The Continental - Hamilton College

travel“The teranga is everywhere. Thisis the Senegalese word forhospitality, and you won’t be ableto avoid making friends.”continued from page 79If you come to West Africa, you will be frustrated by some of whatyou see. It won’t ever feel normal or comfortable to throw plastic bagsinto the street instead of the garbage. The hustlers at Sandaga Marketwon’t ever stop hassling you, no matter how proficient you become inWolof or French. And if you are a girl, you won’t ever be able to walkwith your head uncovered into a mosque, or convince any number orSenegalese men that you don’t actually need a husband.But you will be moved by the hospitality of the people here. Youwill drink gallons of Atayah, tea that came to the region with Arab traderscenturies ago, along with Islam and certain salutations.You will dance, and listen to Djembes and Koras, and probably understandbetter how Caribbean rhythms and the Caribbean in generalare forever linked to West Africa through the dark past of the slave trade.You will listen to a lot of Youssou N’Dour.You will play with the most adorable children in places where carscan’t reach, and talk to village elders that can remember not one, but twoworld wars, and the days when citizens of Senegal’s four communes wereFrench citizens.The teranga is everywhere. This is the Senegalese word for hospitality,and you won’t be able to avoid making friends. In villages where thepeople bathe in the Gambia River and sleep in mud huts, they will shareeverything they have with you. And you will share everything with yourclassmates.Programs like SIT’s in Senegal pull students from places as differentas Western Washington and Hampshire, Northeastern and of course,Hamilton. These students make lasting friends, not just with people here,but with each other. And they ought to because they have a lot in common…noneof them knew what they were getting into.And you won’t either, not after listening to your annoying studyabroad friends, or reading this article. But think about it anyway. Goabroad. Go explore.the continental | spring 2008 83