Huggies

I have 9 days left here, and the thing that still strikes me everyday is the weird juxtaposition of tradition and modernity. Yesterday I visited my homestay family. We were watching "Les Deux Visages d'Ana," a much-loved Mexican telenovela dubbed in French. During a break, a commercial for Huggies diapers came on. In the commercial, two women have their infants tied on their back with fabric in the traditional style that I witnessed so often in both Dakar and the various villages I visited. The babies, swathed in bright colors and African patterns, seem to meld onto the backs of the mothers. It's a quotidian Dakar sight, but it still strikes me as traditional and distinctly African. In the commercial, the women, speaking Wolof, enter a convenience store. I was surprised to discover that the commercial was advertising the incredibly familiar brand of Huggies diapers. Another bizarre contrast between tradition and modernity, Africa and the West.