Ramadan:The Month of Fasting

First off, Senegal is 80-90% Muslim. There are smaller groups of Christians/Catholics, Bahai, and a small trace of Animism as well.

We are currently about 2.5 weeks into the month long fast that is known as Ramadan (“Koor gi” in Wolof). During Ramadan, people fast from sun up to sun down. No food, no water, and people are to abstain from other earthly pleasures such as music, dancing, and other things that the word “pleasure” implies. I’m not an expert on Ramadan, but Wikipedia is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan


I fasted for a day and followed similar rituals as all the other Muslims fasting.
- 5am: Wake up before the sunrise to eat and pray. I had some sort of millet with unrefrigerated yogurt and sugar. And yes, I certainly prayed for strength and stamina for the day. This was my first time trying something like this. In Wolof, this meal is called “xet”
- Woke back up at 8:30am to start my day. Luckily, I did not have class that day, but people still go about their daily lives, many of which include intense manual labor, during Ramadan. I went to the market with my sister to buy food for the night’s large dinner.
- “Lunch time”: At around 2pm I was hungry. I was also very thirsty, which was more of a concern for me.
- 4pm: Got a headache from dehydration. I drank about 2 liters of water at 5am, but that doesn’t last for 12 hours.
- 7:30pm: Breakfast. In Wolof the word is “ndoggu” which means to break the fast. Each night, my family breaks the fast with bread and butter, dried dates, and Senegalese coffee (kafe tuba). Following this is a prayer (one of 5 daily prayers for Muslims). Then a big dinner is served a few hours later.

I would be lying to say that fasting was easy. I would be lying to say it was intensely difficult. After about 8 hours, I wasn’t feeling hungry, just thirsty. After about 10 hours, the dehydration was not too much fun. The last 30 minutes are the worst as we watch the sun go down you can smell the bread and butter and the coffee simmering in the background.

But it was something I was proud of doing, as was my family. I might try to fast again near the end of Ramadan. Next year, I’d like to fast for the entire month. But no promises right now.

Please read up on Ramadan if you’re not familiar. It’s an extremely crucial piece of the Islam faith, of which I’m learning more about each and every day.
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Byron Yee
Peace Corps Trainee - Senegal, 2009