Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

The Celebration is a fascinating photo that at a first glance depicts a host of homogenous women of color. As an American volunteer for 10,000 Girls in Dakar, Senegal, I?m the rooftop of a breath-taking mosque anticipating the singing and praying that will precede a Muslim ceremony. In the photo, as an American Christian, I sit among a group of Senegalese, Wolfe-speaking Muslim women. I?ve been asked by my host sister, a devout Muslim to participate in the most important day of her life, a religious rite-of-passage. As a Christian I hesitated, but as a new-found friend, I went. Later I learned, different in language, religion, and nationality we still share one common bond?humanity. Although the photo unveils a mélange of cultures that are as intricately mixed as the bright fabrics, in the end it?s a life-changing celebration of the underlying similarity of mankind.