OUR CLIENTS TESTIMONIES

ANA, who travelled in Northern Kenya

text written by Ana:

“DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT”

 

This week, we wanted to do things a little differently. Because the ones who always have more to say — and emotion still fresh on the surface — are our clients, when they return from a journey we’ve crafted for them. So we asked Ana Monjardino if she’d like to write a few words about the destination she just experienced.

 

I could tell you about the whistling acacias. About their defense system built on ants. About flying above the flamingos, sketching shapes and shadows across a river of many colours. About the heart-melting loyalty of the dik-diks. About Naisimari.

I could assure you that for every animal we spot, many had already seen us. Just like the horizon—found, and finding us, everywhere. That the guineafowl’s cry is a warning, a gentle piece of wisdom to follow.

I could tell you what it felt like to sing and dance for hours among women in a Maasai village, wrapped in rhythm and joy. The honour of being invited by my dance partner to share tea with goat’s milk, boiled over the fire that lights her hut of earth and straw. While the children played with nothing, and the elder strung beads, we talked about life, about dreams, about joy, about the future. We agreed: Africa is Mother. I left her my scarf, which she turned into a dress.

I might dare say I felt a little like Karen, at home in Kenya. I came to understand the meaning of rain—and that water belongs to Mombasa.

But the truth is, words fall short of doing justice to what I felt on that journey. To what I still feel, two years on, when I close my eyes and return—senses standing to attention. That urgent need to go back.

Words can’t capture what was never meant to fit inside them. At least, not mine. So, don’t take my word for it.

Go. See. Feel. And carry it in your heart, unspoiled.

POEM written by Ana:

LET US BE THE RAIN

 
 

Let us be the rain
that makes the river run

Let us be the rain
that darkens the impala’s coat

Let us be the rain
that makes men sing until dawn

Let us be the rain
that heals the wounded soil

Let us be the rain
that colors of green the horizon

Let us be the rain
that washes our friend’s tears

Let us be the rain
that makes the difference

Let us be the rain!