Internship at the Chamber of Commerce

My internship at the Chamber of Commerce has been a positive experience so far. I have to be at the office everyday at 8 so I wake up around 7:00/715. I take a motorcycle taxi (Jakarta in Wolof) to work in the morning, which is always a lot of fun. The first few days here my family assigned a Jakarta to me, his name is Pape, who I called whenever I needed a ride to the Chamber of Commerce. It worked out the first few days although I would try to ask him the day before to come at 7:50 so I could be at the office before 8:00, but he never quite got what I was saying so he would usually just arrive at 8:00. Overall I think the communication between us was an issue because I really only know French and it didn't seem like he knew that much French so it was always a little difficult for us to understand each other. Also sometimes after I called him it would take a while for him to come, which I understand because he has a life and I knew that he had other clients because when he would give me a ride we would always pass two or three other people that he knew on the way. However, I didn't really want to have to wait for him every time so I just began negotiating with whichever Jakarta I see first on the road. 

After speaking with my host mom I also realized that I could just pay 200 CFA each way instead of the 300 CFA that I was paying Pape. I take the Jakarta 3/4 times a day, and the 1 USD = 450 CFA, so it's not a big savings, a little under a $1 a day. Although some Jakartas don't accept my 200 CFA offer as they end up driving off after I say that 200 CFA is all I'm willing to pay, I can always find a Jakarta who will give me a ride for that price. It never takes more than 2 tries and my strong assurance that I pay 200 CFA every time I take a Jakarta. This is exactly how negotiations in Dakar worked except we were negotiating with taxis and not motorcycle taxis. Additionally Jakarta are just as prevalent in Kaolack as taxis are in Dakar; you see them everywhere, sometimes in large groups outside of popular destinations like the Grand Market or bars/clubs. I also recently learned from my brother's friend Diouf, that the name Jakarta has its origins in the fact that many Jakartas come from the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta. 

I often wonder how all of these Jakartas can each have enough business to pay for their gas, pay for their motorcycles and still make enough money to have a profit to sustain themselves since it's such a cheap ride. When I asked my brother about this he assured me that there are always people who need a ride from the Jakartas to get places, which makes sense because I don't think people in Kaolack do a lot of walking during the daytime because it is always so hot. Additionally when I told my co-worker Babacar that I walk home everyday after work, which is only about a 25 minute walk, he looked at me like I was crazy. I think that the idea of walking "long distances" isn't appealing to people here because they can just take a cheap moto ride everywhere. However, the Chamber of Commerce really isn't far from where I live and I like to take my time and walk home after work when I have no reason to be in a rush to get anywhere.

The Chamber of Commerce of Agriculture and Industry of Kaolack

Work starts at 8 and I'm usually the first person there because the other employees don't come until about 8:15 or 8:20. I'm fine with this though because I realized this week that there's a cook, Tatan Ndeye Fatou, who not only prepares coffee but also makes delicious breakfast sandwiches. I found out about Tatan's breakfast sandwiches after asking Babacar where I could get something for breakfast one morning, since the only thing I have in the morning at my house is a piece of bread with tea, so I am usually hungry again by 9:30. Her breakfast sandwiches are truly amazing as she fries the eggs, sautes the onions and then cuts up the potatoes to fry the french fries on the spot. I go out and buy the traditional bread for her to put everything on because I like it much more than the French baguette bread that I had only had in Senegal up until recently. I didn't know about the existence of the traditional bread until I had it one morning with my host mom here in Kaolack. Although it's smaller in size, it weighs more than a piece of French bread twice it's size, as the traditional bread is much fuller and less airy. This all costs me 500 CFA which is about a $1. 

My daily breakfast sandwich

The office, my desk is on the very left.

For lunch they give the employees a two hour break from 13:00-15:00 , which gives us enough time to go home for lunch, eat and come back. In all my previous experiences in offices for my internships I usually only get a maximum 1 hour lunch break and oftentimes some of the employees would not leave the office to eat lunch because they preferred to sit at their desks and eat. This is why this two hour lunch break was a little strange to me at first because I thought that it showed some consideration for the personal lives of the employees. Babacar told me that the actual reason for this two hour lunch break is because it gives everyone enough time to conduct their afternoon prayer, since Muslims pray 5 times a day. I do not use this time for prayer usually I will go home and take a nap and wait for my host mom to wake me up when lunch is ready. After lunch I'll take a Jakarta back to work, even if I do have time to walk, since mid-day is the hottest time of the day in Kaolack as it's usually 100 degrees by that point. The only thing about this two hour lunch break is that it makes the work day seem a little longer because we go until 18:00 when we return.

Overall throughout my first two weeks I have not been given a lot of work to do as I have only had a few assignments. As far as I know, this has been a common theme throughout the internship experiences of the students with whom I've spoken. I was partially prepared for this reality because I read reviews of previous students who participated in the MSID Senegal program and they spoke a great deal about not doing much at their internships and having a lot of time to read. Another common sentiment in their documented experiences was the language barrier as many students explained that their internships in the village were primarily in Wolof. This is one reason why I wanted in a internship in a main city like Kaolack with a organization like the Chamber of Commerce because I thought there was a greater likelihood that the internship would be primarily in French, a language which I have been learning for 5 years, rather than Wolof, a language which I studied for 7 weeks. Then, I thought, I would be able to actually communicate with my supervisors and coworkers and understand what was going on.

