Longread. By Joost Vos.
‘peace is with those who follow the right path’
Not far from the coast and the promenade, a group of young men jog by the Rebeuss Prison in Dakar, Senegal. Just behind them, the barbed wall signals some advice, or warning: la paix est avec celui qui suit le droit chemin (‘peace is with those who follow the right path’). One eye watches them, the other stays closed.
To their left, the Wolof proverb ‘Nit Nitay Garabam’ is marked on the long boat, which can be roughly translated as: ‘a person is another person’s medicine’. In the boat a man rows while the others show the way. Just how much are those running by on guard and, as you pass by, just how does this wall speak to you?
On the far left, not so far from the watch tower, a few lines of the poem ‘Recommence’:
Recommence:
Même si le triomphe t’abandonne
Même si l’on ignore tes efforts
Même si une illusion s’éteint
Poetry not just for those passing by but to those who are, or once were, on the other side of the wall. But what makes this path so right? Unsurprisingly, the warning can end up being a threat. As activist Hannibal Djim, who was detained here last year, told Amnesty International: ‘‘When I came out, I felt like a stranger. I lost everything, my job and my savings, because life in prison is very expensive. It’s as if I had to start my life all over again.”
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