An Interesting Day
Had an interesting day at work yesterday. It takes two taxis, D9, and 30-45 minutes to get to Banjul (if your lucky). After I arrived in Banjul I realized that the place I thought the Census was, wasn’t. I was supposed to be there at ten. After walking around until a quarter before I just hired a taxi. He didn’t know either and was asking people himself. It’s basically like being in DC and asking someone where the Department of Labor, for example, is. They all know that it’s here somewhere, but very few people know exactly. The taxi driver gave up. I eventually found it, a half hour late, but they didn’t care. They found it odd that most people actually weren’t showing up for work today. That should have been a hint, if it wasn’t in reality quite common of people not showing up.
The first thing I did was ask my coworker to draw me a map of Banjul so I get there on time from now on. He laughed, starting drawing and even included landmarks. Basically the landmarks were the equivalent of a McDonalds, a Gas Station, and a park.
About an hour later the power went out, along with the AC. So we opened a window and starting talking by the window. He was telling me what projects they had coming up, what I could do, what programs they use, etc. At around 12:30 he noticed a lot of people were running outside. We just both watch people run for a few seconds before my cell phone rang.
“Mike? Bear. Are you in Banjul?”
“Yes, I’m at work”
“You might want to get back to the Office. I just received a call from Marc.
Something’s happening. You might not be able to get out of Banjul later. ”
“O. K. Thanks. ”
Hung up and told my supervisor that I had to go and that I don’t know when I’ll be back. He smiled understandably, we exchanged cell phone numbers, and he walked me down stairs and around the corner to the car park for me to get a ride out. He went back to work, but told me if I couldn’t get a ride out by 4:30 then they will take me.
I didn’t know what the ‘something’ was; but I could tell that yes, “something”, was going on. For three city blocks straight were the 15-passenger vans packed full of people. When a new one arrived people scrambled to get in. Every taxi was full. I tried getting into any taxi, big or small, but all were filled to capacity and more. What was more was that every money exchange shop were closed, the black market dealers were nowhere to be seen, most shops were closed, children were out of school, and people were running.
Usually I carry in my wallet enough money for the day, usually D50 (it’s D18 round trip to work, and the rest for breakfast/lunch). Today I had D100, and my “emergency” five-dollar bill I had folded up, for that “just-in-case” scenario. This was a just-in-case case.
I took out D25 and the $5 bill and told a “bumpster” that if he got me a cab to go to the American Embassy he can have the D25. The Embassy is a block away from the Peace Corps Office. The bumpster ran away and two minutes later, out nowhere, mixed with cabs full of people came an empty cab just for me, along with the bumpster inside. Later I was told that the taxi driver most likely kicked everyone out of his own cab just to give me a ride.
I held out the $5 bill and the taxi driver agreed, but as we were about to pull away he changed his mind and wanted Dalasi instead. D200 of it. The $5 is worth anywhere from D150 to D190 depending on who you go to. He didn’t want mixed money either (US and Dalasi). I still hadn’t given the bumpster the D25 so he hopped inside and told the taxi driver where to go to get money exchanged, even though every place was closed.
We arrived next to a bank where a money exchange shop was located, both closed. The bumpster and I got out, he knocked on the side door and the owner opened the door. They exchanged words and the owner took my $5 and told me “30” meaning D30/$1. A bit low, but you couldn’t really argue in that situation. I agreed. He took the five, gave me D150 and as we were about to leave he shouted, “Wait!” and looked at me angrily. He marched over to the other desk, took out a counterfeit pen and made a mark on the bill. His expression changed 180, looked up and said “O. k. Thanks. Goodbye” and shut the door.
Got back to the taxi, paid the taxi driver the D150 and D50 more, the bumpster D25, and the taxi driver gave the bumpster a little too. And we took off. The road was packed full of people all wanting to get a ride but he rode past all of them. When we got to the bridge the usual Police Stop was in affect (which honestly only saw a few cars before getting stopped). Now most cars were stopped. We were allowed through.
Drove the 20 minutes to the Embassy; can’t park in front of it, so he drops me off at the Peace Corps office. Where I wanted to go anyway. Walked in and went to the volunteer lounge. There were about a dozen volunteers wondering what’s happening. The Senegalese radio was saying it was an attempted coup d'état. The Peace Corps security person was on the phone with the Embassy, the Embassy on the phone with both Washington and also Senegal to get and compare more information.
The “something” was in fact, a relative nothing. The government wanted to stop the high rate of inflation that was happening and so they were going to do it by two ways: 1. Order all shops to reduce prices; below the prices they bought the products for; and 2. Arrest all black market money exchangers. They decided to do both simultaneously on the same day, on a Monday, without telling anyone ahead of time. Most shops protested by closing up for the day and sending people home. The black market dealers started running away from the police, which got other people wondering why they’re running and why people are closing up shop, so they start running. Pretty soon a whole panic happened, enhanced my Senegalese radio saying it was a coup. An hour or so later every cab in Banjul was full of people trying to get out.
