Senegal - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 93

lenswasinmypocket).Iguessthiswaswhatthatgardenermeantbythe'wanderinghands
of Dakar'. I immediately took the gift out and unwrapped it. It was a stunning bracelet and
pondered why he would give a stranger such a gift. Alarm bells started to ring and I went
on the defensive: was I being set-up? I told him that I couldn't accept it for I had no use
for it. I laughed when he insisted that I keep it for my mother, then my sister, and finally
for my future wife. I thanked him all the same but rewrapped it and handed it back to him.
He didn't want to accept it so I placed the bracelet on the ground in front of him.
He quickly moved to his Plan B. He told me that the next day he was going to cel-
ebrate the birth of his new son and asked me for money to buy rice for the celebration. I
congratulated him on his baby boy (if it was true) but said I couldn't help. He then became
more persistent and asked me for a good-luck gift for his 'new son'. I again said no, but
more bluntly this time. His warmth and friendliness that he greeted me with disappeared
and he turned cold and aggressive. I bid them farewell and walked away.
Soon after I departed, I observed two men on the other side of the street walking
in stride with me. I shouted at them, asking “ Qu'est çe que vous voulez ?” (What do you
want?) They looked at me and said nothing. I made my way to a coffee shop to see if I
was simply being paranoid. After five minutes or so of stalling inside, I noticed that they
were waiting for me across the street. I left the coffee shop and staying on the main road,
I began to make my way back to the cathedral. My 'friends' tried to inconspicuously walk
ahead of me as if they were also heading in the same direction. I slowed my pace down to
gather distance between us. I noted that they periodically looked back at regular intervals
toseewhereIwas.Ipaidattentiontothetimebetweentheirglancesandplannedtodartup
a side street when I got the chance. Just as they finished checking my location, I ran up a
side street. Since I walked these streets the day before, I knew exactly where I was. I took
a dozen or so side roads and ended up at the cathedral without my unwelcomed escorts.
What was unnerving was that this was in the daytime!
The next morning I attended a wedding service at the cathedral and enjoyed being
partofthecelebration.Isatatthebackofthecongregationandjustabsorbedthemusicand
thejoyoftheevent.AsIsattherelistening tothemusicduringthesigningoftheregistry,I
started to reflect, oddly enough, on the socio-economic spectrum of big cities. There I was
participating in an event that the very poor could not afford. Then I started to think of the
beggars outside the cathedral and realized that in a way I was a beggar myself who was
always hoping for people's charity. I felt horrible, for even though I was inundated with
kindness from strangers, I was cold and uncompromising when called upon by them. True,
Icouldhavejustifieditbysayingthatmyrequestswereonlyforaplacetostayandweren't
financially threatening. I could have also justified not giving money by simply saying that