You have seen only one side of Dakar. It's not just rich tourists/expats and impoverished locals living in squalor. In fact, the social tapestry of Dakar is much richer than you seen to realize. You saw the extremes, but missed the in-between, and the nuance. There are plenty of people of all socio-economic classes here who love life in Dakar.
Dakar has a lot to offer. Passionate, talented people. Live music by amazing artists from all over Africa, every night of the week. Delicious food, not just in gated resorts. A vibrant literary scene. Beachside village neighborhoods with crystal waters where community still thrives and kids play outdoors freely.
What insight does this article give, apart from reinforcing the "Africa is poor and dirty" narrative? Quite ironic, too, that you turned Dakar into just a backdrop for your musings on the out-of-touch hubris of outsiders in this city.
Story-telling, graphic photos, compelling stories of poverty. The rest of the world, and those over at the upscale hotel, have no concept of how really huge the problem is worldwide or growth right here in America. Thank you, Chris, for the visuals and words that make poverty real.
In reality it wouldn’t cost too much to put many of the things right in such places. Sadly, corruption is never very far away where there is such poverty.
I have less sympathy than Chris, because Chris elided the question of how 4 million people came to be in the state that he describes. It's not clear to me that there's a quasi-rational set of incentives (even allowing for profound ignorance) that explain why - if their collective existence is one of poverty, filth, disease, and lack of the ability to generate and accumulate wealth - they'd bring so many more people into that state and compound the collective problem.
A large population with a complete lack of social and human capital feels like an endogenous clusterfuck that will take centuries of external investment to fix.
As a related point, like China in its filthiest phase of industrialisation, the tolerance of the people in Dakar (and in large parts of the developing world) to conditions like that (and their collective willingness to create those conditions) make me despondent about the prospects of a clean, sustainable future - if people will live in a pall of pollution in winter in China, or African cities are what they are, the human indifference curve to pollution is so high that expecting them to bear any costs / foregone income to reduce pollution is a wildly optimistic.
To what extent is simple overpopulation the main problem? Too many people overwhelming the environmental carrying capacity of the country with climate change constantly degrading that capacity it seems that they will never catch up.
Challenging subject, all credit to you for tackling Dakar. Have you any plans to do a Southern African city. Dar Es Salaam perhaps. I found in the 70's living in Southern Africa a wonderful experience enriched by that sense of community you have spoken of in Istanbul for instance.
Everything you wrote here rung true to my own experience of living in the likes of Lagos, Nigeria; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for several years a decade ago. (Don't hate me, I was mostly there on the "honest" profit-motive rather than as a do-gooder). Except the part where you didn't like it.
I LOVED living in these places.
Because one thing that maybe you didn't notice in your walks through Dakar over a week is that there's another "soft infrastructure" that very much increases quality-of-life at least somewhat counteracting the pollution, lack of sanitation, abject poverty, traffic, underemployment, etc. It's how much more lively and social these places are. It's easy to feel disgusted, but very hard to feel lonely.
You noted this in Hanoi. And you've commented on the spirituality of the Senegalese. But it's there in so many aspects of life. The music (enjoyed in open air, with a crowd, while dancing). The communal meals (often fed to you disgustingly by unwashed hands!). The humor (essential armor against degradation). The tendency for other people very much not to "mind their business," like it or not, and get involved in EVERYTHING. Privacy? Forget it! Life in these "shithole countries" is more dirty and dangerous than empathetic people may want to admit, but it's also much fuller in more subtle, but essential ways.
I now live in the high-HDI utopia that is Scandinavia, where you can walk unencumbered through urbanist cities or through forest and field wielding the ancient privileges of Allemansrätten. And it is really really nice. A MUCH better lifestyle, IMO, than my native United States. The hygge hype is real.
