Naam naa leen !

- Ku dul toxu doo xam fu deck neexe.
- If you don’t change your seat, you won’t know what place you like.

I have felt lately that I haven’t much to say on this blog of mine. Strange as it may seem, the ups and downs, ins and outs, nuyoos (greetings) and waxtaans (discussions), buñs (refusals) and waxaales (price negotiations), in which I participate on a daily basis have become very…normal. The timing should be good for a trip to the States in a couple weeks (inca allah) to step back and process this process.

I challenge each of you to come up with good, thoughtful questions. I am more than happy to answer the ‘how is it?’s and the ‘is it hot?’s, but we can take it higher than that. I will publish the best question I get while I’m home. I know that at least Clarke will read about it, so there’s your motivation. People seem to want to know more about my work- I am reluctant to write about this subject in this space because I have more negative things than positive things to say and more stories of frustration than stories of success. Suffice it to say that this work is even more challenging, and the problems facing the Senegalese even more fundamental, than I imagined. My experience here has led me to a deeper understanding of the challenges of development. Anyone who has known me well over the past five years knows that I will relish any related discussion. My only apprehension is that I will inevitably find myself telling you that you need to fly across the Atlantic to see what I mean. I know I did.