Nit nitay garabam - A person is another person's remedy

I've been here for just over a week, wow! It's been an amazing week, filled with a wide range of emotions. My mind has been flooded with curiosity, joy, discomfort, beauty, pain, loneliness, bewilderment, and gratitude. Before I left, I promised myself I'd try my best to write in a journal. I've watched my paragraphs become lists as the amount of lessons I've learned and experiences I want to remember seems to have multiplied with each day. I'll post some of the lessons I've learned to this blog but there is no way to fully express the extent of what I've learned already- about Senegal, about myself, about others, about life...anything and everything it seems. Through this all, the Senegalese proverb “nit nitay garabam” (a person is another person's remedy) has rung true so loudly.

I am so lucky to have such a network of support here. I'm doing this study abroad program with four other girls from Beloit and we've met people from other schools who are also studying at the Baobab Center. The staff there are dedicated, energetic, encouraging, and of course a little sassy. (Before we came, an adviser told us that the Senegalese have sass, especially the women. SO TRUE.) I'm living with a host family- Ndeye Coumba is my host mom, I call my host dad Pape, I have a 7 year old host sister Mariam and 11 and 14 year old host brothers Mohamed and Moctar. They're very laid back and have made me feel so welcome. My relationship with Mariam so far revolves around card games and gymnastics, I talk music with Moctar, and soccer, religion, and politics with my host dad.

Senegalese society is very communal; much emphasis is placed on relationships. Buying a soda from a boutique is not a simple transaction, it's about building a relationship too. The common greeting starts: Peace to you. - And to you, peace. - How are you doing? - I am here only.

There are three older men who sit on a bench a few buildings away from the Baobab Center that I pass several times a day as I walk between the Baobab Center and my house. I greet them as best I can in Wolof (the main language spoken here) and at the end of our short conversations, they remind me that they will be there when I return. As I was struggling to put Wolof phrases together, one of them told me that he was there (and will continue to be there) with the purpose of helping me (and others like me) learn Wolof. My interaction with him raised my spirits incredibly.

Later that day, I met a young man visiting from Gambia who didn't speak much French or Wolof. Our 15 minute conversation in English seemed to be just the human connection he needed.

A few days later, I took a different route home from the Baobab Center, past a sandy soccer field that had been empty that morning but was now filled with action. A group of seven or eight young girls came up to me while I was talking to a few men watching the game. We talked, played, and sang for probably 20 minutes before I continued on my way. When I was about half a block a way, two of them ran up to me independently just to say goodbye. Such precious moments!

I have also treasured the contact I've had with a few of you from back home. A simple "hey there" brought such a bright smile to my face. Thank you everyone, from Senegal, the US, and everywhere else for being so full of riches and for being my remedy time and time again!

The amazing Beloit girls here with me. This was one of our first Senegalese meals at the apartment building we stayed at for our first night.