dance my feet, carry me quick

It has been a brilliant year. In it I have been to 2 parts of Africa I never thought I would be going to. First it was YOWLI in Senegal and recently to meet the family of a very close friend in Mauritius.

And in each of the places it was beautiful to see how women saw and understood themselves. In Senegal some of the women fashioned their hairstyles extravagantly and darkened their lips with almost-black lipstick. They expressed their sexuality openly among other women and aggressiveness when need be, even with their male counterparts. They took care of their image as they defined it for themselves. I attended a wedding party in the street, a woman's only event where I found myself charged into a frenzy to dance by 8 drummers who sweated hard as they pounded into the drums.

In Mauritius, I saw what I thought India, the US and Kenya would look like if blended together. The families I came across were close. Here they valued dance too and friendship. And rum and wine. I danced sega in a sega outfit and danced with different women of different ages. Kissing each three times on the cheek to say hello and goodnight.

There is such diversity on this continent and I cannot wait to see where my great maker will take me the next time.

This is to the beautiful women from the beautiful continent.