Papa Sene

 I finally made it to Papa Sene's house! They live about an hour from Ouakam in a town called Petit Mbao. There's a bus that goes directly there so it's pretty easy to visit. My visit was apparently a pretty big deal. They invited the whole family over to have lunch with me, and they made a super special Ceebu Jen:

Ceebu Jen is the national dish of Senegal. This is a particularly fancy one. Normally Ceebu Jen is fish and rice (ceebu means rice and jen means fish) served with some vegetables, usually carrots, cabbage, eggplant, this green bitter tomato thing, and sometimes potato or sweet potato. This particular one also had lobster and shrimp, which I had never seen before. They also hired a professional photographer and gave me a dress and did my hair.

The person in the green is Papa's sister, Fatou. The kids I think are her's, or maybe another sister's kids. Their names are Massa and Amou (spelling?) And the woman in the white is Papa's mom.

This sign is posted right above their front door. The 240 CPS is for our apartment in New York, and the Beth is for Beth Korein. Samba has done an enormous amount for the family, including buying their house, so I think they have a huge appreciation for anyone who helps Samba. It is also a cultural thing to show their familial respect.

This is how I eat most of my meals here: everyone gathers around a large bowl of food and takes from their own little section. All the food in the middle is in big chunks, so if you want some you cut off a little piece with your spoon and bring it back to your area to eat.