I'm an outsider, of course, I don't live here. I live in Dakar. But I feel it. And I know it's true. As this whole trend has intensified, our own community has built up its own structures - socially, that is.
More people have regular work.
More people are working only one job, not two. Not everyone is driving a livery cab for 19 hours a day. Families are here, more or less intact, with kids in the public schools, with access to some healthcare, and, yes, even with leisure time. These are things which might have been difficult for the Senegalese to have before. They were not show business professionals, but they found ways to make concerts happen for us.