By Elise Knutsen
DAKAR, May 3 (Reuters Life!) – Hidden in a warren of dirt
roads choked with street hawkers and rust-covered spluttering
Peugeots lives Selbe Ndom, a 43-year-old clairvoyant who has
become one of Senegal’s biggest household names.
While many youths in the sprawling neighbourhood dream of
winning fame and fortune in the big-money wrestling bouts fought
in Dakar’s sandy rings, the dread-locked divorcee has made her
Name predicting their outcomes.
“Everybody knows her,” said Binta Sene, a fuel station
attendant. “She’s on TV and the radio all the time.”
Though Ndom claims never to have stepped foot in one, she
has been dubbed “Queen of the Ring”, reflecting the popularity
of the sport in the West African nation, where wrestlers, not
footballers, adorn advertising campaigns.
Although she rose to fame predicting the outcomes of bouts
of wrestling, known as Laamb, Ndom claims her powers are not
limited to the ring.
“Politicians come here … I tell them what sacrifices to
make if they want to win their election,” said Ndom, better
known as Madame Selbe.
“During the King’s Cup, I said that Barca was going to win!”
she said, referring to Barcelona’s 2012 victory in Spain’s
biggest annual football tournament.
Local media have reported sightings of the clairvoyant
entering government buildings. Speculation as to who seeks her
services fills newspaper columns and stokes dinner table
chatter.
While she says she has not advised Senegal’s President Macky
Sall since he came to power 13 months ago, Ndom says she met
Sall three years ago before he launched his successful bid to
defeat incumbent Abdoulaye Wade in a tense vote last year.
“I told him, ‘You’re going to be the fourth president,'” she
said, beaming with pride.
“TWO COWS FOR THE LIONS”
Ndom says she consults a combination of her dreams, a
collection of cowry shells and the Koran before she can be sure
of her client’s fortunes and, if needs be, how to improve them.
She keeps these tools all within arms reach as she stretches
her legs out on the carpeted floor of a dimly lit living room
where she receives some 30 clients a day.
Sacrifices, when they are needed, range from a chicken for
the less complex cases to a sheep or a cow if the needs are
greater. Sometimes, when her country’s interests are at stake,
Ndom says she will carry out sacrifices for free.
“I bought two cows for the Lions,” she said, referring to
Senegal’s national soccer team. “They needed four cows [to win],
but I could only afford two. Because I was only able to
sacrifice two cows, they tied.”
Ndom claims to have only got the result of one wrestling
match wrong from a total of 50 bouts.
This stellar record has spawned a steady business with
locals paying 15 euros ($19.79) and those abroad pay 100 euros
for their fortunes to be told over the phone, she says.
A flat screen TV, a laptop and a new smart phone are among
the more conspicuous signs of her success. But she says she
likes living in Yeumbeul because the community supports her.
Prophesying, however, is not without occupational hazards.
“People call and harass me,” she said, recounting a recent
close shave when police had to escort her from a mob of
wrestling fans angry about her erroneous prediction.
“People don’t understand that it’s God who tells me these
things,” she said.
($1 = 0.7580 euros)
(Editing by David Lewis and Belinda Goldsmith)
