I committed to this amazing trip to Egypt in June 2022. I set it up with the intention of marking another year on the earth. Grateful, beyond words, that this excursion helped to facilitate a re-connection with three little Egyptian Princesses on the eve of my departure. While all my friends and family may appreciate the details; this is expressly dedicated to my great-neices, Radiyah, Hannah and Aliyah.
As-Salaam Alaikum
Three little girls and a connection to family, the ancestors, the sounds, rhythms, smells and sights of Africa. I knew the trip was meant to be and what and who it was meant to include as the warmth of that morning shower washed over me and I literally felt all my parents touch me, as if they were the water, washing my shoulders.
I just let go and cried.
I was a little nervous up to this point, in all honesty about how it would unfold, whether traveling alone – although with a group – was the right thing.
Through the shower, however, I felt all the anxiety dissipate and I instantly knew I was to reconnect to those little girls, (and eventually their father and grandmother) as one outcome of this trip. My diligence in capturing the grandness, pride and beauty of this country is as much for my memory as it is for their experience; for these pre-teenagers have not walked this part of the earth yet.
This was my way of taking them with me.
So it begins.
