A new face on the scene....

Hello, Bonjour, Salaamaalekum! (Which ever greeting you prefer)

My name is Jessica Sveen, and I’m a semester volunteer teaching English in a high school here in Dakar and living with a Senegalese, Muslim family next door to Rich and Lisa Finch. I’m a junior at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois and hail not only from the North of the Mason-Dixon Line, but my home church Glen Ellyn Covenant Church. I was set up with International Baptist Mission through a friend from Wheaton, and thought that it sounded like a wonderful opportunity for a fidgety junior stuck in cold, snowy Chicago. My major is International Relations and French which has been a wonderful foundation for me in coming to Senegal. I’ve been able to use my French a lot, but finding my Wolof (major language and people group in Senegal) soaring to new heights.
I wanted to start “blogging” certain aspects of my life here because it will help you understand the family structure and practices of the Senegalese people a little better. Also, I’m assisting English teachers at a school in a neighborhood about 10 minutes away from where I live. The school systems are completely different then those in the states, and hopefully, I will also be able to shed some light on them. There is a lot to say, so I’ll start off with some basics.
Someone once told me that, "you never fully wash the dust of Africa off your feet". That phrase is so relevant here because your feet are always dirty because of all the sand. Ha Ha. Seriously though, the African people are unforgettable and the smell and feel are totally impressionable. Okay so let's get to it. I'm not going to put EVERYTHING in this one Blog, so don't worry. I'm simply going to start with some important things to do when interacting with people... especially my family.
1. You always greet everyone in a room. This is done by shaking EVERYONE'S
hand. You also always want to shake the oldest person in the room's hand
first, and do not shake the cute lil’ kids’ hands first. My family has a lot of kids
and they are all really loving so as soon as I walk into the room, people get up and welcome you. Life here is completely relational. People here desire relationship over work. In the states, we often live to work but here people work to live.
2. Eating with my family: everyone eats out of a big plate on the floor at the same
time. It is a big round plate and everyone sits around it. It's actually
very community centered and I have learned to love doing it this way. However, eating isn't a community builder (if that makes sense); it's a time to eat not a time to talk. Very small conversations are had over the food, but mostly you focus on eating and then
when you’re done, you can sit back and talk. You also don't drink during the
meal...only after.
3. Activity: Everything is done together. My family watches A LOT of TV which entails a lot of soccer games and extremely dramatic Spanish soap operas. This is all done at night mostly. No one goes to bed till real late and they get up really early. They have a 2 hour siesta time in the day to make up for lost sleep.
4. My family’s religion: My family is devoted Muslims. They all pray 5 times a day and will often leave the common room to go and pray. They go and visit the Mosque and talk about their faith often. This is sometimes hard for me because, being a Christian; it is hard for me to talk about my faith with my family. I live my life based on my love for Christ. I lean on Christ’s command to love him with my heart, soul, strength, and mind and to love my neighbor as myself. Jesus says that people will know we are his disciples by the way we love one another. My witness is not always vocal, but I pray that my smile and my helping hand will show my love for my family. I have had some spiritual moments of clarity with my family and pray for more moments like those.

I hope this give all ya’ll a basis for where I am writing from.
Until Next Time… Jamm ak Jamm (peace with peace),

Jessica