The timing could not have been better, for too long our state has been associated with so much sad, depressing news. It was time to show a positive story that reflects the warm, generous people in Colorado.

Bill Masure and Stephanie Riggs with Sekou Kamara, and his mother (far right), and another relative of Sekou's.

We first called Denver major Wellington Webb's office and connected with Sekou Kamara. Sekou grew up in Dakar, the capitol of Senegal, and helped us make the arrangements to travel to Oumar Dia's village.

First, Bill and I received a dozen vaccines each for diseases you never see anymore in the US: yellow fever, typhoid, cholera, just to name a few. Thank you, Rose Medical Center, we both made the trip and came back healthy.

Then we checked with the state department and discovered Senegal was about to hold elections (every seven years). There was a travel advisory because the country was fed up with its president and wanted him out. He had been in power since the country gained its independence from France in 1960.