Collaboration With Lebou Historian Oumar N'Galla Gueye 2

Omar Gueye is a recognized expert in the history of the Lebou people. Almamy and I met with him again yesterday to lay the groundwork for a series of filmed interviews on the topic of Lebou history and culture. This is the first in that extended series, and focuses on the migration of the Lebou from India, through Egypt and the Sahara, to Senegal and the Cap Vert Peninsula.

The aim at present is to create a comfortable milieu, and a easy rhythm, both for Omar and Almamy, who is doing the Wolof-English translation. The interview is filmed in Omar's home in Yoff.

clip1 clip2 clip3 clip4 clip5 clip6 clip7 clip8

Following the interview, Omar took us around Yoff, introducing us to his family, friends and dignitaries, including the Mayor of Yoff and the Imam of the Grand Mosque. We wandered along narrow sandy paths, through the cluster of neighborhoods in central Yoff. It is a place of sand and cinderblocks, with few landmarks for the likes of this Westerner, accustomed to streets and street signs.

I now find myself comfortable with shaking hands, exchanging greetings, sitting and visiting, listening patiently, moving along on a comfortable, relaxed, Senegalese pace, guided less by the constraints of goals and time than responses to relationship.