My first weeks in my village, there was always another hand in mine, showing me the way- the tiny hand of Ramatou, my five year old host sister and the youngest of four others. I have found ceaseless inspiration from this sassy, prominent, divine little character. She laughs louder than anyone, has a knack for finding the best guavas in the tree, never comes home clean or without a long winded story about some sort of adventure she’d just been on, has no fear of the hottest peppers in the bowl, and don’t even let me get you started on her dancing. (She’s teaching me how to twerk- I’ll try and keep you all updated on how this goes.) To this day, we spend the majority of our time together and I can no longer imagine the person I would be sans Ramatou.
I don’t want to write to much- I want these pictures I’ve taken to speak for themselves, and besides I could write novels about how important this bold, remarkable child is to me. She is a bringer of ceaseless light into my life, and I hope these can bring some to yours as well!
