The
Bintou Chronicles -- The Journey to Dakar & Bintou
Foreword:
On March 18, 2004 I took the biggest gamble of my life when I walked off the exit ramp of the
South African Airways jetliner and onto the tarmac of the airport in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa. You see,
I had fallen in love. In love with a woman from another world, thousands of cultural miles, thousands of
geographical miles from my hometown of Memphis.
The first thing I noticed when I stepped foot onto African soil was the air
– it was spicy. Every breath was like a bazaar of exotic smells. In the summer
heat of the American South colors seem to bleach out, the sun so bright and high that color goes into hiding.
I expected the same of Africa but was startled by colors so vibrant and dazzling that they were like dessert for the
eyes. The whole ten days I spent in Dakar I never stopped looking. And I never stopped
seeing.
As I write this,
Bintou and I have now been married for going on four years. I cannot begin to explain what this woman has
meant to this second phase of my life. Our adjustments to one another have not always been easy; neither
of us will pretend otherwise. It is not possible for two people from such different backgrounds to come
together seamlessly. There are endless cultural hurdles, or so it sometimes seems. Yet
we’ve managed to throw ourselves across most of them without falling on our faces.
Only a few trusted friends knew I had
formed a relationship with someone halfway around the world, and naturally most of them thought I had gone completely mad.
I kept my trip to Dakar and Bintou on the Q.T. After all, there was every chance that one of the
two of us would be disappointed when I arrived. I wanted to save myself from all the humiliation possible
and only sent out the news of Bintou when I had the confidence that the dreams were coming true.
The following is a chronicle of those dreams as they
were being realized in Dakar, a series of emails sent to a variety of friends and family.
p.s. - Reporter Anita Houk
at The Memphis Commercial Appeal did an article about Bintou and me and how we met. You can read the article at:
