Woods family embraces language and culture during Senegal mission

Former Mount Vernon residents Nick and Kristin Woods have traveled before, but this trip was special. As missionaries, they went to the West African nation of Senegal, where they stayed for three and a half years with a dual purpose: To immerse themselves in both, the culture of sub-Saharan-Africa, and the French language.

“We are part of a organization called the International Mission Work,” said Nick Woods. “We were in Senegal from January of 2022 until July of this year, so that we could learn French and also better learn African culture, so that we can, later on, go to southern Europe and reach sub-Saharan African immigrants, who are in that part of the world, with the gospel.”

This current path the Woods are on started in 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky.

“About three years before moving to Senegal, we lived in a refugee community in Louisville,” Kristin said. “There are so many people and cultures living in Louisville, but we felt that we connected best with the Africans that lived in our area. They tell you that you're going to experience some culture shock while living overseas and not being on your own home soil in America. I guess we kind of experienced a bit of that in Louisville and it kind of helped to prepare us for Senegal. Once we got to Senegal, we encountered some of the cultural differences that we saw from African families and communities in Louisville and it just kind of made sense.”

Nick said one of the things that he experienced in Louisville and then, later in Senegal, was on the road, where Senegalese drivers often have a different take on traffic laws.

“When we lived in Louisville, somebody driving a car on the road just in front of me, suddenly stopped,” said Nick. “When I went around the car, which was stopped in the roadway, I saw an African guy talking on his cell phone. At the time, it was a little bit annoying to me, but when I saw this happening in Senegal, I said, 'Oh, I understand now.'”

Kristin had to learn how to use a stick shift, when she got to Senegal. 

“Nick was very patient with me teaching me how to drive a stick shift,” said Kristin.

Driving in Senegal, and especially in the capital Dakar, means keeping a sharp lookout for motorcycles or, as the locals call them, "motos."

“I had to learn to look over my shoulder all the time,” said Kristin. “Their little motos are everywhere. It was very common for people there to go by and brush or tap your car, but usually no damage. It was hard to get used to the massive amount of people there. People were everywhere, all the time, all hours of the day and night.”

The city of Dakar, which sprawls on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean, is home to about 3 or 4 million Senegalese. It is the westernmost point on the continent of Africa.

“Dakar is also the place of opportunity for anyone who lives in the country or what they refer to as, ‘the bush,’" said Kristin. “People who are looking for work are going to be going to Dakar. You find all kinds of people there. The primary language that is spoken there is called Wolof. That's also the name of one of the groups of people in Senegal. French is the official language, but if you go out on the street, most likely you're going to hear Wolof spoken instead. That made it challenging sometimes when it came to learning French. Since it wasn't the full immersion experience, sometimes you had to work to have those conversations and even when you did, sometimes you weren't speaking with someone who was very fluent in French. Not every time, but it would depend on the situation.”

Nick and Kristin couldn't help but learn a little bit of the Wolof language along the way.

“Salutations and greetings are a very important part of the culture there,” said Kristin. “It's very normal for someone, just off the street, to greet you with hello and ask you, ‘How is your family?’ or ‘How was your breakfast?’ or ‘Did you sleep well?’ It's very intentional and it shows how they see people in that sense.”

It's a friendly way that catches some newcomers off guard.

“They're very relational,” said Nick. “The first time I was passing by someone. I said, ‘Hi,’ and he asked me how my family was and I was thinking to myself, ‘Who is this guy?’ Then, I realized this is what you do. It's showing that you care about the person, even if you don't know him.”

Family dining is another experience in social bonding.

“A family generally eats from a common bowl or community bowl,” said Kristin. “You eat with your right hand and not your left. I’m a lefty and I have to be extra careful to use my right hand. You don't use your left hand for anything there. Dishes consisted of more rice than meat. Two of the main dishes were Yassa Poulet and that is an onion sauce with chicken over rice. Or they would substitute that chicken with fish or beef. The other plate was called 'Cheb ou Jen.' Jen means fish, but it can also be made with chicken or beef.”

Senegal was a part of colonial French West Africa until 1960. The French not only left their language, but traces of their culture.

“(The Senegalese) love their French baguette, especially for their breakfast meals,” said Nick. “They would use a baguette and put maybe some kind of onion sauce on it. They might like red beans with it, or they might add, ‘vermicelli,’ which is like angel hair pasta noodles. Lots of carbs. All together with their little cup of coffee and they would eat breakfast somewhere between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.”

The Woods were often treated to authentic Senegalese cuisine at dinner time.

“We had a house helper, named Fatou, who came in five days a week and she would cook for us once or twice a week,” said Kristin. “We loved it when she made Cheb Poulet.”

Cheb Poulet is a popular one pot dish with chicken, rice and a rich tomato sauce, along with assorted vegetables. Fatou would dial back the spices to suit American palates.

“A lot of their dishes are spicy and she just knew that we did not love super spicy stuff, so she made it the way that we like it,” said Nick.

