Flying for Kosovo

My original flight goal was to leave Mauritania early enough to avoid darkness upon arrival in Senegal.  As usual, the pre-flight nonsense set me back a few hours and quite a few Euros – the fuel people in Nouakchott dragged their feet for three hours and ended up costing me an arm and a leg.  As a result, I landed in Dakar ‘after hours’, meaning that the runway lights had to be turned on, costing me another 130 Euros.  Welcome to a pilot’s life.  After landing though, it was quite interesting to me that I did not have to through questioning in the terminal, even though I was coming from another country.  I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing, considering that safety and security are so important nowadays, but it sure did help shave some time off of my routine and get a great night’s sleep.

I owe a big thank you to my friend M.r Saliou Ndiaye, who was quite familiar with the big city of Dakur and brought me to all of the media houses with no problems or hesitations (because of this, I was able to meet with them all quite quickly).  I have lots of respect for this man, who is very down to earth and quite friendly.  He was kind enough to drive his own car, which had a personality all its own.  I was unable to see out the passenger side of the front window and I was never sure at any time if we would make it to the next destination or not.  Especially given that I could not for the life of me figure out how to open and close the passenger door by myself.  No worries, my friend Mr. Ndiaye, as kind as he was, offered to close it for me each time.

The interviews were quite successful,  My sincere thanks to Mr. Ousmane Mangane, who took much care and pride during our interview and was excited that it would be shown on WALF-TV (a national station); Mr. Abdoul Aziz Agne who wrote an excellent article for the newspaper Walf Fadjri; and the entire team and Le Soleil.  I was excited to be introduced to their team and met each and every one of them.  Mr. Ali Diouf was wonderful and took time to do a detailed interview with me (along with his co-worker Mr. Jean Pires Dos Santos who was sitting next to us and also participated during the interview).

The people that I have met here in Senegal have lots of respect for the solidarity that we have shown them.  Many times at the airport, the police and border guards were very appreciative to know that the people of Kosovo had lots of respect and appreciation for them.  These moments are an exciting part of my journey.

Senegal is very dry right now and seems to be struggling economically like the past few countries that I’ve visited.  It appears that they are trying very hard to improve their living conditions.  The people are quite nice and friendly to me and I am noticing more and more languages being spoken and slight differences between ethnic groups the further through Africa that I travel.

Wal Fadjri

Wal Fadjri PDF

Le Matin PDF

Le Soleil PDF

[View with PicLens]

12►