Thanks Chris. I was a peace corps volunteer in West Africa 2008-2010, so I was especially interested in this. From my view in the suburban US and after reading your piece, I remember I’ve really forgotten the horrors of the African city. Luckily I was posted in a rural village where much of the intangible things u speak of are intact (tho I seriously worry about the impact of smartphones). Thx for your honest review.
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.
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.
World population growth is slowing quickly, even in less-developed places.
Also, what is the "carrying capacity" of any particular place? Tokyo doesn't seem to have any particular feature that would make it support 14m people. From an environmental perspective is Dakar that different from LasVegas or Phoenix? People tend to create the "carrying capacity" of places they populate by assembling resources to meet the need.
Population growth not slowing so much across much of Africa. Not yet but some decrease.
In a dry place like Senegal the carrying capacity can be easily exceeded while Japan is wealthy enough to import food, Other dry land African countries face the same problem,
The average total fertility rate in the European Union (EU-27) is calculated at 1.53 children per female in 2021
In Senegal it is 4.4 which is similar to other african countries with some such as Niger much higher at 6.6
The US is 1.8 and Japan is 1.4
About 75% of the world's population increase is projected to come from Africa,
The fertility rate is different around the world, of course. But the _rate_ of population increase is falling almost everywhere, including poorer parts of Africa. I believe that it is expected that if trends continue the world population will peak around 2050.
Not fast enough, not by a long shot, if we haven't the manpower or the surviving interest to keep them out of the few places we, in the West, have designated as places for nature to be left alone, however diminished.
Forget Dakar. It's the un-Dakar one should be worried about.
And that means a lot more people in much of Africa by 2050 in countries with marginal rainfall, if it comes, and poor soils in much of it..
I also take a generally optimistic view of world population, much of India has done pretty well, and even Bangladesh. But Africa remains a problem and I cannot see a big enough change there soon enough. Your link shows about 60% increase in African population by 2050.
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.
Yeah. Maybe if I had stayed longer, my views would have flipped. As you say, I've written a lot about how in rich countries we miss organic life, including street life, and live rather soulless existences by comparison. Which is why in my thought experiment I rarely tell people to push the "Go to US button", since there is so much non-material richness you give up when you do that.
Still, Senegal is at roughly $1,800 GDP/capita, and Hanoi is at roughly $4,400, and I think somewhere in between is a very important level at which no amount of spiritual depth can counter the material failures. The lack of sanitation, the health issues, the moral issues that come from having X% of your population living in such gross poverty.
I get the "fuller more subtle" part, and I often find myself unable to explain it to my friends in the US, but I don't think that argument, while I understand it, can be stretched to a place like Dakar.
I wish I had emphasized more that there is still a richness to life in Senegal, despite all I wrote. but that richness is lost in the material poverty.
We also have a functioning city government in Hanoi which does a lot to keep the place cleaner. Homes have septic or sewage connections. Overall things are improving here and yes, you do not see the obvious poverty so common in places I have been in Africa. The Vietnamese economy has been growing steadily and there is much less impelling people to leave.
One aspect I would have wanted to explore in Senegal is the role Islam plays in social cohesion. My understanding is that compared to Kenya's Nairobi, there is much less crime in Dakar.
Yes. Islam has made it safer in Senegal, than in equally poor African nations. As I’ve written about places like Istanbul, the lack of public intoxication I think plays a large part of that
In Kenya I came to a very bad attitude about excessive alcohol use, although I do drink some myself and it can be a useful way to connect with people in new places..
I came to appreciate how 7th day Adventists and Mormons can keep people sober.
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!
Yes, found the idea that ‘most of the world’ would somehow love to go to US borderline offensive, especially for someone who travels so much. Lots and lots of great places around the world, and lots of people well aware of US dysfunctions, from politics, to healthcare, to transport, guns, unhealthy food, massive inequalities & poverty etc.
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.
Thanks Chris. I was a peace corps volunteer in West Africa 2008-2010, so I was especially interested in this. From my view in the suburban US and after reading your piece, I remember I’ve really forgotten the horrors of the African city. Luckily I was posted in a rural village where much of the intangible things u speak of are intact (tho I seriously worry about the impact of smartphones). Thx for your honest review.
