Dakar

Dakar always held a special appeal to me, and, next to Cape Vert, was one of the destinations I was looking forward to discovering most. The music, the joie de vivre, a big city in Africa and a reference for most of the region. And Dakar didn’t disappoint. It’s big, it’s varied, it’s interesting. Our trip kept its tranquil pace however, with afternoon siestas imposed by the heat. Of course, being here during Tabaski (the sheep feast) also helped to keep things less hectic and even the streets were deserted that day.

One of the pleasures of this trip is meeting up again with people from the past. After ten years working in different countries and continents, you realize development work makes the world small(er). Here in Dakar, I got the chance to catch up with Rebeca and Laurent, two development workers who were in the Dominican Republic while I was in Haiti. Seven years have gone by, two lovely children of one and three years have joined them, their careers have evolved and however, it doesn’t feel like that long. Sometimes, when I meet up with friends from before in Belgium, it seems we have little left in common, while talking with Rebeca, there is so much I can recognize and relate to. The same questions of where to go, what approach works for us, which career path to follow…  I’m often surprised though by how many of those expats return home, for whom the stay abroad was an experience, a chapter written and closed, while it only seems to entice me to go elsewhere, discover another region, other ways of thinking and living.

Which doesn't mean it's always easy to turn the page. Hence this trip. Leaving Haiti seemed to break my heart, and consequent departures have not been easier. Instead of going straight home however, I feel it's beneficial to first take a trip, make use of the gap between two jobs to travel and also go through the "mourning" of a closed chapter. It makes it easier to digest, not going from one life abroad back to Belgium without a transition, straight back into the hassle of every day life and fitting back in, with the invariable questions of what are the plans now and where will we be heading to do what. And when else would we be able to find two or three months to travel like this?