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Published: December 31st 2013
St Louis
Fishing area St LouisMy friends. I have been remiss in that you were left hanging with the last blog entry...as i fell asleep i dreamed of Senegal, Dakar, Isle de Gore', St Louis...sub sahara Africa...the door of no return...the beginning and the end for so many.
Dakar...a riot a color, sights, sounds and smells...life did not begin in Africa....life burst forth from Africa!
If Morocco was beautiful, Senegal is sensory overload!
The depth of energy, the riot of color
The hawkers shriek and the frantic compelling rhythmic beat of the drums....Senegal is life itself - Pure bounty
Energy personified!
The horses here are long legged and sleek, well cared for briskly trotting, effortlessly carrying simple flat bed home-made carts.
Fish are fat and plentiful
The grass is dry, the baobab huge and the women ebony gazelles
The gender gap is yawning evident... masculine and feminine clearly defined...the men and boys lean, dark, hard chiseled...the women pure grace, elegance and rhythmic ease of movement.
How to describe the complete joyous saturation of the senses?!
Then there is Gore' Island....the surviving slave house, it's impossibly thick stone walls, the narrow airless slits for windows and
Light the way
Light to guide home the souls of those lost in the middle passage the gaping silent scream of the door of no return. Ancient beads unearthed here pressed into my hands...."welcome, welcome my sister of the African diaspora...welcome home...it is natural you should wear a bead of this earth for long ago you walked here..."
The ancient walkways remain, here the same heavy dark cobble stones worn smooth by our ancestors feet...The colonial houses the same as they ever were all those years ago...
At night I return to the wonder of an art exhibit... the souls of slaves lost in the middle passage are guided home with light...home...always the talk of home...
Then home again to mamas Amina and Aaram, the smiling children, '"Tata Pat vien mange' avec nous!" and once again I sit before our collective plate and thank God for another shared humble meal of fish and rice...
It's so very good to be home...
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