Minds at Peace: Sun Karo 2016

I've had a number of people ask me why I bother to fast.  I'm not Muslim, I don't pray, and I don't abstain from everything that Islam asks you to give up during the month of Ramadan.  I live in a village that is 100% Muslim.  Members of my family pray five times a day, women cover their heads, and we continuously give alms throughout the year even though we have little to give.  I fast because I am a member of this community and when Botou fasts, I fast.  Fasting takes a certain strength inside each of us.  Not eating and drinking forces your body to adjust and realize what it has inside.  I fasted last year, every day that I was in village, and I will do the same this year.  I love the solidarity that I feel when someone asks me, I be sunna? Of course I can fast.  But it's more than being able to.  If everyone else in my village is fasting and prepping their fields and washing laundry and cooking, and going about their lives, the least I can do is fast too.

Luckily nobody gives me a hard time for not praying.  They understand that I am not Muslim and that I don't pray, but they don't seem bothered by the fact that I fast, in fact, they celebrate it.  One thing I am going to focus on this Ramadan, a month when I spend even more time inside my head, is to reflect on my reality.  Sometimes I feel like I have escaped reality by being in Peace Corps.  I can avoid many realities in the US because I'm not physically there.  I can avoid the relationships in my life because I live in Senegal.  Being here is the best excuse. That is, until you spend hours upon hours in your head because otherwise your head will focus on your stomach.

I've changed a lot here, but if you asked me what changed I could only list off a handful of things. In reality, almost everything about me has changed in some way.  Mostly for the good, but I haven't really had a chance to understand those changes and focus on how I can best bring them back home with me in November.

On the off hours of being in my own head, I'll likely be in the heads of others, reading copiously, listening to podcasts, music, or talking with my work partners and my family.  It really is a great time to enjoy the company of minds at peace.

Talking about minds at peace (others on my site)