New Marriage à la Mode Blog

Years ago when the French first arrived in Senegal on the Island of Saint Louis, male colonists would come, create transient marriages with local women while in country, and would return to France leaving everything, including any relationship title, behind. Going by the name of “marriage à la mode”, these relationships were used by locals to advance themselves through associative power transfer, in the very least gaining status by their connections with the white colonists, and at the most ‘escaping‘to western civilization. Though many details have changed, a modern day marriage à la mode can still be seen in existence in present day Senegal.

Last week I was eating breakfast at the family restaurant, and in walked Marga (or Margia while traveling). She is average height, mid thirties, not very sweet on the eyes in the kindest way possible, a Dutch philosophy teacher for first through twelfth graders, and happens to be in Senegal for sex. Specifically with Ibrahim, who is twenty two, intelligent, speaks seven different languages, and is perfectly beautiful. While Ibrahim was fetching her breakfast, we found common ground in the fact that we both speak English better than French, and then began to discuss our reasons for being here- me with my studies, and her with Ibrahim. It turns out that she had met him on the beach of Kumba Diallo after she had become sufficiently fed up with all of her Bifall flings. Our areas converged on the topic of development, for what does this burgeoning sex and escape trade mean for a country today?

Tourism, peanuts, and music are the current industries floating Senegal along the upper tier of developing countries. Tourist come here and spend their money, be it on trinkets, transportation, lodging, guides, food, flights, or “buying some love” (a direct quote from Ms. Margia). Economics says that when there is a market and demand, no doubt a supply will be found. With its developing status and constant search for new economies, it is no wonder that Senegal has caught onto this trade. Unemployment is rampant here, even for those with college degrees. With the uneducated and graduates sitting side by side on a bench drinking tea, and a constant need for money to supply and infinite list from school to food, most will do anything for even the scent of income. This is set in contrast to the excess of the west, where surplus everything is much more common.

With respect to relationships, Toubabs offer three options today. The first option is the quite clear cut prostitution. The locals make a profit, the foreigners get what they want, and its over in whatever amount of time. Option two is the in country relationship. While here, the local will essentially be have a liaison with the foreigner, traveling, and eating, experiencing, ensemble. They may get gifts or expenses taken care of, but the most that comes out of this is a status high that many hold in a possibly warped proportion. This is only a lead up to the third and final option, which is also the goal many, not just those involved in enticing tourists on a regular basis-a real relationship and escape. The thinking being that if you make a foreigner fall in love with you, they will take you back with them, and you will have a better life and more opportunities, and hopefully send aid back to family in Senegal. Talk to any local, and presenting a migratory option will be the number one impact they think westerners have here in Senegal. Etagieres have come to the Village des Tortues and swept up workers, my host father talks of western women who cannot find eligible bachelors in their home countries coming here for prospects, and that doesn’t begin to explain how readily people acknowledge this certain foreign effect.

In a culture that supports the export and exploitation of its own people as a means to a better end, what lies on the unfortunate side of the business? Obviously the spread of disease is an ever present roar, especially with beast of AIDS in much of Africa. Beyond that though, there is the future of the people involved in this undependable commerce. Once their youth is gone, there is no saying what they will do. Yet, that just leaves them in the same situation and hundreds of thousands of their countrymen. What is to say that this is a good or bad thing then? Does the government even address it as a problem? Essentially, who cares?

Westerners are still coming to Senegal and creating fleeting status propping relationships or taking some back with them, extending the marriage à la mode fad to the current day. When Marga was exiting with Ibrahim, she parted with wishes that I have a good life. Left with a feeling of moral confusion at her actions and the obvious good person she was, my feelings mirrored the issue at hand. From the outside I can say these marriages à la mode feel wrong, if only for the exploitation, but I’m not the one looking for a hope in passports either.

Classification : Touristus éstagierus

When you step into the Village des Tortues, it is a different world from the rest of Senegal. Not only is it a haven for the endangered G. Sulcata turtle, but also for the ample toubabs that romp around Senegal. Of late, there has been a massive influx of what I like to call Touristus éstagierus- the eco-voluntiering tourist who comes for days, weeks, or even months. They come with good intentions- be it helping the Village, learning about the culture, or just a good old cheap vacation where learning and helping just happen to be on the agenda. Upon arrival, they bring their high expectations and good intentions where they try to do everything and all at once. They are then hit with the Sengalise bug, or one could say the turtle sickness of everything always going quite slowly, leading to discontent as they see much of their efforts being thwarted (unintentionally of course). This is usually the point when the Village turns into a sanctuary for them, a little escape from the culture shock and work style that rocks them out of their token gipsy pants. Whenever any fellow toubab arrives, you can see the relief spread across their features, as here surely is someone who understands what troubles they are going through at this moment, someone they can vent to about the tea-time obsession angst or how things never happen now. In the end, they tend to leave with dreads, trinkets, or diembés that stimulate the local economy, a list of things completed that has nothing to do with what they came for, and a new found patience for themselves and the ones surrounding them. It would be easy to say that these people have a real impact here at the Village des Tortues or even in Senegal as a whole, but the majority of that is through their spending sprees. The real brunt of the implications are loaded onto these people as they return home with knowledge and a perspective that makes them separate once again. They are no longer the common ignorant toubab, nor are they really part of the country, as the haven saved them from much of reality. Indeed, they are a species all to themselves.

A Different Kind of Breakfast

Jaimé of Spain, and Marga of Holland. Both are around their late 30’s or early 40’s, have respectable jobs ( documentary film maker and high school philosophy teacher respectively), are not the finest looking things out there ( that may be a generous description); and both came to Senegal for the same thing: sex. While it is easy enough to hear about the prostitution trade and its problems in Africa, it is something else to see it and have conversations about how it affects the development of countries while it is playing out before your eyes. The easily targeted spot here is the beach of Kumba Diallo, with Bifalls, drum circles, tourists, and their traps galore. Locals look to foreigners as a source of money, and maybe even a way out of the country, while the tourists come in looking for a good time at any rate- all creating a parasitic positive feedback loop. Of course this is confined to those few small places… right? Nope, not at all. Those who work at the Village des Tortues talk of the added bonus and chances to find romance and a way out of Senegal, in Noflaye while almost no one knows or bothers to care about the Village des Tortues environmental impact; they always talk about how some tourist come in to Noflaye,; of these some fall in love with it, and then give things, and then maybe fall in love and whisk away a someone or other. Even my host father commented yesterday on how western men and women come to Senegal in order to find a spouse as it is “just to hard” to find a good match where they come from. Parting from my breakfast meeting with Marga, or Margia when she travels, she wished me a good life, and I could not help but feel that she was a good person as was Jaimé. But oh, what a sick world.


Dude, it was hilarious though ( and a bit sad). This beautiful african guy, and this awkward pudgy dutch lady. She said she fell for him because of his mind, and how he was different than all the other bifalls. She also had a penchant for beans and a hearty breakfast. Also said i spoke french well, scorrreeee.

currently there is a massive influx of french people here, so its kina wierd. but its okay, they bring tasty treats.

fun meetings coming up, ngos of SOS envronnement et possiblement oceanium et UNICEF. fabulous.

i also made my family mint mochas this week, and it made me happy to introduce them to it ( mostly loved it, save one kid and a maid), and because i got to drink the left overs the next day. mmm tasty.

also, alec gave me some fig newtons. for the record, strawberry fig newtons reign supreme. the end, with much love