Products of the Chamber of Commerce

However, much like in my household, all of the employees usually speak in Wolof with one another. Additionally all of the affairs with clients who come in to look at the different agricultural products of the Chamber of Commerce, are also conducted in Wolof. Most oftentimes I don't know what people are saying unless they are directly speaking to me in French or unless Lucas, the French employee is present, and they are speaking with him about something. One good thing is that the majority of our meetings have been conducted in French so I able to keep up with what is going on and what everyone is saying. Although sometimes they revert back to Wolof to express some of their feelings during the meeting.  Usually in those moments people only say a few phrase and oftentimes everyone will laugh at the end, and Lucas and I will usually exchange looks as we both are equally clueless as to why everyone is laughing. Lucas has been present for all of the meetings that have been conducted in French and the first one which was conducted in Wolof, after an event this past weekend, was the only one that was conducted in Wolof thusfar. So I'm really not sure if they usually have their meetings in French or if they only do so because Lucas is present. 

As an intern I understand I'm not really going to have any significant impact on the Chamber of Commerce during my 6 weeks so I've really just been focused on utilizing my time here to learn as much as I can. I think I have a unique opportunity to study an organization which plays an important role in the economy of Kaolack, and consequently in the economy of Senegal, because it's economy runs on its agricultural production and Kaolack is a center of that production. I have learned that in Senegal the primary problem with the growth of the Senegalese economy is the inability of business to attain large investments because the larger banks do not have confidence in the ability of Senegalese businesses to make the necessary returns on these investments. This is why Senegal is so heavily dependent on microeconomics and it is why a majority of the financing for the affairs of the different business in this country come from micro-finance banks. 

With this internship I have also found that the informative conversations with some of the employees regarding the affairs of the Chamber of Commerce are most valuable. From my conversations with my supervisor Jean I learned that the overall the role of the Chamber of Commerce is to help look for investors for producers of agricultural goods as they serve as the middle man between these two entities. The Chamber of Commerce in Kaolack has multiple divisions as one division helps with the locating financing for agricultural business and another actually helps with the formation aspect of agricultural businesses. This process of formation is when the Chamber of Commerce helps those businesses gain knowledge of and complete the appropriate paperwork necessary to become registered by the government. It is only once these business attain this registration that the Chamber of Commerce can begin helping them receive significant investments.

Bissap Tea (National Tea of Senegal)
Product of the GIE Karama (a partner of the Chamber of Commerce)

I have really enjoyed the events that I have been able to attend during my time here as well. Last weekend the Chamber of Commerce had a graduation for the students who completed their Agricultural Formation School.  It was a pretty big ceremony as it was attended by probably 100+ people as well as the President of the Chamber of Commerce and by the Governor of Kaolack. Throughout the morning different speakers/moderators came up to speak about the graduates and on the occasion in general, some would speak in French and others in Wolof. 

One of the speakers 

Mame with a well known Senegalese reporter

The Graduates from the Formation School

During the ceremony my only responsibility was to help hand out different things to the attendee. At first I was helping out with distributing the pamphlet as people were first arriving which went pretty smoothly because nobody was in a rush to receive a pamphlet. I stood at the door at one point after we had handed out the pamphlets to everyone who was inside so I could catch all of the newly arriving attendees, and a lot of people just walked right past me as I tried to give them a pamphlet. I then helped out hand out water and drinks to the attendees who were sitting down. This did not go as smoothly as with the pamphlets because it was hot so everyone wanted their water right away, understandably. With the waters I started from the front of the crowd and made my way to the back but people were tugging on my shirt and telling me to bring their water first whenever I made my way to the back to get more waters. Additionally I had tried to have a friendly disposition as I handed out the waters, but I quickly realized this was unnecessary as no one ever said "thank you" or smiled back.

The audience with the stage at the front

Then I was to help hand out these orange juice drinks and I was told to start with the speakers who were on the stage. As I was handing them out I was getting looks of disapproval from the people on stage and some were not taking the juices from me when I tried to hand them to them. Some of the men on stage were motioning me to do something, but it wasn't until one of them pushed my left hand away that I realized I wasn't supposed to be handing them drinks with my left hand. This is because in Senegalese culture the left hand is bad luck and it is considered disrespectful to hand something to someone with your left hand. This is the same reason why when one sits down to eat a traditional Senegalese meal with their family, everyone only uses their right hand to eat. Sometimes you can use the left hand to hold bread, but you're never supposed to reach for the plate with your left hand. 

After this happened I thought to myself, "of course I would figure out the one way to mess up the simplest task of handing out juices."  I had done so poorly of a job that I was no longer qualified to hand out juices, which was a sad realization. One of the other guys, who seemed like he was head of facilities, came and took over as he finished the task of giving the men on stage their drinks after many of them motioned for me to be replaced. In hindsight I had only been on the stage for a few seconds, but it felt like a lot longer than that with the looks I was receiving from a group of men who I didn't know individually, but whom I knew were important to the city of Kaolack. I handed a drink to my supervisor Monsieur Thiame with my left hand, which I felt bad about afterwards, realizing that he likely only accepted the drink because he knew I was an intern from America. Luckily I had not handed a drink to the President of the Chamber of Commerce or the Governor of Kaolack, as I don't know the level of disapproval that may have resulted from that. 

The President of the Chamber of Commerce ...with the orange juice drink that he didn't get from me

Overall it was a learning experience and I know I can't be too hard on myself because it was cultural rule which I wasn't aware of, or at least I didn't know the extent to which it should be applied to social situations. I learned my lesson quickly though and afterwards when I continued handing drinks out to the audience, I was more than sure to always use my right hand. I also thought to myself that the use of my left hand may have been the reason for the unhappy looks from those in the audience initially when I was handing out the pamphlets and water. I say this because when I gave them a drink with my right hand some of the people, a very small number, probably two, did smile and say thank you.