20090528_093617 D3 P1 P1

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:16:57 -0400

The decision to come to Senegal (Dakar) was quite last minute and we do not know what to expect. My knowledge of the country when I landed was minimal. As we pass some people walking on the side of the road, I learn that 95% of Senegalese are Muslim. Our driver is Muslim too and was soon pointing out that some of the people in his family had married Christians, and that many Christians held important political positions in the country, and several were Christian or married to Christians. He considered the people of Senegal to be very religiously tolerant. In fact, it is one of the most religiously tolerant contries in the world where the majority of the people are of the Islamic faith. The first President of the country, Léopold Sédar Senghor, who is regarded by many as one of the most important African intellectuals of the 20th century, was Catholic