Senegal is a place worth visiting for many reasons – it has a unique history, rich biodiversity, delicious food, beautiful beaches, good infrastructure, traditional villages, and bustling cities. It has a lot to offer pretty much any traveler. But the thing that makes Senegal Senegal is its culture of hospitality and the kindness of its people. That’s what EVERY traveler who is willing to pay a little attention notices and feels in Senegal.
For the Christchurch School Global Education Program, the hospitality and kindness of the Senegalese people (and of our many friends scattered around the country in particular) is a warm embrace. It starts at the airport, when our friends in customs and immigration always help the group get through without issues. They make even the most tedious and sometimes painful bureaucratic process l feel welcoming and gentle. And it continues quickly on from there, to the houses of Bandia and Kecouta, to the smiling faces of the children of Niognani, to the jubilant fans of Ajel de Rufisque soccer club, to the rangers of Niokolo Koba National Park, to the many people who feed us, the people who pump gas at the stations, and pretty much everywhere you look. In a time of increased tension around the world, this warm embrace is an important reminder of the value of traditions, community, and kindness.
Senegal is a place of many often conflicting religious groups, languages, economic conditions, environments, and other things that would logically make it a place of tension. But in Senegal Muslims can marry Christians. In Senegal, strangers are just friends you haven’t made yet. Neighbors will stop everything they’re doing to help a neighbor in need. It is the kind of community on a national scale that we try to build within our white fences back in Virginia. Not because that is somehow easier to do in Senegal, but because the people live in a way that reaffirms a commitment to it.
This year, the trip began with a travel disruption for 10 of us. We’re not yet in Senegal despite the trip starting 48 hours ago. But the 22 already in Senegal have felt the embrace. And, for me, as the trip leader, that embrace has been peace of mind. I am not as worried as I might be about how everything is going for the group on the other side of the Atlantic because I know they are in the hands of real friends. Of people who own the responsibility of hospitality and kindness as part of their identity.
The group in Senegal has already caught fish, visited a small community, ridden on traditional pirogues through the mangroves, eaten delicious food, learned about the intertidal zone, driven on nice new roads and highways, and much more. And that is all a change of plans – something made possible by the flexibility of our friends. By the warm embrace.
I hope that all of you following this blog take the time to really reflect on what Senegal can teach even the passive participant who joins us through our blog posts. The lessons of the Country of Teranga are worth paying attention to.
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