Rotary Speech

I gave my first Rotary speech in Senegal on Tuesday night. Finally! And it went really well, too. It was only about 5-10 minutes, but that was all the time they allotted me. I was given a special introduction at the beginning, but I spoke at the very end. The people were interested in it and were a great audience. As a cultural ambassador, my role was to talk about myself, my life in the states, my experiences in Senegal, and my relationship with Rotary. They got quite a kick out of me describing walking to class in pants, a coat, boots, a scarf, a hat, and gloves. It's a bit difficult for some of them to imagine that, since here in Dakar it's the middle of November and the temperature dips to around 80 degrees at night. After I gave my speech, my host counselor talked about me for a few minutes and described me as a true Senegalese now. He said that I set a good example as the first Cultural Scholar for the club, that I was very independent, and kept emphasizing how Senegalese I had become. It was quite nice of him and as far as me becoming Senegalese… quite an exaggeration! But it was nice of him just the same. But it was an example of this country's "taranga"… or hospitality. They pride themselves on it. And they really are incredibly hospital and treat guests amazingly. Sidenote: the national soccer team here is nicknamed the "Lions of Taranga." After the Rotary meeting, many people came up to me and thanked me for the speech, and thanking me again for giving the speech in French. They said all other Americans who had come had given the speech in English and needed it to be translated. So it meant a lot to them that I made the effort to give it in French.