Throughout the weekend, quite a few visitors popped in to the house where we were staying to say hello. Some were in Podor for the Blues du Fleuve festival, others lived there. Among the latter was a musician named Benjamin who had joined in an impromptu jam session in our living room. If I remember right, it was Benjamin who had brought the akonting, similar to an enormous three-stringed banjo.
Turns out Benjamin is not only the caretaker for our house, but he's also the music director for the local Catholic church. He invited us to stop in for services on Sunday morning. After a late night Saturday night, Robin and I were the only ones who made it there. As a product of 12 years of Catholic school, I'd feel obligated to say yes, you'd figure. But truth is, if I had been lucky enough to be invited to a mosque or a synagogue I'd have been happy to go, too.
Because Senegal is 99% Muslim, Catholic churches are fairly rare there. This one has about 40 regular parishoners. After services, Benjamin showed Robin and I the community center they were building (see photo above).
More pictures of the Catholic church in Senegal are here.
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