left. Nearly six months have passed since I left New York on March 31. I will be departing Dakar on October 1. Hard to believe. Even harder to believe is the lump in my throat.

Yesterday Paul asked me when I would come back to “be with us”. Maybe it’s our diminishing language barrier, but he asked not “if” I’m coming back but when. My response was choked: “When I can, Paul.”

This morning, the naked and absolutely adorable Seal, fresh out of his bath, came running into the office where I was reading the New York Times online. He bounced up on the couch and screamed “Fany, Fany, Fany!!!” He was just as excited as we should all be at the start of a new day. Who is going to be that excited with me when I get back to New York?

These six months have been such a mix…certainly unsettling and isolating, but also productive and satisfying. Lots of good work has been accomplished, although we don’t have a hospital building to show for the time and energy invested.

Very soon I will be sharing the website address so that you can see the fantastic work of our volunteer website team: Bettina Klupp in Basel and Emily Collazo in New York. Soon, our fundraising brochures in English, French and German will be printed: the work of Carol Winer and Julie Farkas in New York. Over the weekend, I will be recording a new video with Paul and Nathalie, ready for posting on YouTube.

Every day I have experiences that, if I had had them earlier, might have led me to a decision to stay in Dakar. Currently, I’m having a fantastic time getting acquainted with Emily and Rachel who teach at the International School, but grew up in the Kansas City area and taught in New York before hitting the global teaching circuit. They are fun and fresh and know so much more in a month than I’ve picked up in six. They are a wealth of information about where to go and what to do. Same goes for my French teacher Anne, who is burning a path through downtown Dakar, seeing everything and meeting people from everywhere in the world. It’s been fantastic to have a glimpse of Anne the person to accompany Anne the teacher.

But I am leaving. I’ll spend two weeks in Europe, and then head home. My flight arrives at JFK at 11:30 a.m. on October 14. I’ve been told 69^th Street has been repaved. I already feel the temptation to kiss that fresh black asphalt, as I did when I returned to New York in 1997 after a 2.5 year exile to LA and DC.

In a world that’s recovering from a global recession and financial melt-down, I am blessed to have the security of a job on my return. I’ve accepted a position with GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (www.glsen.org), the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. It was founded in 1990 and is responsible for the development of more than 4000 gay straight alliances in schools across the country. I will be joining the development team as Senior Manager, Institutional Relations with responsibility for relations with public, private and corporate foundations.

I am trying to look forward, aware of the past’s richness…aware that even a quick glance backward reveals an amazing web of interconnections: people, experiences, awakenings.