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.
Have you walked Kathmandu?
I much prefer a walk in Bhaktapur or Patan, with less traffic. Narrow streets with traffic in parts of old Kathmandu are a stress.
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.
World population growth is slowing quickly, even in less-developed places.
Also, what is the "carrying capacity" of any particular place? Tokyo doesn't seem to have any particular feature that would make it support 14m people. From an environmental perspective is Dakar that different from LasVegas or Phoenix? People tend to create the "carrying capacity" of places they populate by assembling resources to meet the need.
Population growth not slowing so much across much of Africa. Not yet but some decrease.
In a dry place like Senegal the carrying capacity can be easily exceeded while Japan is wealthy enough to import food, Other dry land African countries face the same problem,
The average total fertility rate in the European Union (EU-27) is calculated at 1.53 children per female in 2021
In Senegal it is 4.4 which is similar to other african countries with some such as Niger much higher at 6.6
The US is 1.8 and Japan is 1.4
About 75% of the world's population increase is projected to come from Africa,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_total_fertility_rate
The fertility rate is different around the world, of course. But the _rate_ of population increase is falling almost everywhere, including poorer parts of Africa. I believe that it is expected that if trends continue the world population will peak around 2050.
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/AFR/africa/population-growth-rate
Not fast enough, not by a long shot, if we haven't the manpower or the surviving interest to keep them out of the few places we, in the West, have designated as places for nature to be left alone, however diminished.
Forget Dakar. It's the un-Dakar one should be worried about.
And that means a lot more people in much of Africa by 2050 in countries with marginal rainfall, if it comes, and poor soils in much of it..
I also take a generally optimistic view of world population, much of India has done pretty well, and even Bangladesh. But Africa remains a problem and I cannot see a big enough change there soon enough. Your link shows about 60% increase in African population by 2050.
.
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...
Yeah. Maybe if I had stayed longer, my views would have flipped. As you say, I've written a lot about how in rich countries we miss organic life, including street life, and live rather soulless existences by comparison. Which is why in my thought experiment I rarely tell people to push the "Go to US button", since there is so much non-material richness you give up when you do that.
Still, Senegal is at roughly $1,800 GDP/capita, and Hanoi is at roughly $4,400, and I think somewhere in between is a very important level at which no amount of spiritual depth can counter the material failures. The lack of sanitation, the health issues, the moral issues that come from having X% of your population living in such gross poverty.
I get the "fuller more subtle" part, and I often find myself unable to explain it to my friends in the US, but I don't think that argument, while I understand it, can be stretched to a place like Dakar.
I wish I had emphasized more that there is still a richness to life in Senegal, despite all I wrote. but that richness is lost in the material poverty.
It’s all very well comparing Hanoi with Dakar but one should remember GDP per head in Vietnam is about twice that of Senegal .
We also have a functioning city government in Hanoi which does a lot to keep the place cleaner. Homes have septic or sewage connections. Overall things are improving here and yes, you do not see the obvious poverty so common in places I have been in Africa. The Vietnamese economy has been growing steadily and there is much less impelling people to leave.
One aspect I would have wanted to explore in Senegal is the role Islam plays in social cohesion. My understanding is that compared to Kenya's Nairobi, there is much less crime in Dakar.
Yes. Islam has made it safer in Senegal, than in equally poor African nations. As I’ve written about places like Istanbul, the lack of public intoxication I think plays a large part of that
In Kenya I came to a very bad attitude about excessive alcohol use, although I do drink some myself and it can be a useful way to connect with people in new places..
I came to appreciate how 7th day Adventists and Mormons can keep people sober.
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!
Yes, found the idea that ‘most of the world’ would somehow love to go to US borderline offensive, especially for someone who travels so much. Lots and lots of great places around the world, and lots of people well aware of US dysfunctions, from politics, to healthcare, to transport, guns, unhealthy food, massive inequalities & poverty etc.
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.