meet sadikh
Sadikh is basically the "personal reasons" I was referring to as to why I've come back to Senegal so many times. We have quite an interesting history for only having known one another for two years.
I met him the first time I was here studying abroad. We began dating long distance after I returned home. We got engaged/married in his culture and Islam during my second trip to Senegal. And since then we have been living a roller coaster of a relationship--exciting to say the least.
We live together with his massive family in Mermoz, Dakar. We are creating our own social enterprise called Pas-Pas (which means motivation in Wolof). And we are constantly trying to figure out how to make our intercultural relationship work.
Sadikh is a huge part of my life here, but what challenges us the most is how the existence of our relationship has only ever been in Senegal. It's difficult for my family to recognize and understand a relationship that they have never really seen. It's difficult for me to live in an environment where my relationship is undermined simply by the fact that it seems surreal to the people who are close to me. And it's difficult for Sadikh to not know me completely, to have never seen me in my home or know the people that I love.
We're working on it though--as everyone is. And now that I am finally back in Senegal, after nine months of being apart, we may very well be on our way to finding some sort of stability.
(He's cute, huh?)
