Living my life like it’s golden!!!

I’m coming home from being home!!!! I am busting up out the village and heading back to my birth place. The motha frickin yea-area! That’s right folks. Coming home!

It is with much sadness that I leave Benin. I love it here. Yeah it’s stressful and hard and my daily life here is full of challenges but I love Benin. As an African American, I know my roots. All of them. I am proud to be an American. It’s my country. Built by my ancestors. Native African and Native American. I have never appreciated my American heritage as much as I do right now. But, like a tree that had been up rooted for years, I have taken my ancestral roots and replanted them in Benin. I am an adopted child that has found her motha Africa and I have to tell you that it is a BEAUTIFUL thang!

When I first got here, I had a hard time here living without the network of friends and family that is so dear to me. But, I have built up a network of family and friends in this country that will always hold a special place in my heart. Here, I have become friends with women that carry huge Basins (tubs) of corn on their heads and while toting babies on their backs and with African people who have lived decadent lives; filled with more richness and splendor than I have ever known.

As a descendant of slaves, I have no idea where exactly my ancestors came from but Benin has embraced me as her long lost infant and I have willingly accepted her love. Does that mean that I dismiss my Mississippi and South Carolina roots. Hell no! It means that I have reintroduced (if that’s a word) them to their original environment where they have pushed and thrived for almost two years now. Just by being myself, working hard, sincerely devoting myself to my spiritual development and expressing myself as the fabulous Black legacy that I am, I have been able to touch the lives of people in my local community in ways that I could never have imagined before coming here. As Jilly from Philly (Jill Scott) said “I am taking my freedom… wherever I choose to go… it will take me far”. In my case, my freedom took me to Benin where I have lived and worked my ass off for almost two years and now it is taking me back to America where I will start the next chapter of my life.

A man who is like a brother to me here told me that I am not the first American who has ever come to Benin and I am certainly not the last who will. But, he said, I have integrated myself into the community in a way that very few people can and am someone that this community will never forget. That has to be one of the greatest compliments ever paid to me because I know that he meant it. In response I told him that I could not even express my gratitude and appreciation for the unconditional love and acceptance that his family has shown me and that they could never know how much richer my experience has been just because of knowing them. Now let me tell you that this man has two wives, nine children and lives in a two bedroom apartment with no running water or plumbing of any kind. Yet neither he nor any of his family has ever asked me for one single thing. Some people who live in developing countries sometimes see friendships with westerners, (whom many assume to be rich) as lucrative liaisons; using their friendship as a guise to win financial support. You will even find those types of people in America if you really think about it. But I have been blessed with many friends like him, his wives, and children who have accepted me for me. Not for what they think I can do for them.

When my sorors came to visit, the communities that I lived in welcomed them with open arms filled with so much love. Many people told me later that it was the loving kindness that I have shown their families that motivated them to make my sisters feel at home. I had people calling me from all over the country hoping to have the chance and the honor of hosting my visitors who, quite obviously, meant so much to me. Some people who have very little were willing to give the little that they have just to make people that are dear to me feel welcomed. They were even more pumped that my family from “La Bas” (abroad) was Black! In a place where most people don’t even know that African Americans exist and the only images of African Americans that they get (if they get any) are negative or ridiculous, that meant a lot.

That being said, I have to share that I am so pumped to be celebrating my 30th birthday in September. I just don’t understand people who sulk about their birthdays because I sincerely feel that I just get better and better and my life gets richer and richer with each passing year.

As for my Postcards from Benin, there are many more installments left to read. My Blog was just a tester and a teaser. Stay tuned for the much cleaner and more complete version to come.

Can’t wait to see you alls. I would love to hear from you. If you want, you can reply to my message at worldlysistah@yahoo.com.