Tales of a Traveling Teacher

After about a week together in Dakar, the fearless fifteen split into three groups headed into three different directions in Senegal.  Seven of us boarded a minibus and headed north to Saint Louis.  (Yes, it looks a lot like that name of the arched city in Missouri, but remember it is French city, so say it as such.) Mouhamadou, one of in-country-hosts, road along with us to make sure that we arrived safely.  He also, generously, invited us to his home in the large city of Thies along the way.  We even got to drop by one of the schools he teaches at and briefly meet some of his students during their break. The road north was a wide, flat, paved two-lane road through desert landscape.  I loved the opportunity to see the countryside and not just the large cities.  I'm not sure I once saw soil on the journey, but rather as far as the eye could see was sand.  However, it wasn't vast stretches of nothing, as many trees and often shrubs had found a way to li...

Our host on our beach day (hoping to get that blog written soon) kept saying, every time we told him we were full, "Eating is for eating."  And so, what better way to start off a blog about the food in Senegal than with his wise, wise words. I had heard that the food in Senegal was delicious and that it might even be reminiscent of some of my favorite southern dishes, for heartbreakingly obvious reasons of who cooked much of the southern food for generations.  I will admit that my first few meals at restaurants in Dakar were good, but nothing that made my mouth water.  Fish is very popular, as Dakar is on the coast, but much of the fish I ate was a bit fishy, and that is just not my favorite flavor.  We actually had pizza a couple of nights with it's own Senegalese flair.  I will also admit that for several days, with a stomach that had trouble with the long bus rides and traffic in Dakar, I went with some safe, simple options.   Chicken and Rice Beef ...

This farm girl loves seeing new places and experiencing new things. I love to see big cities, but I am most at home in nature. I often find big cities overwhelming, and Dakar was no different. The city enlivened all of my senses, sometimes so many at one time that it was almost hard to comprehend what I was experiencing.  Rich, vibrant colors were easy to spot whether in clothing or fruits or flowers sold in nurseries. The air felt warm, but with the breeze from the Atlantic, the air felt immensely pleasant. Sounds varied from goats crying to cars honking to the reverent call to prayer. Smell was not always the most pleasant of the senses. Some were delightful like peanuts roasting or incense burning, but sewer, fish and large crowds in warm weather did not always please the olfactory. I’ll save the tastes for a separate blog. The city is wide and expansive, jetting out on a point creating the most western point of the continent. The city is densely populated with no trains or subw...

Senegal has been settled and heavily influenced by the Arabic nation coming from East Africa. As in many cultures, religious beliefs strongly impact the everyday lives of the people here, and so you see the Islamic faith deeply rooted in the people and in the culture. Ideas of non-violence, peace and hospitality are at the heart of the people in Sénégal. A sense of community and sharing amongst each other is a way of life here. These ideas are all emphasized in the Quran. As an outsider, not only of nationality, but of religion, I have been welcomed with open arms, and absolutely no judgment nor trace of hopes to convert me. I am so impressed by the people of Senegal. When you have the privilege of traveling to a Muslim country, you have the privilege of hearing the call to prayer multiple times throughout the day. Sometimes it awakens me at 5 AM, but it is a calming, gentle way to awaken. His voice, speaking a language, unknown to myself, calls the people of faith to take time to turn...

I have so much that has happened in the last few days that I want to share, but I spent several hours during our beach day today playing, watching, and learning about a new game that I can’t wait to share with all of you! The game can be played with just a few items and as it is a logic game, it can be played by a wide variety of levels. The name of the game loosely translates to Three Pawns. Our beach day venue had a game board painted onto an old wooden bench. You could paint your own on a simple canvas or piece of wood, or you could draw it on a whiteboard, or you could draw it onto a small piece of paper, or you could even create the game board on the sand. Two people play the game, and each will need three items. One of you could be pennies, and the other could be paper clips, or different colored tokens, but today, sitting on the beach, one of us was pinecones, and the other was shells. The game board should have nine dots in a square formation with lines, connecting each of ...