Day Four: Road Dust

This morning we left our home by the sea around 9 a.m. to see the land that Bargny has donated for construction of the Hospital of Hope. The roads were heavily congested —often bumper to bumper with construction vehicles, garbage trucks, 18-wheelers, luxury automobiles, taxis and public transport, horse carts and motorbikes. And we drove in dust, great huge clouds of it blanketing everything and everyone…people, sheep, cattle, goats, merchants and shoppers alongside the road. In spite of it, many women were dressed majestically, islands of brilliant color floating through the swirling beige cloud.

The traffic moved slowly…crawled, at times…which made it possible to look at the oncoming vehicles. They were predominantly from Asia: Daewoo, Hyundai, and Toyota and Tata; occasionally, a Renault; and even less frequently, Citroen or VW. Following the bailout of the US automakers, their strategic error was glaring: In pursuit of the highest possible profit associated with the manufacture of big vehicles—SUVs and luxury cars (and easy credit to buy them)--Ford, GM and Chrysler ignored the growing demand for vehicles that are affordable in emerging markets like Senegal. Last year, when Tata introduced its $2100 car, the business world heralded the move as especially brilliant, as millions of people are moving into the global middle class every year and they want cars, too. These days, even in the US, spending $2100 a car sounds about right.

Left in the dust. That was the theme of the day.