought I would…like not having any privacy, eating dinner at nine pm, doing laundry by hand, feeling the dirt and the dust of Dakar on my skin and never being clean…

From my room in Libertyville, it all seems so far away. I do not want to lose it and I do not how to get it back. It is the feeling that the culture gave me, the warmth of the Senegalese community, that sheltered me these last five months. As my friend Dounia wrote, “the Senegalese do not have money, so they spend time.” It is the investment in others that is natural and ingrained in each man and woman that I want to keep with me. I do not know if I can translate it to others, but I will try. I spent five months sharing my life with my Senegalese friends and family, and I hope they know how much they have changed me in every way.

Oh Senegal, nama nala? Mala raw torop.