Day 4- Islamic School visit

The dialogue today was amazing! The college students from the Islamic school talked to us about Islam. I can't wait to actually get some of the video posted. Then Internet service here won't allow that much bandwidth but the recordings will be worth the wait. I found it so interesting that the students asked us Americans about the image of women in the states. They have such high respect for their women and couldn't understand why the images they see in our papers and on tv depict women in very little clothes and always looking very sexual. It was hard to explain that it was only a stereotype, but is it? Have we let our values in the US get to a point where now it is expected for women to dress a certain way in order to feel accepted? They also explained to us that women now have equal rights outside the home, but in their own households the men are still king and that is perfectly acceptable. They wanted us to know more about Islam in that it is not a violent religion. They are a peaceful and respectable religion and what we see on TV is not true. Our trip to the homeless shelter for children ages 4-14 was powerful. These teachers take these kids off the street and take care of all their needs. They made leather purses to raise money and of course every woman in the group bought one! We met a young hip hop artist named "seck" that has created a movement here in Senegal. He has encouraged everyone to vote and stand up against dictators. We are actually going to his concert tomorrow night! It's funny, we have all settled in very quickly and things have become familiar. We ventured out every night for dinner and truly enjoyed the atmosphere and the company. We have begun to learn our way around and my French is getting better!