One of the other girls from my school said she was feeling a bit homesick. I tried to think if there were anything that I'd been missing-food, luxuries, people. And I really hadn't been having those feelings for anything at all. Sure, I like those things and people back home and it will be nice to play my guitar and drive around with my sister, but right now, I must borrow a phrase from the Senegalese: mangi fii rekk.
It means "I'm here only". In Senegal, it is important to greet everyone you know (and often people you don't know too). Not greeting someone is basically they don't have worth; they are an object (you wouldn't greet a bottle of water!) Mangi fii rekk is the response to the equivalent of "how's it going?" It means that you are taking that moment to spend time with them. Time spent together is highly valued here; upon meeting my host family, I put my things in my room and joined them (I have 3 sisters who live in the home. Amy works full time and is around 25 or 30; Zainab is a student my age (she's a granddaughter), and Assy is 13 (granddaughter). Tonight, my mom's (also Assy) married daughter, Aida came to visit. It was very fun to see the family in action.
Back to the point: in embracing Senegalese culture, it is impossible to be homesick, because we are only here. As Christians, with every place on earth that we find ourselves, we know that this is not our final home. It gives us the freedom to be fully there, wherever we are.
PS God has been teaching me so much already it's blowing my mind. The verses and insights I get are just incredible! I will have to expand more at some point.
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