Thank You for Talkin’ to Me Africa
I landed in Dakar just before midnight 51 days ago. As my new friend Arona drove me to his family’s apartment in the city centre, my first glimpses of Africa emerged from the shadows of the darkness: skinny dogs – or goats – roaming the streets; homeless people sleeping on stairs or torn pieces of cardboard; stately women walking along the road’s shoulder with tin bowls of food on their heads; billboards advertising mobile phones or Western Union money transfers.
Yesterday I caught the early flight from Heathrow to Keflavik, cutting 10 hours off my journey. As we descended through the clouds, the shapes of Iceland gradually revealed themselves in the same way: snow covered mountains and frozen lakes; the stark blue-grey stillness of the sea (how is it possible it’s the same one I soaked my ankles in just a few days ago?); the black splodges of lava rocks cutting into the landscape. It was like a world waiting to be coloured in. It was good to be home.
Already West Africa seems like a world away – except I keep blurting out anecdotes to my husband and have already bored him with an extensive slide show (an edited version of which will appear here in the coming days – or as soon as I figure out how to post one!). But what a wonderful world away it was.
It’s too early to analyze (even for someone whose husband calls her Analyza…), but highlights include a ten-day experience of Senegalese hospitality, a much shorter one of the Dakar-Bamako Express, sorting out the visit to Timbuktu, visiting schools and orphanages, a delicious supper with new local friends in Ouagadougou, meeting the head of the voodoo religion in Benin, and one really really long bus trip.
The broad memories I have are of moments of incredible poverty, far more moments of incredible hospitality, and a friendliness and vitality in a world full of colours and smells and sights. If the cliché “assault on the senses” is often used regarding India (which I have never visited), it must also apply to West Africa.
Aside from the transportation, I felt completely safe and welcome. I have made far more promises to send photos and articles than I have on any other trip. The travelling itself was the most challenging I have undertaken – but I’d do it all again in a second!
Thanks to everyone who posted comments on the blogs, especially to those of you I don’t know personally – it was always a nice boost to see that people were reading it! You can probably spot the entries I wrote from the stuffiest internet cafes, or the ones with lousy keyboards, or the ones I wrote when I was tired or grumpy or elated or relaxed. I tried not to write too much about the backgrounds and facts of places (often because I didn’t have such facts to hand!), but just about the particular things that were happening to me. If you went to the same countries for seven weeks (and I highly recommend it), your story would be totally different; that’s one of the joys of travelling.
Aside from the hospitality (it is going to take me a while to get out of the habit of a hand shake and long greeting every time I walk into a shop), the economic situation stays with me. Consider: one in ten Malian women die during childbirth; the Netherlands and Belgium combined are the size of Togo, but their GDP is greater than that of the entire African continent; one in four children born in the region die by the age of five. I haven’t fact checked these, but even if they are only vaguely accurate they are startling.
Things can be done to help: volunteer with a relevant organization or charity; sponsor a child; give alternative gifts this holiday season, like mosquito nets for children or a well for a village. Check out the sites of some places I visited: Contact Mieke Rietveld at g-m(dot)rietveld(at)planet(dot)nl for École Christ Roi, and visit the websites of Peuple du Monde and SPES. For the environment, don’t forget to offset your carbon emissions when you fly.
OK, end of lecture.
I have a “Song of the Day” calendar on my desk in Reykjavík (does that make me a geek??). I peeled off about a centimetre of pages when I returned last night and revealed today’s selection: Thank You for Talkin’ to Me Africa by Sly and the Family Stone. I don’t know the song, but the title says enough.
Until next time, Africa.
FIN.
PS – Starting in 2007, articles I write on my trip (with better background info and proofreading!) will be posted on my regular website as they are published.
