I’m sorry about the time-lapses. That quote of 2003 was a typo. It should be 1993. I may have to go through this again and edit it more thoroughly.

I left America for Senegal in August of 1991 when I was 15 years old. I stayed there for 3 years until July of 1994.

Whenever I write a post, I try not to edit to much. I just let it flow, then go back over it to correct grammar and spelling errors. This is because I don’t want to edit my feelings at the time that certain things happened.

Perhaps I should have let my wife proofread some of this to make sure it was clear.

Also, the story isn’t exactly chronological. So many things happened over there, I couldn’t possibly keep track of everything.

Another thing to keep in mind was that I wasn’t in a regular school setting where I could keep up with the dates on a regular basis. I had hardly any TV or radio (it was all in French) and where I was, many people still used Arabic for the days of the week.

In other words, i had a hard time keeping up with the time and dates in Senegal. Much of it was just one big sandy blur. Most of the time, I didn’t even know what the date was.

1) I thought you were there for only a year? but you were there for 3? or was the year thing something else?

2) you said, “By the end of 2003 there were about 11 of us left.” I thought this was the 90′s when you came back?

Maybe timeline needs to be a little more clearer, like how old you were when you was there, and got back, and what years those were… Anyways, mA you’ve had the experience many have never and will never have. Alhamdulillah! Going abroad/learning other thing/other cultures/peoples really changes your whole perspective on alot. Especially when you was there by yourself. mA.