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The country wears her heart on her sleeves, one is welcomed to the capital city Dakar, by the glistening bodies in their homemade oils, hanging from flamboyant car rapide shouting phrases in French and Wolof. The exuberantly painted buses with interior that has greeted many ignites the city during peak hours. These buses have a maximum capacity for 30 passengers; carrying twice the amount of passengers with bodies hanging like palm trees that have endured a category three hurricane. I looked forward to waking up at 5:00am while studying abroad in Senegal; to witness vendors setting up their stalls, carefully arranging their produce and shouting at the car rapids conductors whether about making change for big notes or about the small sand tornado they created with their abrupt stops as passengers hopped in. The sheer grace that total strangers take out of their already busy days to help me translate my required destination to taxi drivers and car rapide conductors is the epitome of Terenga - which in English translates to “hospitality”. “Kai Lekk!”, if there ever was a question on any poll reading “what is the most popular phrase Senegalese people use?” It would be ““Kai Lekk!” –Come eat. Individuals open their homes to neighbors, strangers, young, old, Christians, Muslim and share not only their food but, their time, stories about their lives and advice and most importantly they aim to inspire and motivate all those that partake in conversations of people who have many differences but, at the given time one similarity-their right hands are all plunged in greasy rice. Thieboudienn, the national dish, a melting pot of steamed vegetables, rice, any protein of choice (often spicy fish) has taught me kindness, gratitude and how to be altruistic. From the process of gathering the ingredients-ensuring that there is always more than enough, to the art of eat from a big silver bowl and ensuring you remain in the lines of your pizza” the small triangle you are expected to create mentally” and finally the anecdotes shared between each beaming dinner guest encouraging us to all help to cultivate and curate our resources both human and physical to benefit not only ourselves but generations to come. I am forever in debt to Senegal and her people for their generosity, many life lessons and reinforcing the principle on Terenga