I am Senegalese. I am Serere from my dad and Pepel from my mom. I still feel like kneeling and kissing the ground when I get off the plane and feel the ocean breeze and the sticky humidity on my face. And despite the things I would like to see change (especially women’s condition), I love Sunugaal (our boat in Woloff) and my homeland has a very special place in my heart.
I am French, a fervent francophone and francophile. My second family is in France and they welcomed me like a daughter. I claim Marianne and her values like any other French person. I appreciate all the doors and windows the French language opens for me and the ones they are and will for my children: a path to a less monolithic view of the world, a world full of nuances and differences!
I am American: I was very emotional when I became a citizen, a part of this amazing human and social experiment. I do believe that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these, are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I am from the world, a “Citizen of the Universal’ as Leopold Sedar, Senghor, our dear former president, and poet would say. Like the “Baobab” tree, I am deeply anchored into my Senegalese roots – they help me stand tall – but with my arms/branches reaching out to the rest of the world. My travels and experiences made me the person I am today, richer, fuller and looking forward to many more human encounters and personal discoveries.
I am the proud mother of three beautiful, smart, compassionate human beings, the quality I am the most proud of in them. I am trying to raise my children in a country that makes their race part of their identity; I, myself, became black in America.