A Teranga-filled homecoming: My experience on Princeton’s fall break trip to Senegal

After completing my final day of midterms, I found myself hurriedly packing and rushing to Wawa to embark on my Princeton-sponsored fall break trip. Despite being exhausted from exams, I was filled with anticipation about the journey that lay ahead: I was going to Senegal. After a long 24 hours and two flights, we finally arrived in Dakar, Senegal’s capital. Stepping out of Aéroport International Blaise Diagne, it truly started to sink in. I was in Senegal. Home. My parents were born and raised here, before they decided to immigrate to the United States. I had not been to Senegal since I was eight years old, and so the little recollections I had of the country were fuzzy and blurred together. But here I was, returning over a decade later, through Princeton’s support.

It is not often that Princeton holds trips to the African continent during fall and spring breaks, as most opportunities are concentrated in Europe; the University must build on the precedent of the Senegal trip and create more of these opportunities for students.

My group was comprised of eight other Princeton undergraduate students, four graduate students, and four chaperones: Imam Khalil Abdullah, Reverend Theresa Thames, Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Tennille Haynes, and Equity and Diversity Specialist Felicia Edwards. Our trip was held in collaboration with the organization Where There Be The…