But here I miss this thing that you do have in these not-so-nice places. The street life. The energy. The human-ness. I lack that all the time. It's a persistent longing deep in my heart. And I know that a lot of the African people who have taken your advice to say yes and overcome the odds to get here as often-unwelcomed immigrants, they miss it, too. Most still don't return, given the obvious practical downsides of back home and the sunk-costs they underwent to get here (with all the hopes and expectations of whole clans at their backs), but I doubt they or I will ever quite recreate what we had down there in this spotless, somewhat limpid utopia.
Excellent piece, Chris. I think people often shy away from writing an honest account of a place for fear of being misconstrued as an unfair attack on its people, but I think you’ve framed it perfectly here.
When I was fresh out of uni about 8 years ago, I spent 2 years living and working in Southern and Eastern Africa. I only worked for tiny non-profits, but my lofty aim at the time was to work my way up to a big organisation like the UNDP or World Bank. I wanted to spend my life doing good. Two years I pursued that naive dream. Two years seeing broken promises, poor planning, and out-of-touch decrees from the air-conditioned offices and pristine Toyota Hiluxes, made me realise it was all a sham. The best that could be hoped for was a slight improvement in health outcomes. Economic development remained ever elusive. So much money spent on white elephants and shiny infrastructure that turned to rust after the projects moved on.
In truth, it took me far too long to realise no country is ever developed from the outside-in. Fair economic terms, good governance, and patience for a generation are what it takes. There is little room for the NGO, technocratic class in that equation. There was little room for me.
My dream was to combine doing good while travelling the world, but in the end I realised the only person I was helping was myself.
I look forward enormously to your walks, Chris but can't help feeling that you have gone down a bit of a rabbit hole of late with your comparisons with the US. Your remarks about the non profit industrial complex and the theme park enclave resorts are very well made however and I would love it if you had developed them further. Keep on walking, you have a unique voice!
One of your most powerful reports yet Chris, and that’s saying a lot as I find them all compelling. I especially appreciate your blunt takes on all the profiteers circling around the misery.
You have seen only one side of Dakar. It's not just rich tourists/expats and impoverished locals living in squalor. In fact, the social tapestry of Dakar is much richer than you seen to realize. You saw the extremes, but missed the in-between, and the nuance. There are plenty of people of all socio-economic classes here who love life in Dakar.
Dakar has a lot to offer. Passionate, talented people. Live music by amazing artists from all over Africa, every night of the week. Delicious food, not just in gated resorts. A vibrant literary scene. Beachside village neighborhoods with crystal waters where community still thrives and kids play outdoors freely.
What insight does this article give, apart from reinforcing the "Africa is poor and dirty" narrative? Quite ironic, too, that you turned Dakar into just a backdrop for your musings on the out-of-touch hubris of outsiders in this city.
Great article. 🐤 I tweeted it!
Story-telling, graphic photos, compelling stories of poverty. The rest of the world, and those over at the upscale hotel, have no concept of how really huge the problem is worldwide or growth right here in America. Thank you, Chris, for the visuals and words that make poverty real.
In reality it wouldn’t cost too much to put many of the things right in such places. Sadly, corruption is never very far away where there is such poverty.
I have less sympathy than Chris, because Chris elided the question of how 4 million people came to be in the state that he describes. It's not clear to me that there's a quasi-rational set of incentives (even allowing for profound ignorance) that explain why - if their collective existence is one of poverty, filth, disease, and lack of the ability to generate and accumulate wealth - they'd bring so many more people into that state and compound the collective problem.
A large population with a complete lack of social and human capital feels like an endogenous clusterfuck that will take centuries of external investment to fix.
As a related point, like China in its filthiest phase of industrialisation, the tolerance of the people in Dakar (and in large parts of the developing world) to conditions like that (and their collective willingness to create those conditions) make me despondent about the prospects of a clean, sustainable future - if people will live in a pall of pollution in winter in China, or African cities are what they are, the human indifference curve to pollution is so high that expecting them to bear any costs / foregone income to reduce pollution is a wildly optimistic.
Have you walked Kathmandu?
As a segue to Chris' summary on Dakar and poverty. By Theodore Dalrymple.
https://www.city-journal.org/article/what-is-poverty
No need to apologize.
