A Positive Thought

So I realize that I am shockingly pessimistic most of the time but in order to correct the view I may have given some of you I thought I might give you a different view of what it’s like being here. It is all too easy to focus on the stressful things I have to deal with and often they eclipse the positive things.


In spite of all the challenges, it’s hard not to fall in love with this place. The easiest way is from the backseat of a land rover, Sayoune Camera crooning out the speakers, rocking back in forth along a rutted dirt road watching this foreign landscape pass by. Women walk down the road in groups carrying buckets on their heads, men driving along on donkey carts, roadside stands selling copious amounts of vegetables. It grabs you up, makes you feel like you’ve fallen into an unreality: Alice thru her looking glass. The landscape, wilderness, houses, dress; everything is different from what I knew in Ohio. The differences can be intoxicating and awaken a need to explore and understand this new place this different way of life. Like so many of the parasites here, Africa can crawl under your skin and stay there.

Even the idea of this place is intoxicating for some reason I really can’t define. Maybe it’s because this is the “Dark Continent” and I’m chasing the unknown or maybe it’s a response to America’s ingrained need for manifest destiny to move onto places free from our over articulated constraints, rules, regulations to seek out new possibilities. Maybe it’s an escape from boredom- the possibility to wake up with each day knowing you’ll find or learn something new: fruit you never knew existed, words that roll off the tongue and convey something wonderful, meeting people who will challenge and change your perspective on life.

I don’t know why deep down I really like this place. Looking out over rolling red mountains or watching the sun set among the palm trees just makes me calm. I think it has something to do with the fact that this place is still a little wild. By that I mean here every acre of land isn’t controlled or micro-managed, turned into a strip mall. Here the government doesn’t regulate every facet of life. Here, life isn’t defined by what you have to do but by what you need to do. I don’t have to do anything but what I need to do to survive and that is a welcome change of pace. It makes it easier to set my priorities straight and that in itself is one of the things I love best about being here: realizing what really is important and what isn’t worth the headache.