Tango Goes to Africa: And I Learn a Lesson or Two

On Saturday, September 21, 2013, Camille Cusumano had just hit the send button on her computer that would alert thousands of her contacts she was headed to Nairobi to teach tango to slum-dwelling youth when a phone call came informing her that Somali terrorists had bombed the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. Some 67 people died and more than 175 were wounded. The Islamist group al-Shaabab claimed responsibility. She wondered what al-Shaabab thought of the tango. She wondered if she should be going to Kenya. Too late for that. Five months later, having raised enough money to get started she was on her way to Nairobi with her teaching partner, Mungai Waweru.