Karim: Young man dressed in his soccer jersey, friendly, bounds up to chat. Where else? On the beach (tefas, beach; gej: the sea). We chat. Turns out that Djiby Seye has known this young man since he was quite young, so he gets the stamp of approval. Even without that, this is clearly a young guy who is honest, hardworking and doing what he can to help his mom.
Noted later: OK! Karim and I spent time together yesterday, the 19th. Turns out that Karim is a top soccer player here in Senegal. I would never have known except that after we did some Wolof-English exchange, I asked him to send me some photos. Oh, boy! He is amazing on the field and hopefully he will be picked up as a professional player and travel outside Senegal. He is the oldest of his family, thus has to make sure everyone is fed; that means his mother (father is deceased), and all his half siblings, all 9 of them. Yet, he, like all the Senegalese I meet, work hard, smile alot and are of endless cheer. I loved his necklace and commented how beautiful it was, and he immediately took it off and wanted me to have it. I was quite touched by this. I'm not sure what Americans have to complain about.
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