Category: Uncategorized

“Are they all yours?!”  I hear this phrase a lot whether in the US, or in Senegal. Any time I am out with all 5 of my kids, people tend to comment. I love the pleasure that I hear in peoples’ voices when they comment here though.  I recently took a trip up to the […]

The market is loud and bustling with people, although not quite as crowded as some days. My friend and I duck under an umbrella and step into one of the alleyways that wind back from the open road. Everything is covered here, although you can catch glimpses of the sky between buildings and the tarps […]

She usually comes once every couple of weeks, sometimes once a week. The morning sun hasn’t yet developed into the hottest part of the day, so she puts her platter of mint on her head and makes her way around the neighborhood to see if anyone is interested in buying.  I don’t know how far […]

“Are you coming tonight?”  I looked at my friend, not sure what was happening tonight. The wedding was the next day. She must have seen my confusion, because she asked again, “Are you coming tonight? To work?”  I wanted to jump up and down.  “Yes! Yes I’ll come.”  “To work?”  “You show me what you […]

When learning a language you spend a lot of time listening. With the program we use, when we first start out, we are spending pretty much all of our language session time listening and pointing. Even now, though we have progressed further, we spend the majority of our time listening. Listening during sessions, listening to […]

In between. If I had to describe how I have felt lately it would be best expressed by those words.  We celebrated Thanksgiving a few weeks ago, and invited the ladies who work for us over to share the dinner. The smoked chicken, mashed potatoes, rolls dripping with butter, roasted veggies and creamed corn were […]

I was standing in our bedroom, folding clothes as we prepared to leave our third “home” in three months. I crossed to the window to see if I could find out who was wailing outside. It sounded like an animal, but also made me think of a desperate child.  It was a goat, pegged into […]

For the first time that I can remember since moving to Senegal, I began to feel resentment.