Mission Complete!

We’ve finally reached our last day in Senegal. It is very bittersweet because Senegal has been amazing. But I think most of us are ready to get back to high-speed Wi-Fi and the English language! During our last two weeks we spent a lot of time with our old Howard professor friend. It was almost like he adopted us once he found out we were here in Senegal. He took the trip to Goree Island with us and we had a lot of fun. He ended up inviting us to the house of the Director of Ecole Superior Polytechnique (the Engineering School) on Monday night. They happened to be old friends and we got a free meal out of it, which is always great. We met the Director on our first day but we never ran into him again. We got to meet his wife and his 5 kids. During our time at the Director’s house, we got into an interesting discussion about slavery and how we can gain power in the Black community. We also met one of the professor’s friends. She was a surgeon who worked with Doctors Without Borders so she told us some stories of places she has worked all over the world. It was an interesting evening and the Director’s wife was a great cook. :)

We spent most of this week working on our research papers and final presentations. The professor in our lab was messing with us early on about having to write at least 20 pages for our research paper. Of course we were all very apprehensive and he was waaaaaay more serious than joking, however, I still ended up being able to write an almost 17 page research paper. Mission accomplished! After all the formatting and reformatting, we presented our PowerPoint presentations on Friday morning to finalize our time spent at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop. It was a tad miserable because Alexa and I got really sick on Friday. Which is extremely bad timing but we’re trying to make the best of it. Overall, the presentations went well and we were all able to answer the professors’ questions about our research. Mission complete!

Reflecting on these last few weeks leaves me with a smile because I can honestly say that I’ve learned something from everyone that I’ve encountered here in Senegal. Dr. Kane taught me that your support for the people around you should know no bounds. Dr. Toure, my advising professor, taught me that I should always think outside the box every aspect of my work. Dr. Jenkins taught me that it is up to me to take everything that I have learned and will learn at Howard along with what I’ve seen here in Senegal and make a real difference in the global community. Emmanuel has taught me that sometimes you just have to go with the flow of things and see where it takes you. Joyce taught me that even when things get tough, or even a little awkward, you have to keep going. And last but not least, Alexa has taught me that I should always laugh a little louder and definitely avoid lizards at all costs! It has been real, however, I must say… Au revoir Senegal!