My Pilgrimage to the Motherland

In Spring 2006, I was one of 18 academic advisors and staff at the University of Washington who received Pangea Awards so that we could participate in study-abroad exploration seminars that offered participants a chance “to explore a topic intensively within the focused inquiry of a learning community.” Of the 20 seminars available, my top three choices involved traveling to Senegal-Gambia, Kenya, or Guatemala. I was fortunate to get my first choice, an exploration seminar taught by Dr. Ylva Hernlund of the Anthropology Department titled “Living Culture in West Africa: Beyond “Tradition.” Through relationships with host families and a number of fieldtrips, Dr. Hernlund wanted us (her 20 students and me) to “gain an understanding of everyday life as well as insight into community projects focused on cultural preservation, human rights, conflict resolution, and gender equity.”

As an African American, I was glad that I would have the chance to travel to what many people of African descent consider our point of origin in the motherland. As a descendant of slaves, I wanted a chance to go and see the world where our ancestors’ journey to this country began. Like all of the students participating in the exploration seminar, I had read Alex Haley’s Roots and a number of other books and essays on life in Senegal and The Gambia in preparation for our journey. But even more than all these readings, having personal contact with the actual places opened up all of my senses: I felt, saw, and smelled things differently. I knew that it was not going to be an easy trip; as a matter of fact, I knew it was going to be somewhat challenging both physically and emotionally. Fortunately, the challenges were well worth the end result. Without question, my journey of exploration to West Africa proved to be an amazing and life fulfilling experience that I wish I could have shared with everyone in my family. I hope this blog and the accompanying pictures will give friends, family, and colleagues a taste of my experience.

The sense of being in a very different place began as soon as I stepped off the plane in Dakar. Throughout my life in every situation I have ever experienced in the United States, I have always been in the minority. When I stepped off the plane and immersed myself in the daily lives of millions of Senegalese and Gambians, I suddenly felt a part of the majority. That alone was an experience I will not soon forget.

We spent the first few days at the Hotel Al Baraka in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, dealing with the logistics of our trip. While we waited for the remaining students in our group and some lost luggage to arrive, we took a tour of the city, sampled the food, and had an opportunity to meet with students from the University of Dakar. We also took a walk along the beach and had a chance to see Gorée Island, the center of the West African slave trade, off shore for the first time.

Gorée Island

As I gazed across the water at the island, I felt a sense of anticipation about our upcoming trip to that sacred place. As we made our way from one place to another, we all heard French or Wolof, languages which few among us spoke. Thankfully, our guide, Adaman (pictured below in a blue robe), spoke English.

Strolling with Adaman

After the remaining students and lost luggage arrived, we all took a ferry to Gorée Island. I knew that our visit to Gorée Island was going to be the main highlight of the exploration seminar for me. I remember gazing out across the water at the island that day, trying to imagine how horrible it must have been for the slaves captured on the mainland and transported their before their middle passage. It comes as no surprise that visiting Gorée Island has become a pilgrimage for many people, especially other Africans and African Americans.

The day we traveled to Gorée Island was not only the hottest day of my trip, but a very emotional one for many in our group. The history of the place hung heavy on us, and we were all very quiet and respectful as we walked the hollowed grounds. Below is a picture I took of a young boy getting ready to dive into the water; Gorée Island is in the background.

Boy in the Water Near Gorée Island

It is ironic that now children can play in the water because during slavery the water around Gorée Island was full of sharks that fed on the bodies of slaves dumped into the sea. The next picture shows our translator in front of a statue on the Island.

Translator in Front of Statue

The next series of pictures shows different features of the Maison des Esclaves (Slave House). As you walk into the courtyard of the slave house, you look directly through to the “Door of No Return.” This is the last door the captured slaves walked through on their way to the ships that took them to the so-called New World. Upon our arrival, we were given a dramatic and emotional oral history by the curator in Wolof which was translated for us by another very emotional and dynamic speaker. He talked about the history of the slave trade and what happened to the slaves within the slave house. He concluded his presentation with the words, “We will forgive, but we will never forget.”

