More than anything, I want to thank Wi, her village, and all the PCVs that have welcomed me into their homes and shared with me an experience that I will truly never forget.
That being said, I can succinctly sum up my trip in Senegal as being a week and a half of beautiful color juxtaposed against gritty filth and nothing short of amazing in every way. Many people call me an adventurer, floating from whim to whim. Senegal was the 4th country I had visited in 2012, but the trip was so much more than just checking another country off my list. Wi has 3 sisters, but I have none. In the decade that I have known Wi, she has become my sister. Whether she likes it or not, she's stuck with me for good. So this trip was for Wi, for family. In the 2.5 years, she's been gone, Senegal and the Peace Corps have just been vague ideas in my head. Finally being able to get a glimpse of her life and the work she's done, watching her aggressively haggle down prices in tongues too quick for my brain to comprehend, has made me even more proud to know and love her.
Senegal itself was really something else. From the minute I looked out the plane window and saw the bright orange dirt, I knew I was in for adventure. Traveling really does something to my soul, opens it up. As I slept under the stars in village, my soul began to dance. For the first time in a long time, it could breathe. Sounds corny, but I live Irvine, which definitely tops the charts for sterile, cultureless cities. From one end of the country to the other and back, traveling hours in every type of vehicle available, I saw more than I can describe. Words could never capture the awe I felt wandering through the markets draped in cloths of the most vibrant colors and patterns or the joy I felt cradling the ever bouncy and giggly Sajo on my lap. I was alive in every sense of the word, in every sense of my being.
That will stay with me forever. Senegal has made me a bit more completely human, and I thank Wi for showing it to me. Despite seeing all the great work she's done and the lives she's forever impacted in Senegal, I can't wait for my girlie to return to the states. I know she won't stay for too long; Wi is a wanderer, an adventurer. You should consider yourself truly lucky if she ever crosses your path.
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