Ana Petit Senegal Bi?

Where is Little Senegal? Between St. Nicholas and Malcom X street on 116th in Harlem New York! I left Senegal at 6 am on Dec. 17th. This was no easy feat for the following reasons: First I had been offered by many people to celebrate Tabaski /Eid al Adha

http://www.nhm.org/africa/tour/unit001/016.htm or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_ul-Adha in Dakar which was only 2 days away! Second I had 90 some pounds of luggage that would travel through 5 different airports, and third- ohhhh leaving home. It may sound strange to some reading this, but Dakar had become home, and I will confess, that unlike many Tubabs I was not ready to get back. Ok, I'd have like to come back for a few weeks to see my people here, but after a semester of studies I wanted to see more of Africa. But life goes on, and I will be back so here's what happened along the way...

I had given myself a day of decompression in NY. Boss Lady had given me the tip to visit Little Senegal, so I checked it out. I got there too early to sample the ceebu jen( http://kariborders.blogspot.com/recipes/recipes.html), but it was a good transition into the States anyway. After poking around I saw men and women in bubus gathering for morning prayer inside this place. You can't imagine how crazy it was to see people in bubus (http://www.proverbs31fashions.com/africastyles.html) in NY!

Though most shops weren't open yet, I snagged a few shots. My classmates will recognize these names. "Touba" (http://www.sacredsites.com/africa/senegal/touba.html) is a holy city in Senegal, not to be confused with "Toubab".

Oh my god, sochu for sale!

Black people from all over the world come together in Harlem.

Tabaski!

So little Senegal proved to be just what I needed to smooth out the re-integration process. Now its on to another semester here in Colorado : (