It’s funny how we look at things over the passing of time, the way our minds once saw something a certain way but one day see it again, as something else completely different. How what was once a judgment becomes an understanding, how insecurities turn into pride, and so on. I came to find this…

23 April, 2013

At first glance, one notices little gender dominance in the sandy market town that is Kebemer. Amidst the bustling street stands and boutiques, an outsider can hardly tell the difference between who is the shop owner, the buyer, and the friend stopping by for midday glass of attaya and a chat. However, if there is…

15 January, 2013

“What activity do you think the kids should do?” Tonton Njame asked me in French, referring to the group of five and six-year-olds in the Grande Section of Casa de Tout Petit, a nursery school I had been formally working in for a not even a week. Naturally my mind seemed to run a total…

29 November, 2012

The first moment I left the plane and felt the damp humid air that made my face shiny and clothes stick uncomfortably, the men who spoke in rapid inaudible French grabbing at my suitcase demandingly, the stares and disapproving eyes that practically bored into us as we walked saying “foreigner”, “unwelcome”, and “different,” the thick,…

12 September, 2012

For many it’s difficult to pinpoint a moment in time that changed their entire perspective on life. Often it is a series of events and happenings that occur over a period that shape the way one views the world, even if ever so slightly. This is not the case for me. I was thirteen years…

13 July, 2012