To what extent is simple overpopulation the main problem? Too many people overwhelming the environmental carrying capacity of the country with climate change constantly degrading that capacity it seems that they will never catch up.
Challenging subject, all credit to you for tackling Dakar. Have you any plans to do a Southern African city. Dar Es Salaam perhaps. I found in the 70's living in Southern Africa a wonderful experience enriched by that sense of community you have spoken of in Istanbul for instance.
Everything you wrote here rung true to my own experience of living in the likes of Lagos, Nigeria; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for several years a decade ago. (Don't hate me, I was mostly there on the "honest" profit-motive rather than as a do-gooder). Except the part where you didn't like it.
I LOVED living in these places.
Because one thing that maybe you didn't notice in your walks through Dakar over a week is that there's another "soft infrastructure" that very much increases quality-of-life at least somewhat counteracting the pollution, lack of sanitation, abject poverty, traffic, underemployment, etc. It's how much more lively and social these places are. It's easy to feel disgusted, but very hard to feel lonely.
You noted this in Hanoi. And you've commented on the spirituality of the Senegalese. But it's there in so many aspects of life. The music (enjoyed in open air, with a crowd, while dancing). The communal meals (often fed to you disgustingly by unwashed hands!). The humor (essential armor against degradation). The tendency for other people very much not to "mind their business," like it or not, and get involved in EVERYTHING. Privacy? Forget it! Life in these "shithole countries" is more dirty and dangerous than empathetic people may want to admit, but it's also much fuller in more subtle, but essential ways.
I now live in the high-HDI utopia that is Scandinavia, where you can walk unencumbered through urbanist cities or through forest and field wielding the ancient privileges of Allemansrätten. And it is really really nice. A MUCH better lifestyle, IMO, than my native United States. The hygge hype is real.
But here I miss this thing that you do have in these not-so-nice places. The street life. The energy. The human-ness. I lack that all the time. It's a persistent longing deep in my heart. And I know that a lot of the African people who have taken your advice to say yes and overcome the odds to get here as often-unwelcomed immigrants, they miss it, too. Most still don't return, given the obvious practical downsides of back home and the sunk-costs they underwent to get here (with all the hopes and expectations of whole clans at their backs), but I doubt they or I will ever quite recreate what we had down there in this spotless, somewhat limpid utopia.
If only you could have it all...
It’s all very well comparing Hanoi with Dakar but one should remember GDP per head in Vietnam is about twice that of Senegal .
Excellent piece, Chris. I think people often shy away from writing an honest account of a place for fear of being misconstrued as an unfair attack on its people, but I think you’ve framed it perfectly here.
When I was fresh out of uni about 8 years ago, I spent 2 years living and working in Southern and Eastern Africa. I only worked for tiny non-profits, but my lofty aim at the time was to work my way up to a big organisation like the UNDP or World Bank. I wanted to spend my life doing good. Two years I pursued that naive dream. Two years seeing broken promises, poor planning, and out-of-touch decrees from the air-conditioned offices and pristine Toyota Hiluxes, made me realise it was all a sham. The best that could be hoped for was a slight improvement in health outcomes. Economic development remained ever elusive. So much money spent on white elephants and shiny infrastructure that turned to rust after the projects moved on.
In truth, it took me far too long to realise no country is ever developed from the outside-in. Fair economic terms, good governance, and patience for a generation are what it takes. There is little room for the NGO, technocratic class in that equation. There was little room for me.
My dream was to combine doing good while travelling the world, but in the end I realised the only person I was helping was myself.
I look forward enormously to your walks, Chris but can't help feeling that you have gone down a bit of a rabbit hole of late with your comparisons with the US. Your remarks about the non profit industrial complex and the theme park enclave resorts are very well made however and I would love it if you had developed them further. Keep on walking, you have a unique voice!
One of your most powerful reports yet Chris, and that’s saying a lot as I find them all compelling. I especially appreciate your blunt takes on all the profiteers circling around the misery.
Chris, you move through the world in a critical, appreciative, natural way the really resonates.