Sometimes, however, the situation called for Kristin and Nick to try the spicier cuisine.

“The locals would just get a kick out of how we were not used to it,” said Kristin. “Our eyes would be tearing up from the heat of the spices, but they took joy that we were all eating that meal together. We enjoyed it, or at least I tried to.”

Senegal is unique in that it is an Islamic country, but it is not an Islamic state in that they don't have Sharia law.

“It is over 95% Muslim, but it is very much its own flavor of Islam,” said Nick. “Within Senegal, there are these groups called, ‘brotherhoods,’ which we might think of as a denomination or club. Each would have its own special place where they would go for a pilgrimage.”

One of the biggest brotherhoods is called the Maurides. In Islam, people are taught that one has to make at least one pilgrimage to Mecca in their lifetime. The Maurides, and other Senegalese groups, allow members to make their pilgrimage to a holy site in Senegal, which is considered the same as traveling to Mecca, thus fulfilling that holy obligation.

Colorful, open air marketplaces in Dakar offered opportunities to brush up on language skills and learn more about local culture, while haggling over the price of goods with merchants. 

“We did a lot of haggling,” said Kristin. “Some days, I thrived at it and other days, they got the best of me. We had some good tourist locations where we could go and experience the open air markets, or we could go to haggle a price for a T-shirt, a dress, or fabrics to make a dress. There are vibrant colors everywhere as you walk through the market.”

Over time, that became a little easier.

“About twice a week or so, I would walk to a street vendor, where I would buy my fruits and vegetables from her and her coworkers and we built a really good relationship with them,” said Kristin. “It got to the point where she would call me when it was strawberry season. She knew I was an American who loved my berries. She would say, ‘Hey Kristen, I have some strawberries. How many kilos do you want?’ I might say give me four kilos.”

Senegalese music has a rich history, which has blended into more modern forms.

“We heard the Wolof style of music a lot, especially in the grocery store, where they had the speakers blaring,” said Nick. “Lots of drums or percussion.”

Senegal has different styles of music to suit many different musical tastes.

“I know that up in Saint-Louis, in what used to be Northern Senegal, they're known for jazz,” said Nick. “They have their own style of jazz. We didn't hear it in person, but we heard it through other people who played the radio and listened to it. Also, there was a lot of reggae. Lots of people played Bob Marley. There were vendors on the street, selling Bob Marley CDs.”

Nick and Kristin had told their house helper, Fatou, who worked for them for three years, that they wanted to see her village if they had the opportunity.

“She comes from the south of Senegal in a place called Casamance,” said Nick. “Her group of people are called the Jola. They have their own language with a few different dialects. They are known for being hard workers and being very honest. In fact, my Jola name is Wahya Badji. So everywhere I went, when I told them I was Badji, everyone knew I was Jola, because that is a Jola name. Everyone is known by their own names.”

Nick, Kristin, and their children went down to her village and spent four days and three nights there.

“We didn't ask her to accommodate us in any way” said Nick. “We just told her that we wanted to come down and spend time with her and meet her family, but she commented that we don't eat really late dinners like they do in Senegal, but they had their dinners early to accommodate us which was very kind of them. They worked many hours in the day to prep the food for the meals.” 

It turned into an adventure for the Woods’ children.

“The boys were in their element,” said Kristin. “It was like a little boy's dream. They could explore everywhere. There was a river they were going to. They would just go outside and the boys in the village would come running over to play with our boys. They would play soccer all day, they would chase the wandering cows and goats. They would climb the mango trees. Our eight year old, Micah, would try anything, so one of the village boys reached into the water, pulled out a crab, broke its claw off, and offered it to Micah to eat. Afterwards, he said, ‘It tastes like a salty peanut.’”

The river was going through the dry season, which turned out to be a good thing. The river was a dangerous place to go in the rainy season.

“Normally, there would be quite a few crocodiles that were in and out of that river and they got into the local fishing nursery,” said Kristin. “We didn't see any of those when we were there, praise the Lord.”

Coming back to the US, about two months ago, meant having to get used to the things Americans take for granted. Going to Wal-Mart meant having 10 different choices for every item they were looking for. All that choice and they didn’t even have to haggle over the price.

“It helps me to appreciate the simplicity of the things we have here and how much we take it for granted,” said Nick. “Just the basic things that are easy to do here, like going to the grocery store or getting gas. When you need to go do something here, for the most part, it’s easy.”

A drive across Mount Vernon may take about 10 minutes, depending on the time of day. That same distance in Dakar could take as much as an hour or two.

“There’s no worries in regard to medical care (in the U.S.),” said Kristin. “When we had a health scare with our youngest son, we found out that you can’t call 911 in Senegal and so that was a very scary moment for us.”

Fortunately, Hudson turned out okay.

“Being back in America has helped me to appreciate the simple things you don’t think about, when you live here all your life,” said Nick.

 To find out more about The International Mission Work, please go to the following address: https://www.imb.org/generosity/