Julia L. Ritchey » julia

HIV/AIDS in Senegal, Still a Stigma

julia — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:10:30 +0000

One of the more difficult assignments I had in Senegal was photographing a woman who was HIV positive. A Finnish freelancer contacted me about a story she was doing on Senegal’s relatively low HIV rate (1%) compared to other African countries. Many doctors attribute this to under-reporting because it still carries such a huge stigma, especially in a Muslim society. The 33-year-old woman who agreed to talk to us shared with us her story of finding out she had HIV, which her husband also has, and having to hide it from everyone she knows for fear of being an outcast. She told us she could no longer have children because she feared her family would ask why she could no longer breast feed. It was then she broke down in tears. It was hard for me not to do the same.

Eating Mad Fruit

julia — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:22:05 +0000

It’s time for goodbyes in Dakar. The other night, at a double feature showing at my friend Gina’s, pal Kim stopped by a few hours before her flight to bid adieu. She brought with her a funny little Senegalese fruit called Mad. I mentioned mango season before, but I forgot to add that Mad fruit are, in many ways, just as popular right now and visible on every fruit seller’s small tables. I didn’t know what they were for a long time, or how to eat them, but I would see cab drivers chewing on their seeds and spitting them out the window, just like you would with watermelon seeds. It screamed summer. The only problem I have with Mad is how hideous they are. They look like they’re in a constant state of decomposition. The one I bought below is pretty standard, actually. So how do they tell if they’re ripe enough? Apparently the ladies who sell them just know.

Anyway, Kim was so enthusiastic about us learning this tradition, I had to share. Only three day before my plane leaves and I’m still learning new things! Here’s a quick step by step for eating Mad.

So to start you slice off the top, which reveals the brain of the fruit, flesh-covered seeds nestled into a hollow gourd.

Next you scoop out the pulpy seeds into a bowl to add sugar and spices. Alternatively, you can do all this inside the gourd itself like the Senegalese do, but for sharing purposes it’s easier in a separate bowl.

Add sugar to cut the tartness…

…and salt and any other spices to taste. I put in a few sprinkles of cinnamon and a dash of chili powder for kick. I think honey would also be a good substitute here.

Stir vigorously to break up the seeds and incorporate all the add-ins.

Eat up! Take a seed, suck on it for a bit, discard. I like to spit the seeds into the hollowed-out fruit. It tastes like a cross between mashed bananas and a tart mango. You don’t actually eat anthing because the pulp is tenaciously attached to the seed, so just chew and extract the juices. As they say in Wolof: naax na!

Spit cup.

Jazz Hot

julia — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:38:33 +0000

Here are some pics of the Jazz Festival I went to over the weekend. Stand outs were Chico Correa & the Electronic Band from Brazil and Mina Agossi, a French vocal jazz artist.

Here’s some Chico Correa recorded by some person at the bar I was at in St. Louis:

This will likely be my last post on Gavelwrench before migrating over to juliaritchey.com again. I’m spending the last two weeks in Dakar contemplating life choices, applying for jobs and getting ready to see friends and family. It’s been a nice start to 2011. Hope to have a strong finish as well. Merci, Afrique!

A komodo dragon I came across in the awful resort town of Saly, Senegal.

Paul Theroux: WASP or Racist?

julia — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:42:44 +0000

I wrote a longer review of this Dark Star Safari book by Paul Theroux on Goodreads, but thought I’d share the passage from it that made me put the book down. I really can’t stand this guy.

“Even at their best, African cities seemed to me miserable improvised anthills, attracting the poor and the desperate from the bush and turning them into thieves and devisers of cruel scams. Scamming is the survival mode in a city where tribal niceties do not apply and there are no sanctions except those of the police, a class of people who in Africa generally are little more than licensed thieves.”

Since living in Africa, I have met some men of Theroux’s generation. Old, wrinkly white men who believe years lived in Africa equals a free pass to criticize all its ills. Or that their worldview, that nothing will ever change or get better in Africa, is an accepted one. Luckily, there are some new people here, people who don’t come with the idea that “things are just fucked up and always will be,” that don’t exoticize its people and vistas as black voodoo magic, and who just love living here. Power cuts and all.

I will never read this joker’s books again.

Summer Skedge

julia — Mon, 30 May 2011 12:45:52 +0000

My summer is shaping up to be crazy, exhausting and expensive. These are all unfortunate attributes because I will have no income starting July 1, but I remain hopeful that something awesome will come along by August, and by “something awesome” I mean a job.

June 24 thru June 27 – Lisbon, Portugal for a reunion with my good friends with sexy European accents
June 28 thru July 12 – Madison, Wisconsin to make up for missing Lee’s birthday and strongman competitions
July 13 thru July 20 – Hendersonville, North Carolina so that my family knows I am still alive and did not die of tropical mango poisoning
July 20 – Washington, D.C. for one-night-only!
July 21 thru July 24 – Road trip with some friends to Pennsylvania for a barn raising, or something like that
July 24 thru ??? – Meet Lee in Pa. and drive back to Madison

If you feel you are in dire need of a Julia visit and will be around for any of those dates/places, please let me know.

I’m going to miss the hell out of Senegal, mostly just the wonderful people I’ve met and befriended. There are no regrets when it comes to moving here, which is why it’s all the more likely I may come back in August. I’m not the neurotic and depressed, smartphone-obsessed aspiring careerist I was when I left D.C. and I’m really, really glad for that.

As a side note, I am going to shutter gavelwrench.com when the domain expires in July. It was a nice way to chronicle my first six months here, but now I find myself questioning the frugality of two domains and my commitment to updating them both. I’ll be archiving these posts and blogging less frequently over at juliaritchey.com/blog this summer. E-mail remains my favorite way of corresponding when I’m not where you are, so send me a note anytime at ritchey.julia@gmail.com.

Happy Summer!

Gettin' silly at a Gambian eco lodge with Kim.