Known as “the tree of life,” some baobab trees have been dated as ancient as 6,000 years old. The tree in Sibanor stands at the center of the village, a watchful presence harboring even more stories than the toothless weathered widows who kneel below it in prayer.
Every day for the past 30 days, we have only eaten rice and fish. Actually, fish only comes on the lucky days; sometimes, it’s only rice and leaves. As the days of rice and leaves and fish drug on, I tried to think of each meal as one closer to the day we would eat meat. The night before felt like Christmas Eve as I anxiously awaited “The Sacrifice.”
Benechin is fried rice with vegetables and either fish, chicken or meat. It is often also served with a tasty leafy-green okra sorrel. For the Tobaski Edition, we of course had plenty of meat at the center of the food bowl.
In The Gambia, Simba is not a cute little lion cub who wants to be king. Simba is instead a lion-like masquerade that can only be described as horrifying yet somehow weirdly entertaining. Which come to think of it, is exactly how I felt about the Lion King as a kid.
My teenage sisters wanted to say goodbye to me with swagger and style, to give me something I would never forget. So, they arranged a “meet and greet” with the village dance crew, “The American Boyz,” who performed a private show for me at our family’s compound.
