2010-12-13
The women in my family had washed and hung their clothes before I had even woken. They left sleep behind at prayer call, six in the morning, when the sun had only kissed the sky and not yet embraced it in a hug, When I climbed out of bed onto the sand speckled, cracked concrete...
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“So… what exactly have you been doing in Senegal?” I’ve heard this question posed in various ways by my parents, teachers, friends. I’ve tried to articulate it several times, and nothing has really done justice to my experience thus far as a Global Citizen Year fellow. So, here’s my answer: a mash up of my...
Read More2010-12-13
…Okay, so maybe not an ACTUAL sand box, it’s more like my personal pile of sand, situated right in front of a cement house that was never completely built. None the less, this sand mound is the only place where you will not be able to discover the town’s Toubaab, for it is where I...
Read More2010-12-10
I had just left the Dakar headquarters of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) after a meeting with Ms. Debbie Gueye, a malaria adviser, when I decided, rather than to return home immediately, to explore the area. Only about 150 meters from the office lay the great Atlantic coast. I stepped onto the...
Read More2010-12-09
A few things I’m realizing will be a normal part of my life for the next 5 months: Every rooster in the settlement having a cockadoodldooing competition at all hours of the night Every dog in the settlement simultaneously breaking out in a chorus of shrieking and barking—also at all hours of the night The...
Read More2010-12-09
My family loves talking fast. They also love playfully shouting at each other at the top of their lungs. And then there’s me, frantically trying to figure out what my family says as they rapidly yell at me while smiling and laughing. Fortunately, I was able to put these troublesome problems to the side one...
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