By Mr. Alter

The group of students on this particular trip to Senegal represents CCS as fully as any I have taken on a Global Education adventure to date. Within the group, we have a freshman who lives on Faye, a sophomore who lives down the road, two juniors who are here to explore before preseason begins, and four seniors looking to finally take part in one of these experiences. We have a good mix of boys and girls and four countries represented. We have students who are traveling outside of the US for the first time and students who have lived in multiple countries during their young lives. It’s wonderful to see so many different parts of our community together, eagerly participating.

Our first stop after navigating international travel was the home of Bandia Sow, a good friend and consistent presence on all of our trips to Senegal. Bandia’s family is extremely welcoming and they live in a village just like so many villages scattered across this flat landscape. They are the perfect first example of Teranga and the unique way that Senegal at once makes you feel at home and in a totally new reality.

As Anthony Bourdain once said about this country, it snaps you out of your preconceptions and the monotony of so many overly developed corners of the world. The way the security guards at baggage claim play with little kids who are passing by. The way the air feels on your skin as you walk out of the climate controlled airport. The way the roads hold up to such heavy traffic. It’s just a little different from other places on the planet, but it’s also familiar.

Walking around the streets of Bandia’s village, Samba Dia, helped me really visualize what I always feel when I bring foreign students here. This is a place they need to see. It’s a place where you feel indistinguishable. Although our students stand out in some ways, it’s hard at the same time to truly identify them as different from the communities and people we have encountered. I took a picture of a few of the students walking down a dusty street into a quiet market. It’s a good visual of what I am trying to capture. We’re obviously not in Middlesex County anymore but if you look at the image, it’s hard to tell the students apart or to say that they don’t belong in the frame.

The feeling and the idea it captures – of a world that can be at once very diverse and full of contrasts and contradictions AND home – seems more and more essential by the day. As we’re forced to feel divisions more acutely in our world, Senegal stands in opposition. It’s far more natural, after all, to be kind to your neighbor and those who visit from far away. We’re indistinguishable. A Senegalese feeling.