Sunday, January 15, 2023

Our last day in Tunisia was spent with a conglomeration of the people that we met throughout our travels. We enjoyed tea with Omar, Douja, Jamel (and his wife whose name I cannot recall,) and we met Yousef in the lobby of our hotel one last time before leaving North Africa.

Saying goodbye to these characters was sweet. We didn’t really know these people, but it seemed like we were really going to miss them when it came time to part ways. Perhaps this was because of the reality that we will likely never see them again in our lives, or maybe because of the political and economic uncertainties that they may face while living in Tunisia. Regardless, it was appropriate to hug this diverse group of people “goodbye” one last time, as if to say “thank you for ensuring our safe travels here in Tunisia.”

I hope that those hugs are not goodbye forever. Not only because I selfishly want to travel back to North Africa for my own personal gain, but because I believe that I developed a true liking for these people. They felt like friends. Most of all, they made me feel like it did not matter where I came from nor where they came from. We were just people - all, ultimately, the same.