Letter to Consul by Bousso Drame winner of the National Spelling Bee.

To His Excellency, the Consul General,
A Mr. Director of the French Institute of Senegal

My name is and I'm Bousso Drame a Senegalese citizen in that day, decided to take his pen to bring a message loud and especially into my heart.
As interest in the language of Molière, I decided to participate in last April, the National Spelling Competition 2013, organized by the French Institute, as part of the Prix de la Francophonie. The competition was attended by hundreds of candidates aged 18 to 35 years in the French Institutes of Dakar and Saint-Louis and the French Alliances Kaolack and Ziguinchor. After games on an extract of French Art of War Alexis Jenni, Prix Goncourt in 2011, I had the honor of winning the said contest winner. As such, an air-Dakar Paris-Dakar and CultureLab training realization of documentary film Albert Schweitzer Center tickets were granted me.
During my early life, I have been constantly while being open to the world that I am a citizen, to defend my pride in being black and African. It goes without saying that I firmly believe in the bright future of my beloved Africa. I also believe it is imperative that the prevailing prejudices about Africans and Africa, due to the colonial past and the difficult contemporary situation of the continent, are gone. It is time that Africans respect themselves and demand to be respected by others. This vision of a generous and open, yes, but proud and firm in demanding respect due to him and that he has had too long denied is a strong conviction that carries and transports me, literally Africa .
However, during my many interactions with one hand, some members of staff of the French Institute, and on the other hand, officials of the Consulate of France, I had to deal with attitudes and condescending , insidious, sneaky and vexatious. Not once, not twice, but several times! These attitudes, I really tried to ignore them but the execrable home with the Consulate of France has shown to me (and that of the majority of Senegalese visa applicants) was the straw too, in a vase, alas, already full to the brim.
Authentic person who can not cheat, a difficult but necessary decision was the natural choice for me. An all expenses paid trip, it was the most beautiful and the most enchanting in the world, does not deserve my compatriots and I were suffering such actions by the Consulate of France. Training as exciting as it is, and God knows that it really interests me, not worth experiencing these attitudes we unfortunately found large scale under the African skies. For consistency with my value system, I therefore decided to give up, despite the visa.
Renouncing the symbol.
Waive on behalf of all those thousands of Senegalese who deserve respect, a respect that they are denied in these representations of France, Senegalese land, at that.
This decision is not a sanction against individuals, but against a general system that, despite the denials of my fellow citizens, seems to have no intention of questioning.
Furthermore, I find it particularly ironic that the partial title of the course which I did not take either hand: "France is always the homeland of human rights. The extent to which they are French citizens of Europe, the world? "It would, no doubt, is an interesting documentary about seen an African perspective and I hope to have the opportunity, in other ways, to participate in a future CultureLab training.
I want to thank the French Institute anyway, for the initiative of the competition, which, in my opinion deserve to continue to exist or be held at regular intervals and more so, to stimulate intellectual competition between young Senegalese and delight lovers of the French language, including myself.
Madam Clerk at Bank Consulate of France - I do not know your name, but I tell you about this visa I will not use: No, thank you.
Proudly Africainement and sincerely yours.
Bousso Drame
International Consultant
Recipient of the Award of Excellence from the Government of Senegal
Recipient of the Eiffel scholarship from the French Government for foreign students
A graduate of Sciences Po Paris, Master in International Business
A graduate of the London School of Economics, MSc in International Political Economy
Nominated "Global Shaper" by the World Economic Forum