One evening in February of 2014, as I was leaving Senegal after a complex, and full, and growing, and straight-up difficult six months as Callie Daba Sarr, I sat on a rooftop and I wrote a thank you letter.
I recently found myself again on a rooftop, this time in Kalamazoo, Michigan and felt a need deep beneath my sternum to again say thank you.
Moses, on this day, I don’t know where or how you are, but I do know that after having lived the extraordinary honor of being a mama to you, I am now grateful to carry you, carry your joy and your resilience, carry the sincerity of your smile and the light of your little life, with me as I fiercely love this world, so that all whose paths may cross mine might be graced with some small sense of what it is to have loved and been loved by you.
I went to the beach today with my host sister, Corine, her fiancée, Michel, her friend, Ellen, Ellen’s husband, Amadou, and my friend Caroline. Here is what I learned at the beach (because every moment is a learning opportunity): Senegalese people are intense. In many different ways, both good and bad, both heartening and distressing,ContinueContinue reading “learning at the beach”
When I officially started writing about my Kenya experiences during my independent study, as I described in my blog ‘i write’, I had the idea that I would independently publish a book. In retrospect, this idea was a little far-fetched. As were my prior ideas of starting a company, opening an art gallery, handcrafting clothing,ContinueContinue reading “courage/making it really good”
After 3 days of planning meetings, orientation meetings, fellowship meetings and more meetings, I am left with a contented tiredness and an overwhelming admiration for the Umoja Project and all those in both Indiana and Kenya who work tirelessly to make it the beautiful organization that it is. All of the staff, volunteers, guardians andContinueContinue reading “to the teachers, i thank you”
After a year and a half of missing Kenya more than I have missed anything in my life, I am back in this wonderful place. I hardly have words for the joy I feel to be back amidst my Kenyan family and friends and to be in this country which I love. This morning, afterContinueContinue reading “i’m no expert”
callie daniels-howell 