DAKAR. Ousmane meeting in one of the many fast food center. It was not easy to be able to do so. Ousmane is gay, and being gay in Senegal means to carry around the weight of guilt. Homosexuality remains a taboo subject which you can not even speak. Ousmane looks around and almost whispers the words, as if his homosexuality was released as a mark on his face. It 's a really nice guy, trant'anni and a degree in history.
'I always knew I was gay. Since the company was looking for little boys, I was attracted to them, their physicality, the way they do. The girls do not interest me, 'I said before lowering her eyes and sigh. 'Here it is difficult. You can not declare and live their lives in peace. So I lied and chin from a life '. The words of Ousmane I was not new, this is the everyday life of a homosexual country, Senegal, strongly homophobic. 'You know you're gay if you throw stones, insult you, you move away from the family. People think it's a disease or, worse, that is the result of one of the many 'maraboutage' (witchcraft) made against the family 'continues Ousmane.
'How to live a double life?' I ask him. She sighs, then continues' It is difficult. Seven years ago I managed to leave for Italy. It 'been a liberation. I arrived in Brescia, at a friend's house and for the first time in life, I felt free. I had a wonderful love affair with an Italian man, married for about two years'. 'And then?' I pressed. 'Then the wife has discovered everything, blame the messages in the mobile phone, has come a crisis, threatened to make public what and he estimated businessman, could not afford it. He preferred to leave me. After him, just so many little adventures'. 'How come you came back?' continuous' I could not find work and Senegal began to speak. Phone call to my family saying that I went to bed with Italian men. I decided to return and for the sake of my mother I got married '.
Ousmane speaks at times, the watchful eye every time the door opens, then continues' It was difficult. It 'hard to experience the intimacy with my wife. She thinks it is his fault and cries and asks me if I have other women. How do I tell her that other women but I did not attend a man? '.
'Are you engaged?' I ask him now. 'We say. Da qualche tempo frequento Saly, un angolo europeo in mezzo al Senegal. E' lì che ho conosciuto Richard, un uomo francese di 50 anni. Viviamo una storia nella clandestinità, io, per facciata, faccio finta di essere il guardiano di casa e tutti ci credono'.
'Esiste un mondo omosessuale nascosto, qui a Dakar?' chiedo provocatoriamente. Ousmane risponde senza esitare, 'Sì, eccome. E' un mondo sotterraneo che parte dalle famiglie e arriva fino alla società tutta. Molti sono i locali in cui i gay si ritrovano, in generale sono le discoteche frequentate dagli 'gnak' (termine wolof per designare gli africani anglofoni o, in generale, provenienti dall'Africa centrale). Gli gnak sono più liberi, tanti sono dichiaratamente bisexual and live their sexuality with less fear. They do not give a damn to be seen '.
'How do you see the future?' I ask him. 'I do not suppose. To this I now live and my love story 'hesitates for a moment, then resumes Ousmane' like a dream I have. I hope that Richard take me with him in France. Today I would be ready to flee and leave everything. I lied to my family wears. I'm afraid. Every single day I'm afraid of being caught and be lynched. For gay people here, the only solution is to find a boyfriend to Europe which may help them to emigrate. That's why the majority of Senegalese homosexuals attending the luxury hotels'.
and I think I'm quiet. How sad. 'Down' as they say and think too many here, seems to be the only solution and this solution goes through from Europe who arrived in Senegal, despite his bridge to a new life. Too bad then that is at stake are people's feelings. Those no, not fiction, are related. And if for once he departed from the root of the problem? If for once we start from education in families? If you depart from the school? If you get to make people understand that homosexuality is not a disease? I sip my juice. Italy, Senegal, after the situation is not much different. Immigration from Corriere
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