Looking back at what was penned

Here is my first entry in my journal (which I wrote in before I started this blog) about the day I arrived. It’s funny when I look back on this now but I’m putting it here because it’s one of the highlights of my traveling life that I should never forget.

Thursday 2/28/2008 9:05am Dakar, Ganalé Hotel

Voila! I’ve arrived safely in Senegal. Thank God! I had a very good flight, enjoyed the food, and most of all, I am enjoying a book I purchased at the JFK airport called ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ by Elizabeth Gilbert. In many ways I can relate to her experiences and her passions and I really love it. Right now I’m at the hotel. It’s pretty nice. I have air-conditioning and a TV! My supervisor will be dropping by at 12:40pm and we’ll have lunch.

Hmmm…food. I’m actually pretty hungry. I wonder if I’ll like the local food. But that’s just one of my worries. Another one is that there are a lot of con-artists around. ‘Arnaqueurs’ is the French word for them. I was actually sort of almost duped at the airport today just as soon as I had arrived.

I didn’t have my original visa (thankfully they still let me on the plane) so I was instructed by immigration officials to go find whoever was going to fetch me to get the original from them and then go back to immigration so they would let me go. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to go back in without my papers so I panicked and it was probably pretty obvious to these two guys pretending to be employees at the airport (or maybe they really were). Seeing that I looked so distressed, they offered to help me find the driver, offering to call him on his cell phone, taking me aside, and I…foolishly followed.

At least I got to talk to the Country Representative of our organization and let her know I’d arrived and was still alive. I explained that immigration wanted the original visa and she instructed me to go back and have them call her. This sounded good. Then, the cellphone I was using ran out of credit and the two guys began asking me for money to buy credit. And that was the scam. Oh no! But I walked away and they, of course, weren’t pleased. I went back to Immigration, told them some people were harassing me and they were very protective and they said I could stay inside and wait for the driver there. I know this should teach me to smarten up and keep cool. Hey, it’s not like I don’t come from a developing country too!

But oh, it’s beautiful here too,.. in its own way. I regret not taking my camera out to take photos of the sunrise, beach and rocks in Dakar. And there are sheep and goats everywhere. I’m feeling positive about this even despite my little ‘incident’ at the airport. But I’ll be more careful now.

Another thing I’m thankful for is that all my bags went through! I didn’t have to part with my precious canned goods. Thank God!

Here’s something I’m copying off Gilbert’s book; an answer from God to her frustration and desperation with depression and loneliness that has greatly helped re-assure me throughout this trip:
“I’m here. I love you. I don’t care if you need to stay up crying all night long. I will stay with you…There’s nothing you can ever do to lose my love. I will protect you until you die and after your death, I will still protect you. I am stronger than depression and I am braver than loneliness and nothing will ever exhaust me.”