The Door of No Return

My third week in Senegal has been absolutely beautiful! I have flourished in my research, have not encountered any more ‘incidents’ similar to the previous week and I have truly been able to see the raw beauty that this country has to offer. This said, I have had two profound experiences which have shaped my overall time so far.

On Saturday, we traveled to a village outside of Dakar along with one of our advisers who has conducted research there for the past ten years. The minute we arrived, we were immediately welcomed in as family and taught the culture and histories of the village. I believe that it was beautiful to witness the passion behind the ways that they spoke about their history and how proud of it they were. They explained to us that they believe that they were divinely led to found the village and that as long as they follow God’s instructions, that they will continue to prosper. To me, the spirituality that was coupled along with their orations, struck a very powerful nerve within me to the point where I was almost enlightened. This was more so due to the fact that they also had so much gratitude for the impact that my adviser had on the village – he has had a hand in maintaining a well in village to ensure that they will always had water – and I absolutely loved seeing the results. After witnessing this, I believe that there would be no greater joy than to participate in aiding the prosperity of people, especially when it is such an interpersonal experience as this one. I had a fascination with the way he was able to remember certain children in the village that are now closer to my age, that he knew when they were only learning how to walk. It was then that it hit me that I wanted to do this. Before this, I could never say definitely, what I wanted to do. However, now, I feel as though I have a foot in the right direction.

The day right after my divine revelation, we traveled to Goree island. Goree is an island which served as a key landmark within the entire Atlantic slave trade. There was a slave house which was the liaison between bringing the slaves from West Africa, straight to the ships where they would be moved off onto the Americas. As soon as we set foot on the island – which is inhabited by about 1,000 Senegalese people – I knew that my time there was going to be extremely personal. We walked around some before we made it to the tawny, red building with a double curved staircase with an exit straight out the back. I walked into the individual rooms which reminded me of stone plastered prisons where our tour guide would tell us that hundreds of people would occupy at any given time and imagined the sounds, the movements, the smells of my ancestors as they awaited another day of darkness. It was a time for speechless thought and intermittent reflection; to just allow myself to be enraptured by the stories I know seeped through the walls and echoed from the floors; once again, very spiritual moment in time. Upon concluding the tour of the house, we then got the chance to tour the rest of the grounds of Goree island, I realized the beauty it had to offer. Pink, yellow, green flowers just flourishing from every single vine and branch, entwining with the vivid colors the five-hundred-year-old buildings was something out of a fairy-tale. It was at this time that I sensed my ancestors, budding through every flower bulb to simply bring joy and light to what was once bleak and dark.