L'île de Gorée et l'hôtel Meridian

These past few days my professor from SU, Janet, has been here checking out the internship program. Her company has added a good change of pace to the week. I was able to be a tourist with her yesterday and we visited Gorée Island, which is an island where over 15 million slaves were shipped from Africa to the Americas. I visited a slave house and besides being affected by hearing about the horrible treatment the slaves had to endure, the part that got to me the most was gazing down this long dark hallway toward an opening looking out into the ocean. This was where the slaves were loaded into the ships, basically the point of absolutely no return for these people. Looking down that tunnel left my heart feeling so heavy, and I know this doesn’t even begin to give justice to what took place there. I’ll probably go back to the Island to visit the place more in my own way and pace.

After the Island I went over the Meridian hotel that Janet was staying at. This is probably the nicest hotel in Dakar and the nicest hotel I’ve ever been to. I took the afternoon to swim in the large outdoor pool, enjoy some sun on the lounge chairs, share a gourmet meal with Janet and take a hot shower. I must say I enjoyed it very much, but that place is not Senegal. I walked in there and was no longer the minority, no longer had to speak French, and no longer in reality. I can understand the temptation to hide away in a place like that when visiting a developing country, but I wouldn’t prefer it. I was thinking while I was there how the majority of Senegalese people have no chance of even spending one afternoon in their entire lives in the luxury I was in. I didn’t necessary feel guilt, because my time here is not about spending it in this atmosphere, but for the first time I quite clearly understood the privilege I have for being American and for being caucasian, and I’m not quite sure what to make of that.