Video: Several kids from the neighborhood, along with my brothers and sisters, crowded in around me with so much anticipation that I couldn’t even open the box. When I finally was able to light one of the sparklers, they were so amazed it was as if I had actually brought Las Vegas fireworks to Sibanor.
Every time I cook with my sisters, they ask: “Do you eat this in America?” Time after time, I stare into the pot: fish heads bobbing in a red sauce, green curd-like paste made from leaves off our tree, spaghetti with mayonnaise, rice with palm oil. “No,” I shake my head. One day, my sister Sainabou finally exclaimed, somewhat perplexed: “Well, what do you eat in The Gambia?” I promised to show them one day.

