OUR ENCHANTMENTS

By Team Senegal, Participant

On our last night in our rural homestay in Temento Samba, the group gathered after sunset under the two mango trees behind the program house, the place we nicknamed the “AC room”, and reflected on our “enchantments” in Senegal to make sure that we maximize them in the final weeks of the program. Two days ago, we shared our enchantments with each other again, and this time typed them out for you! (NB: Asterisks indicate multiple folks being enchanted with the same thing.)

  • Morning smell in Temento Samba. It’s hard to describe: spicy, smoky, grassy.

  • Wax prints! Especially ones with fun patterns (fingers, lampshades, chickens, peanuts, purses, flowers, fruits). *****

    • Also the drippy ones fr fr***

  • Baobab trees at sunset. Or anytime of the day, really. **

  • Ta Antonia’s breakfast stand. ***

    • Strangers inviting us to their homes to have a meal with their family***

  • Greetings! Giving them, receiving them, overhearing them.

    • “Peace only” as a response to many greetings**

    • Surprising people by greeting them in their language

  • Café Touba. ***

  • Baboons barking**

  • Piles of produce at the local market.*

  • Beignets and bananas*****.

  • Bissap and Buy**

  • Bissap again *****

  • Babies on backs*

  • Maffe*****

  • Laughter that follows misunderstanding***

  • Beautiful boubous**

  • Pulpy coconut juice** (–>ew)

  • The stars*******

    • And the showers under them every night

  • Samba quotes and spooky stories******

    • “kilm”

    • PnG; Private and Good

    • “oh man”

    • Judge Judy

    • “If you’re not saysay, you’re missing out.”*

  • Atayya with ample foam*****

  • Showers (morning and nighttime)*****

  • Covered markets***

  • Omelets****

  • Our new names***

    • Learning new names and nicknames

  • Ibby’s bug net*

  • Music, becoming Senegalese wedding crashers, drumming****

  • Open conversation with strangers*

  • Having a single conversation in three or more languages****

  • Birds***

    • Blonde-feathered vultures

    • Songbirds

    • Coastal birds

  • Lachidi Jambo****

  • Senegalese sun on my skin*

  • Late afternoon light*

    • Especially when the sun can be looked at directly

  • Mangos off of the tree**

  • Sharing**

  • Amadou and his tapalapa bakery***

    • Milk bread presents from Amadou***

  • Sunsets**

  • Sunrises

  • More baboons **

  • Women *

  • Christy’s smile **

    • Christy’s smile when she catches goats*

  • The ocean****

  • The moon**

  • Ceeb bu jen**

  • Khi’Aura’s British accent

  • The kids

  • The name Haby

  • Goat busters

  • Hammocks**

  • Animal sounds

    • Donkeys (–> ew)*

  • Bissap sauce*

  • Taking 2-3 showers a day

  • Baby sheep hopping instead of running **

  • The garden*

  • The kids

  • Monkeys**

  • Mangroves**

  • Djembe (especially Mamoudou Djembe)***

  • Being welcomed into homestay families***

  • Baby cockroaches (–>ew)*

  • Hyenas* (bookii)*

  • Bats*

  • Ducking under low hanging vines

  • Cheap taxi rides (500 CFA!)*

  • Maad**(the one good one)

  • Diytah**

  • Baby donkeys! Baby anything!*

  • The generosity of strangers especially in the market when they are helping you or taking you to a place you asked about

  • Understanding when people tell stories of their childhood

  • The sounds of the mosque and the ramadan prayer after the sunset

  • COLD bissap

  • The sound of pounding in the huge mortar and pestle across the village

  • Overhearing giggling and mothers chastising kids at sunset

  • Wrestling outfits

  • Horse tail and baby shoe talismans on vehicles

  • Headscarf designs

OYOF COHORT