I (Joyce) recently returned from taking Justine (13), Alexis (16) & our friend, David (16) to Senegal.

Senegal is a third world country - so this was less of a vacation & more of a "field trip of a lifetime" that afforded us an up close and personal understanding of what real life is like in Senegal ... a culture & climate as far away as it is far different from what we're used to in America.

We stayed w/ my brother (Uncle Jimmy), who teaches elementary students in Dakar, & his wife, Aunt Ramona. We visited The Door of No Return (former slave house) on Goree Island, capital city of Dakar, the school where my brother teaches, outdoor marketplaces, the beach, a wild game park... and Justine finally met her pen-pal!

In the days leading up to our departure I posted here what I knew & was learning about where we were headed. Once we arrived in Senegal, I had the kids post some things as well. Justine was our main photographer.

We're back now & still trying to record our experience as it was hard to keep up while we were there.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Weee're Back!

Wow. Did all of what I recorded here actually happen?! It almost seems like a dream. Our time flew by while we were in Senengal! We did so much in such a short time & tried to photo journal thru it all but just could not keep up.

Uncle Jimmy & Aunt Ramona were SO good to us...we EXPERIENCED Senegal bc of them & bc of that we learned SO much. I admire them for what they are doing there & we understand the culture & environment & challenges the people there (including Jimmy & Ramona) face so much better now.

Interesting note....Remember how when we arrived all Justine wanted to do was turn around and go home!!!? Well - by the time it was time to go home, she wasn't ready to leave! :) She was no longer afraid of the people and their ways bc she had a much better understanding of why they do the things they do that all seemed so foreign & frightening at first.

Pics were time consuming to upload & videos took forever so I'll be adding to this blog for a while & hopefully the girls will allow me to include some of their journal clips/entries as well so stay tuned :) I posted a couple short video clips below already.

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