By Ryan Larsen

I was one of the leaders of the day on March 3, and despite the itinerary claiming it was the longest travel day of the whole trip, it felt just as eventful as any other day. We started the day early, at around 5:30 to finish packing and load our bags into the beautiful traditional Senegalese canoes called pirogues. The pirogues are used all over the coast, but these were for transporting guests on and off of the island which housed us for 3 amazing days. Once we got onto the mainland and the sun had come up, we loaded into 2 vans to start the journey to Niognani, a small but beautiful village in Eastern Senegal.

I’d heard Mr. Alter speaking of kindness and generosity among Niognani’s people, but upon arriving I think everyone from CCS was shocked. As our bus pulled into the village, about 40 kids immediately welcomed us with open arms into their beautiful place. We walked around the village with the millions of children and they were already in a playful mood. After playing with the children for a while, we all ate dinner with the caring women of the village.

We ate some rice with a mix of lamb and various vegetables, and it was phenomenal. All of this and the delicious meals were made possible through the outstanding generosity of Niognani’s people. To provide an example, people had been getting the supplies needed to feed a group of about 20 for weeks now, and sacrificing many resources to do it.

To make a short story as long as possible, I write this to emphasize the incredible kindness and generosity among the Senegalese people, especially the Mandinka village of Niognani. Just about everyone is hardworking, loving, and welcoming.

You don’t get such traits anywhere else on Earth, and I am loving every minute of time with them.