Hearsay

Since the beginning of time, I suppose, forbidden fruits have always been the most appealing. Eve was only exercising her new human-ness when she accepted the apple (or banana, or pomegranate, depending on the version). The Casamance, then, is designed to be enticing to us volunteers. Not only does it resemble the Garden of Eden in its lush greenery, it's also off-limits to Peace Corps, due to a small group of separatists - MFDC, or Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de la Casamance - who wish to see the Casamance gain independence from Senegal.

Which is why I would never dream of going there. Never. No way.

But to appease my insatiable curiosity, I began asking around, hoping to find out more about the political situation in the Casamance. As a rule-follower, I would have to settle for a vicarious experience of what my friend Papis describes as "the only place in Senegal worth visiting." (Being from Ziguinchor, though, his is a rather biased opinion.)

Seydiou, a young guy in dreads I met on a beach once (not Cap Skirring - I've never been to the Casamance), explained the origins of the conflict. He said that when Senghor (first president of an independent Senegal) rose to power, he promised the MFDC independence after 20 years. Twenty years later, Senghor did not deliver, which is when things turned violent. So much so that a curfew was put in place - after 8pm cars were not allowed to be on the road. Lately, with the easing off of violent attacks, the curfew is not so strictly enforced, though roadblocks remain in most roadside villages (or so I'm told).

Seydiou was laid back in his responses to my questions, perhaps in reflection of his laid back beach lifestyle. Another person I talked to - Ansouman, a law student from Ziguinchor - was a bit more political and passionate in his answers.

"I blame it all on colonization!" he declared, citing the unjust Berlin Conference that carved up Africa without the input of any Africans. "Villages are emptied - they're scared and have gone to bigger cities." Despite the cause of the conflict, Ansouman told me he believed the rebellion keeps Senegal from advancing, a sentiment I heard expressed time and again from various Casamancois.

"If they become independent, can they govern themselves?" I asked Ansouman.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Good question."

At the end of our conversation, Ansouman said, "Whatever the MFDC is doing, I condemn it."

I must say, though, it's no wonder the separatists are so intensely proud of their region. It's beautiful - lush and green (or so it seems from the pictures I've seen). The Casamance is often described as the bread basket of Senegal, supplying the rest of the country with their abundant fruits.

Serving in the Peace Corps in this area would be a dream come true, as it was for John, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Sedhiou in the 60s. I asked John if he knew any details about Peace Corps' withdrawal from this troubled region.

Around 1991, John told me, Peace Corps moved out of Ziguinchor, the western-most region of the Casamance. But he knew of no particular event that caused them to make this decision. Then, to John's dismay, in 1997 or '98, the US embassy forbade volunteers to be more than a few kilometers west of Kolda (the eastern-most region of the Casamance, which is just west of Kedougou).

"Why to your dismay?" I wanted to know.

He explained that he goes back to the Casamance every year, visiting his host family in Sedhiou and working on various projects in the area. He has never encountered any problems and, in fact, has always been received with open arms and the warmest hospitality of any of his travels. For this reason, he said, he was dismayed.

We may soon be seeing changes, though. A bridge is expected to be built over the Gambia River in the Gambia, linking Dakar to Ziguinchor (this would cut out a 6 hour ferry wait, as I've heard some people have had to do). If this project is completed, Lewis Lukens, the US ambassador to Senegal, announced in February of this year that soon (possibly within a year) the region will be open again to Peace Corps.

This would bring good tidings to an area that is described as having the "oldest, most persistent war in West Africa." And yet, from what I hear, "war" seems grossly out of proportion.

Diatta, the main health worker in my village and my work partner, is a Diola from the Casamance. And, as often happens when people are uprooted from their homes, he is fiercely proud of where he comes from.

"You know, the Casamance was the last region of Senegal to be colonized," he told me one day over a game of Scrabble. I looked up, glad for the distraction. I was having difficulty coming up with a French word longer than 3 letters. Next to him and the school teacher, my Scrabble score was abysmal. "Tell me more."

There's a famous Diola by the name of Aline Sitoe Diatta, he told me, who opposed French rule and she got thrown in jail. Now she's considered a martyr for her controversial stance. There's even a monument in Ziguinchor in her honor (I think, I mean I've never been there).

Connecting the dots between this story and the stories of others I've met from the Casamance, I begin to see spelled out an immense pride for this idyllic, Eden-esque land. Abdoulaye Cysso Mane, an artist based in Ziguinchor (I must have seen an exhibit of his on display somewhere else), reflects this tranquility in his works. To promote the idea of the Casamance as Senegal's bread basket, he produces painting after painting of people cultivating in the rice fields. If art imitates life, then Cysso - as he prefers to be called - shows us the aesthetic beauty of this region, stenciling in the complicated history with every brush stroke, to finally produce a work that is as complex and breathtakingly beautiful as the land he uses for his subject.

Or so I've been told.