Small Dakar!

A suspicion of morning compliments,
Small Dakar!

The walls draw their curtains of veil on their secrecies,
the streets, the famous traces of famous passers by,
all hidden in immense trucks, discrete,
On very strange women, far from unfriendly glances.

The flavours repaint the coffees into brothels,
the glare of the day, the defects in virtues.
It is the hour when the masks marry the obstructed faces,
Shameful, their glances fleeing their already forgotten passions.

Small Dakar….

Inflating its hypocritical chest of savours,
the city stretches its exhausted past.
One enjoys already forms and colours which one deciphers,
While obstinately waiting for the arrival of Midnight.

--------

Ibrahima Amadou Niang is not just a dreamer.
Yes, he writes poetry but he also digs wells.














That was his Creativity, Action and Service project in his final year of the International Baccalaureate Programme – to dig a well for a primary school in a poor area to help them towards cultivation of food.

Now he is fast becoming a regional expert on election information and training in West Africa; servicing an international website with the latest data (www.aceproject.org) and vigorously and determinedly finding ways to contribute to the growth of Africa.

And his poetry is rich in African imagery and references that direct the reader to the source of his inspiration and aspirations.

For Ibou (as he is known to his friends and colleagues) believes that anyone can be African.

If you subscribe to the underlying value of creative energy as the foundation for all your actions.

If you believe that one part of everyone’s life must be given over to leaving something to be shared by others. A poem. (Any art work, actually.) Good ideas. Positive actions that help other peoples’ lives towards self-sufficiency and giving your full attention to the challenge that presents itself, here. Now!

If you are determined to effect affirmative change, starting with the people around you; and most importantly with yourself. Self-determinacy is one of Ibou’s strongest features.

He was the top student at his Dakar school (won a prize at Senegal’s most prestigious “Concours Général” in 2001) and then spent three years at Reading University obtaining a B.A. in International Relations and Economics. Returning to Senegal, he completed a Masters in International Law; started researching for a post-graduate diploma in political science, and participates in the 2007-2008 African Interaction Leadership Programme run by the British Council.

He also currently manages the West African Regional Centre of the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network from the Gorée Institute (www.goreeinstitute.org), and will be an accredited BRIDGE facilitator (www.bridge-project.org) by July 2008. Contracted by International IDEA (www.idea.int) and funded by the European Commission and the UN Democracy Fund, these Resource Centres are the regional knowledge hubs of ACE. Not only do they strive to build and inspire electoral expertise in their own regions, but they also incorporate their respective regional perspectives into the ACE network and enable fruitful knowledge exchange with other election practitioners and electoral assistance providers around the world.
Ibou says:
“The bad images people have of Africa are due firstly to Africans. It is we as Africans who must rework that image and show what we have to offer. It is up to us to raise awareness, in even small ways, and to change what doesn’t work. We have the power and we have the creativity – we can do it!”

Read Ibou’s poetry and meet an African who straddles the world through dreams, imagination and action.

Well-digging of another kind, indeed.

ibrahima.niang@goreeinstitute.org


By Nicky du Plessis

Posted at Friday, June 20, 2008 | 0 Comments