2011-08-24
Coming back to America was WAY harder than leaving to go to Senegal. My host-mother, Ndeye (the one pouring tea in the video) teases me during my weekly phone calls saying I’ve already forgotten Wolof. But I was able to stumble through a 20 minute Wolof conversation with a Senegalese-native taxi driver in Cincinnati, Ohio...
Read More2011-04-24
Preparing for my seven-month stay in Senegal, I visited the doctor for seven shots and an anti-malaria pill prescription. Options? Take a pill daily or weekly. Side effects? Sun-sensitivity or suffer physchlogical effects. My mom’s thoughts? “AAHH! MY BABY’S GOING TO AFRICA!” My thoughts? “YES! CRAZY, VIVID DREAMS!” I didn’t realize how soon I’d encounter...
Read More2011-04-18
My relationship with Senegalese food has gone from curiosity to sickness to detest to love. I help my mothers’ cook whenever I’m home — here Naomi and I helped to cook chebugen (fish and rice)- our daily lunch!
Read More2011-04-04
My friend told me I have 2 faces, “sometimes you’re white, sometimes you’re red.” The Poussal or Peujot is a public transportation pickup with a canopy to hold produce and more people. Today there were a few sheep lying peacefully on top of the canopy with their legs tied – I didn’t even know they...
Read More2011-03-15
JAN 11 Today, like many other mornings, as we finish breakfast of Café Touba and bread, Absa, my “tanta” (dad’s 2nd wife) hands me a small teapot full of Café touba and tells me to take it to Baay Sier, my uncle. I slip on my sandals and trudge through the sandy street to our...
Read More2011-03-15
The first thing I did, before breakfast or brushing my teeth, was go next door to the Maternity Clinique to see Absa’s friend and her three hour old baby. “Congratulations!” I said! She said it hurt. I left her to rest, returning home to my usual Sunday morning ritual of laundry and room-cleaning. I’m getting...
Read More2011-03-03
Last year’s Fellows told us to beware of the slower pace in Senegal, of the many hours of down-time. I was scared. In high school my schedule was packed with sports, homework, and clubs. This summer I worked a 60 hour week as a waitress to pay for GCY. I thrive on busy schedules. Would...
Read More2011-02-28
I’ve been in Senegal five days now. I’m in class at Africa Consultants International (ACI), a school that teaches cross-cultural awareness and languages. My first homework assignment: boutik bi. Find a road side boutique stand, greet the owner, look around, and buy what intrigues you the most. Let’s break this down. Finding a boutik isn’t...
Read More2011-02-22
The wrinkles on her face rearrange themselves into a smile as Maam Awa, my 90+-year-old grandmother, extends her hand to greet me. She repeats my last name, Diaw, and I say her’s, Sec. “Did you pass your day in peace?” she asks. “Peace only.” I respond. “Where are the people who live at your house?”...
Read More2011-02-18
This is my first winter without snow. I remember the first time I ever made a snowman. I scooped snow into my mittens and tried to form a ball, but the powder just crumbled apart and fell as I separated my hands. I watched in jealous frustration as my older brothers rolled their rapidly expanding...
Read More2011-02-16
With no moon tonight it’s almost pitch black outside. Absa, my host dad’s second wife, asks to borrow my cell phone. They need a light. “Foo jem?” “Where are you going?” I ask. “Jocko genar.” “Getting the chickens…” Okay, so I’m not positive about the verb but I KNOW genar means chicken. “Newal” Absa beckons...
Read More2011-02-10
I write in my journal “leaving a place, and then returning, can give such great perspective.”
Read More2011-02-08
“What is that?” Ndiy, my older mom, is stirring a rice paste in a kettle over burning logs (our stove). “Rice with sugar” she responded. “But why are you making that?” I’m confused. It’s mid-morning. We eat breakfast before 8 every morning. Lunch isn’t until 3:00 and she usually cooks the rice last. “Well I...
Read More2011-01-11
A baby is crying. What’s new? But for some reason I stick my head out of the window to investigate. Khady, my one-year-old sister, is sitting smack dab in the middle of the tree’s shade by herself. She can project. I approach her and say “massa” in comfort, and then I see the source of...
Read More2010-11-29
Suma yaay (my mom), Ndiy, tried to escape to the field without me, but I was ready: lathered in sunscreen and wearing my capris and bandana. Even as Ndiy protested I’d be hungry and tired, I hopped on the crowded carriage at 9AM – a wooden slab laden with ten women and their large buckets...
Read More2010-11-22
I’m in the dark. Neither of my two “moms” speak French. My Wolof is improving drastically but I feel I’m always in the darkness that descends on Leona, our village, at eight when the sun sets. A car ran into an electrical pole in Potou, so we were without power for 36 hours. At 9PM...
Read More2010-11-17
A Sunday afternoon of soccer that I wanted to share with you guys:
Read More2010-11-02
Suma yaaye, my host mother, is diabetic. She was hospitalized for not following her diet. Our house, usually bustling with visitors and laughter, became very solemn. Then my older sister Adya got malaria. Suddenly my sister Ami, who’s 19 like me, had the work of three women to do. I walked around like an elephant...
Read More2010-10-26
My heart was beating to the rhythm of the African drums. The floor was wet and slippery because of beads of fallen sweat. The man in front of me was moving his hips and knees in ways I’d never seen before; I tried to mimic his movements. The woman dancing next to him turned around...
Read More2010-10-12
I’ve been in Dakar for one week. The first few days, I was numb from sensory overload. I see sheep in the street meridian, bright colorful linens, flies swarming the meat stands and more western clothes than I expected. I hear my brothers converse in Wolof, the fierce but melodic call to prayer from the...
Read More2010-10-04
“So what is the US Training Institute?” Over the summer as friends asked me to explain GCY’s plan for these two weeks in San Francisco, I gave vague answers like “team building” or “understanding GCY as an organization and their goals”. My guesses adequately described the first few days. They came short of articulating the...
Read More2010-10-01
I noticed his big toes sticking out of his well-worn shoes. I didn’t ask his name. I was already talking with Eddy, who had a story of his own. Eddy lives with his brother who has HIV. His sister is somehow supporting 10 children, some with child support and some with governmental aid. He recently...
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