May 1

Impressions of Leaving: I should have been listening to Coldplay, but (shamefully) it was Damien Rice. Why shamefully? It is not the artistique genious of the music-an impressive drum beat or amazing guitar riff...or even creative vocals or a good voice. Some music just captures a feeling...and sometimes the world is moving. Especially for little girls all grown up...an old woman in a pink t-shirt and flowered skirt (rippling) leaning over the railing, abandoning a walker for the hand of a young pajama-ed Senegalese gigalo...girls never die!

We sped up for a moment, then slowed down. The engines roaring for a second, then frighteningly returning to a chemical warble.

And then-Dakar was racing by me faster than normal...the wretched taxis running parallel like cripples...

May God give us all health until we meet again.

Magically here in Burkina Faso I light up and murder bloody my cells. Big belly sticking out...but I am no longer Fatou Senghor in my place. I could die in transition and all I want is home and health, health.