Back to Work

It has been 8 days since I was discharged from the hospital and I’m feeling almost 100% recovered and back to normal. I can walk plenty without feeling pain but I still cannot exercise or lift heavy objects. I get a bandage changed for the wound over my stomach every two days and this Saturday will hopefully be my last visit to the hospital, as the doctor will evaluate me and take out the stitches. Regardless, I am temporarily cleared to return to work on my research.

Today, on Tuesday July 15th, I have reached the midpoint of my stay here in Senegal with 4 weeks remaining. Because I lost a week to my operation, I am quickly and aggressively getting back to work but making sure not to push myself too hard. When thinking about my first four weeks, I am reminded of a famous Islamic prayer that a Northwestern professor forwarded to me before I left for my trip:

             Istikhar – prayer “asking for the best’

Mon Dieu, si ce voyage est la meilleure chose pour moi

pour ce monde et pour l’autre,

rends le [pour] moi facile et benefique.

Si ce n’est pas le cas,

remplace-le par un autre qui lui me sera benefique en ce monde et en l’autre,

car tu es Celui qui sait et nous ne savons pas.

 

**’My God, if this journey is the best thing

for me

for this world and for the other,

make it for me easy and beneficial.

If it is not the case,

replace it with another which will be for me

beneficial in this world and in the other,

for you are the One who knows and we do not know.’

After a long respite, I am more determined to complete the task that I came here to do. This week, I have set up at least 5 meetings with graduate students, professors, party officials, and political activists to talk about my research project and learn more about recent political trends. Although I have learned a lot from academic journals and newspapers, I know there are important lessons and trends that I can only learn by talking with people who have directly experienced whatever I am studying. I have thus far loved meeting the people who were involved in many of the events I had read about for the last 5 months, often during ungodly hours at Northwestern’s Main Library. For example, I met a university professor named Seydi who led the public university’s student union 20 years ago during a chaotic period when young people protested for political change. Now the Secretary of a new political party, he gave me advice on my research, told me stories from the past, and gave me insight into current social trends. One unrelated fact I learned from him is that the public university, Cheikh Anta Diop University, is overburdened with 80,000 undergraduate students and only 1,500 full time staff. In a couple years, the school expects the number to rise to 100,000!

This points to one of the country’s two biggest shortcomings: education and health. I already summarized the country’s healthcare in my previous post. As for education, there are simply not enough schools and resources to take in the amount of eligible students at every level of Senegal’s public educational system. The richest students are able to attend the few elite private universities while the typical Senegalese will attend the public university which, as I mentioned, is overburdened. I’ve walked through campus several times and at first glance, one would think it has a nice, big campus with advanced facilities. When I enter the buildings, I see that all the hallways, classrooms, library, and common areas are jam-packed with students without the amenities I am used to. Nearly all rooms only have a traditional blackboard and do not have air conditioning. Handfuls of students have to stand and take notes because all the chairs are taken. Today, I even saw a class being held in a section of the hallway.

To refresh on my project, I will travel to at least eight different neighborhoods in Dakar and survey young people by using a questionnaire of 33 multiple choice questions, several of which have follow-up, open-ended questions. I plan to survey at least 15 to 20 young people in each of eight neighborhoods in the city. The questions will seek to measure youth’s external political efficacy or the degree to which a person feels his or her government responds to his or her actions in the political process and how well the political institutions reflect his or her needs and concerns. The questions mainly ask about young people’s opinions of the government post-2012, since there are already academic articles that address the historic electoral events of 2012 and there are survey results of people’s political opinions only up until 2012. Some examples of questions include “Do you believe the President’s political reforms have made a difference?”, “Are you hopeful of the country’s future?”, and “Do you believe the Senegalese Democratic Party is based on a clear set of ideas or on individual leadership?” I also ask background questions that ask about one’s political interest, affiliation, and specific past involvements in order to separate the respondents into different sample groups. Overall, I hope to learn about youth’s general trust in the political system since 2012 and discover trends by comparing responses between different kinds of youth. After meticulous translating, editing, and coding, my French survey is 100% ready to go on my iPad tablet. By using the tablet, youth will be able to easily go through each question and the data will automatically be recorded.

In the past couple weeks, I have recruited about 4 potential native translators who would accompany me on my surveying. The translator would properly approach randomly selected youth respondents, guide me through public transportation, and help me with any other challenges that may come up. I must pick a translator this week, which has proven to be a very difficult decision. They have different strengths and weaknesses in terms of their time availability, price, enthusiasm and personal rapport with me. Regardless, I am looking forward to finally starting my fieldwork next week.