A few volunteers were actually stuck on the bridge at the time going into Banjul when everything happened. For a half-hour they were trying to get a ride back and were about to call Diana (The country director) to have them be picked up by Peace Corps when they found a ride. Another volunteer’s principal was stuck in Banjul until late evening.
Everyone made it back, and when the public realized it wasn’t anything even close to a coup everything started settling down. Today is basically back to normal. It was just a big scare for everyone.
-MIke
The first thing I did was ask my coworker to draw me a map of Banjul so I get there on time from now on. He laughed, starting drawing and even included landmarks. Basically the landmarks were the equivalent of a McDonalds, a Gas Station, and a park.
About an hour later the power went out, along with the AC. So we opened a window and starting talking by the window. He was telling me what projects they had coming up, what I could do, what programs they use, etc. At around 12:30 he noticed a lot of people were running outside. We just both watch people run for a few seconds before my cell phone rang.
“Mike? Bear. Are you in Banjul?”
“Yes, I’m at work”
“You might want to get back to the Office. I just received a call from Marc.
Something’s happening. You might not be able to get out of Banjul later. ”
“O. K. Thanks. ”
Hung up and told my supervisor that I had to go and that I don’t know when I’ll be back. He smiled understandably, we exchanged cell phone numbers, and he walked me down stairs and around the corner to the car park for me to get a ride out. He went back to work, but told me if I couldn’t get a ride out by 4:30 then they will take me.
I didn’t know what the ‘something’ was; but I could tell that yes, “something”, was going on. For three city blocks straight were the 15-passenger vans packed full of people. When a new one arrived people scrambled to get in. Every taxi was full. I tried getting into any taxi, big or small, but all were filled to capacity and more. What was more was that every money exchange shop were closed, the black market dealers were nowhere to be seen, most shops were closed, children were out of school, and people were running.
Usually I carry in my wallet enough money for the day, usually D50 (it’s D18 round trip to work, and the rest for breakfast/lunch). Today I had D100, and my “emergency” five-dollar bill I had folded up, for that “just-in-case” scenario. This was a just-in-case case.
I took out D25 and the $5 bill and told a “bumpster” that if he got me a cab to go to the American Embassy he can have the D25. The Embassy is a block away from the Peace Corps Office. The bumpster ran away and two minutes later, out nowhere, mixed with cabs full of people came an empty cab just for me, along with the bumpster inside. Later I was told that the taxi driver most likely kicked everyone out of his own cab just to give me a ride.
I held out the $5 bill and the taxi driver agreed, but as we were about to pull away he changed his mind and wanted Dalasi instead. D200 of it. The $5 is worth anywhere from D150 to D190 depending on who you go to. He didn’t want mixed money either (US and Dalasi). I still hadn’t given the bumpster the D25 so he hopped inside and told the taxi driver where to go to get money exchanged, even though every place was closed.
We arrived next to a bank where a money exchange shop was located, both closed. The bumpster and I got out, he knocked on the side door and the owner opened the door. They exchanged words and the owner took my $5 and told me “30” meaning D30/$1. A bit low, but you couldn’t really argue in that situation. I agreed. He took the five, gave me D150 and as we were about to leave he shouted, “Wait!” and looked at me angrily. He marched over to the other desk, took out a counterfeit pen and made a mark on the bill. His expression changed 180, looked up and said “O. k. Thanks. Goodbye” and shut the door.
Got back to the taxi, paid the taxi driver the D150 and D50 more, the bumpster D25, and the taxi driver gave the bumpster a little too. And we took off. The road was packed full of people all wanting to get a ride but he rode past all of them. When we got to the bridge the usual Police Stop was in affect (which honestly only saw a few cars before getting stopped). Now most cars were stopped. We were allowed through.
Drove the 20 minutes to the Embassy; can’t park in front of it, so he drops me off at the Peace Corps office. Where I wanted to go anyway. Walked in and went to the volunteer lounge. There were about a dozen volunteers wondering what’s happening. The Senegalese radio was saying it was an attempted coup d'état. The Peace Corps security person was on the phone with the Embassy, the Embassy on the phone with both Washington and also Senegal to get and compare more information.
The “something” was in fact, a relative nothing. The government wanted to stop the high rate of inflation that was happening and so they were going to do it by two ways: 1. Order all shops to reduce prices; below the prices they bought the products for; and 2. Arrest all black market money exchangers. They decided to do both simultaneously on the same day, on a Monday, without telling anyone ahead of time. Most shops protested by closing up for the day and sending people home. The black market dealers started running away from the police, which got other people wondering why they’re running and why people are closing up shop, so they start running. Pretty soon a whole panic happened, enhanced my Senegalese radio saying it was a coup. An hour or so later every cab in Banjul was full of people trying to get out.
A few volunteers were actually stuck on the bridge at the time going into Banjul when everything happened. For a half-hour they were trying to get a ride back and were about to call Diana (The country director) to have them be picked up by Peace Corps when they found a ride. Another volunteer’s principal was stuck in Banjul until late evening.
Everyone made it back, and when the public realized it wasn’t anything even close to a coup everything started settling down. Today is basically back to normal. It was just a big scare for everyone.
-MIke
posted by Mike | 11:52 PM
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