written 12 September 2013
I have now been in Dakar for a total of about 65 hours. And they have been a wonderful, wonderful 65 hours.
This week we are in orientation, so our days have been filled with touring the area surrounding our school and downtown Dakar, lessons on Sénégalese values and how those translate into Sénégalese culture, do’s and don’ts, and practicing the ways of Sénégalese life, including eating the traditional meal, ceebu jenn, and drinking ataya, the ceremonial tea.
The days have been long and sweaty (Dakar during the hot and rainy season – now – is like standing at the edge of a heated, indoor pool that doesn’t have ventilation). But the days have been so, so good.
Tuesday evening, we moved into our host families. In ‘Sénégal FAQs’ I wrote that I didn’t have any information about my family, but expected there to be young kids as I requested on the preference surveys given by the school. Tuesday morning we were given a sheet a paper with a very simple overview of our families. Mine said I had a widowed father who has three grown children, two who live in the US and one who lives at home and that the family was quiet.
When I first read this, I panicked for a minute. I was disappointed there wouldn’t be children, not just because I love children but because children have always been my gateway into bonding with and settling into a homestay. I was nervous that with two foreign languages, a quiet widowed father, no host mother, and no children to ease the pressure, I would not speak to my family and would end up losing such a huge opportunity to learn through living with Sénégalese people. And so I panicked, for a minute.
But then I remembered that the most important advice we were given by Kalamazoo before our departure was to ‘expect the unexpected’. I remembered that I pride myself on open-mindedness. I remembered that I am a champion for finding the good in things, even though different, even though scary. And I calmed. Sure, I was still nervous, as I think all people are just before they move into a stranger’s home for six months.
And I’m so glad I took that moment to clear my mind. I risked jumping to conclusions and in so doing, losing for myself an opportunity to learn and to share which I worked so hard to gain.
Sébastien, mon papa, and Corine, ma sœur, are absolutely wonderful people. They are kind, they are funny, they are deeply sincere in their hospitality. They lovingly make fun of me when I come home from school so proud that I have memorized the equivalent of ‘head, shoulders, knees, and toes’ in Wolof. They allow a friend from Kalamazoo to spend the afternoon and night at their home because she is too sick to walk home (hers is a 20 minute walk from school, mine is 2). They threaten to call my father in the United States to get me in trouble for what they believe to be not eating enough. They remind me constantly to relax because this is my home now, so I should no longer sit straight but should flop onto the couch and constantly ask ‘c’est bon?’ to make sure all is well.
When I get the chance, I will post pictures of my home and school. It is truly a beautiful place. And as I told mon papa on my first evening, je suis contente.
callie daniels-howell 