Slave House, Door of No Return, The Caverns

It was impossible not to be emotional when you hear about the conditions under which men, women, and children existed. The whole time the speaker and the translator were talking we were dripping sweat from the heat. When you look at the small caverns that they would cram captured slaves into, you can begin to imagine the horror of their existence. After the talk, we all silently explored the compound and the different caverns in which the men, women, and children were kept separated from their families until they were loaded on to ships never to see their families or homeland again.

Gazing out The Door of No Return

When we left Dakar to continue our exploration, we traveled by bus, our main mode of transportation for the remainder of our journey.

On the Bus

Our next destination on the way to The Gambia was the village of Thiés where we stayed in a compound managed by Tostan. Tostan is a humanitarian organization that works in the villages. At the compound, we had our first meal in the traditional way of eating; we all ate out of one bowl and only used our right hands.

A Traditional Meal

Unlike most of Senegal and the Gambia where you see standing water and a lot of trash on the streets, the compound where we stayed was very nice. Below are some friends I made and a picture of the hut I stayed in.

Making Friends, Staying in a Hut in Thiés

While we were there, a speaker came in to talk about the organization and its work in Africa. They participate in many activities to help the residents of villages in Africa. Tostan has been working in the area for over 20 years. They deal with issues of human rights, literacy, and problem-solving, but they are mostly known for trying to end female genital cutting. In their words, they use an “organized diffusion model” because they cannot reach everyone. What this means is that they go into a village to train a group of villagers, those trained villagers make a promise to share information with members of another community, and this goes on and on, over and over. Thus, if Tostan reaches 500 people, those 500 can reach many, many more.

The highlight for me in Thiés was a trip to one of the villages where Tolstan is currently working. We traveled there by bus. As we arrived, residents of the village met us with drums. We all marched back together with them to their compound. There, a number of the villagers danced for us and gave speeches about how Tolstan had helped to improve their lives.

The Arrival and The Dance

During our trip from Thiés to The Gambia, we spent one night sleeping outside on the ground next to the bus because we had missed our ferry. In the Gambia we stayed in Bakau, a fishing village where the majority of the students’ exploration was scheduled to take place and where they would work on their independent projects. Below are pictures of our hotel and the fishing village from my room.

Our Hotel, The Fishing Village in Bakau.

In Bakau, we met Ylva’s adoptive family who took our group in and prepared our dinners for us. Mama Kumba’s home was small but she fed all twenty two of us, some in the living room and the others in the two bedrooms. I became very attached to the whole family because they were so welcoming to us. The day I was leaving, they invited me over to pray for my safe trip and they gave me gifts. Then Mama Kumba told me how special Ylva was to her and how we were always welcome in her home.

The Gang with Mama Kumba

I developed a friendship with her daughter, Sophie, who would tease me by calling me tubaab, a term they use for whites and others who are not from Africa. She decided to do this when after dinner one night the students and I were talking, and I said that I had only been called a tubaab once in Thiés as I walked with the students in my group. In the picture below where I am grabbing her, she has just called me a tubaab again, but she only called me that when we were alone and no one was looking or listening.

Sophie, Her Brother, and Me

I was only in Africa for ten days (August 20 to August 31, 2006), but the experience was so powerful for me. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the students in my group who were there for four weeks. In the short time I was there, my experiences gave me a whole new perspective on the way others live and enriched my perspective of the world that we all share. For a time, we were all immersed in a very different culture and way of life. As one student said to me, “I am not sure how I will handle just learning from books and lectures after this experience.”

When I asked another student why she chose this exploration seminar, she said it was because it was billed as cultural immersion and that is what she wanted to experience. As the program expands to more countries with more faculty involment, I hope more students will get to take advantage of such an amazing opportunity that was afforded me. As a result of my experience in Senegal and The Gambia, I will certainly do my part as an academic advisor to encourage more faculty to develop exploration seminars and to persuade more students at the University of Washington to participate.

Saying Good-bye to Aisha and Africa

As they say in Wolof, jëre-jëf for listening and ba beneen yoon (thank you [for listening] and good-bye).

-Diane

Note: If you’re a student at the University of Washington and you’re interested in participating in an Exploration Seminar in the future, please feel free to e-mail me (djguerra@u.washington.edu) or to stop by my office (Denny Hall, Room 247). I’ll be glad to share further details about my experience and to point you in the right direction to start exploring the world.