In our series about the participants in the Brida Journal Project, “Mola” describes his typical days in Dakar, Senegal.
Dakar has a population of over 3 million inhabitants, It has a lot of cars, the traffic is dense and it is becoming too much polluted. The weather is usually sunny. People are kind and sociable specially to foreigners, it is called’ Teranga’ and it is cultural. We are always ready to start a discussion and willing to help you.
When I wake up every morning, I first go to feed the sheep and birds. After that, I can prepare to go out.
I work on my father’s farm. It is about 30 km from home and about 40 min by car. I usually go to the farm after the morning rush hour. Meanwhile, I organise my agenda and do some work at home. But sometimes it is necessary to go earlier in the morning when workers need help or encounter some problems. I work as an Assistant Manager, I organize the work agenda and give directives to co-workers that help me with the crops, the trees, and animals. I also have a dog for company.
Agriculture is that type of job that you have to be patient with, and you have to be involved in all the process, from the start until you harvest. We produce a large variety of fruits and vegetables. Among them, we have agrumes on a large range and types, mangoes, bananas, coconuts, grenadine, sapodilla, corossol…and vegetables like salad, tomato, cabbage pepper…It frequently changes because of the rotation of culture and weather.
We harvest every 3 months and 6 months according to the type of crops. Fruits are according to the season; we can have two harvests per year and there is a diverse variety.
We also have poultry, 200 chickens, and new arrival of chicks every month or two months. Recently I started preparing facilities for sheep that will come to the farm. I have many other projects to improve the farm because it is important to produce what we eat and to sell to customers. In the future, with my co-workers, we would like to enlarge and go for industrial production.
Recently, I started to do some freelance projects (my cousin and I), so sometimes we could receive a call from some company or organisation that needs our services in maintenance and installation. Sometimes, I am also a driver. I like road trips, and to discover new things, I could meet new people and opportunities.
After a long day, when I get back home, I find time to do my housework and other duties. Sometimes, when I’m less tired I study at the library or in front of the computer; I like to go online, even when I’m out, I use my cell phone to do so in any spare time.
When the weekend comes, I usually go to the farm on Saturdays or Sundays to set the work for the next week when there is a need.
And at the weekend’s night, I can hang out with friends to go to some places where we can discuss and have fun or anything that I can do to relax. I also go to the beach to swim and go jogging in the week in my foretime have a lot of friends and family members that I share my time with.
I go shopping in a large area supermarket and in the bustling markets with my sister because she knows better than me the narrow paths inside the bustling markets and where to find what we need. On the other hand, I go sometimes with my mum to buy fish at the bay in my neighbourhood where there is a small fish market in which we can find a variety of fish from fishermen.
