Fernweh Families: The Diops

We are excited to continue our “Fernweh Families” interview series highlighting worldschooling families, offered to help inspire current and future travelers and foster a sense of community. 

Fernweh is a German word coming from fern (“far”) and weh (“pain”) – literally, “far pain,” most often translated to English as “a desire to travel,” or, more simply, “wanderlust.”

Our third traveling family is the Diop Family: mom Helga (44), a political scientist from Iceland working in development cooperation; dad Yaya (45), an ex private bodyguard from Senegal; and their children Klara (27), Mariama (22), Daniel (20), Ingibjorg (16), Idrissa (15), Joseph (13), Cheikh (12), Alexander (9), Richlove (7), and Hekla (5). They also have two grandchildren Jökull (22 months) and Salka (20 months).

Please tell us about your family.

We are a large family, with nine of us living at home at the moment. I have an incurable travel bug and  cannot stay put in one place for a long time. I’m either traveling with my family; traveling for work, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa; or dreaming of traveling to far away places with daddy and the kids in tow.

Please tell us a bit about your journey.

Our travel style varies. We mostly slow travel, staying for extended periods of time in other countries–most often Africa. At the moment, however, we just finished a two-month trip in Europe to Poland, Italy, and France. 

I work remotely, which allows us to travel when we want and homeschool our children when on the move. Until now, we have taken flights and rented accommodation, but we are preparing a van to bring abroad soon. We believe the van will be a better fit for our large family and be more budget-friendly. 

What was one of the most important ingredients in getting your family on the road – what did you do that worked out well?

The most important part for us was to be able to sustain ourselves financially while on the road, and have a base to return to when we wanted. We tried the “sell all and travel the world“ thing, but that did not work for our family. It is stressful to have children and not have somewhere to call home when you feel like returning to your home country. It also proved stressful not to have a stable income and be able to plan our future financially. Hence, we took a break for some years to build our little base in the countryside of Iceland and secure our income remotely. We are happy and proud to have managed to work it out, and we are excited for our future slow travels.

What’s outside your window right now? What fascinates you about where you are?

Last week it was downtown Nice, France. We decided to visit there for three weeks so I could take courses in professional French and all enjoy a sunny European city. It’s amazing to step outside your apartment and walk only 200 meters to a beautiful beach. Today it is the Icelandic countryside, beautiful Icelandic horses and a glacier. Iceland is the most amazing country in the world during the summer. We don’t want to be anywhere else during that time. 

Can you describe a time when learning for your kids or family happened organically and profoundly…when you learned outside the “plan” you started with?

Recently we have been strictly following their curriculum from home and it has worked out fine, but I love when we let the kids choose. Once while in Africa they wanted to make a bow and arrow, so we went to the market, bought everything they needed, and then built it ourselves. Another time our son wanted to learn computer programming, so we signed him up for courses on Khan Academy. I have multiple examples like this when the kids decide what they want to focus on and we follow. When we do that, they are more interested and seem to learn more than when the ideas come from us and are imposed on them.

What have you discovered about your family by being on the road together?

How much I enjoy being with my family without outside distractions, but at the same time how important alone time is. I wouldn’t change being able to show my children the world this way, but I´m happy to mix it up with normal routines back home in Iceland in-between. I’ve also discovered that travel does not solve problems, it magnifies them.

What does community mean to you, and how have you found it during your travels?

We don’t seek community while traveling. On the contrary, we enjoy not being part of a community and being only us. We like not having to answer to anyone or think about anyone other than just us in our small bubble.

Are there other traveling families you are particularly inspired by? Why are they inspiring?

Yes, I love following:

@nestaautourdumonde we met them during their travels here in Iceland, and we love their view on life and their travel style. They slow travel with their three kids and are expecting the fourth one on the road.

@worldschoolfamily is a large family like ours that homeschools and travels. They just finished a three-month Europe trip and are now creating a base in Portugal. 

@malimish live in their Sprinter van with their three kids and cats. They share their everyday life and show us what life on the road looks like.

@worldtowning have tried it all, starting by living in a town in France, living in an RV driving around Europe, and now living aboard a sailboat. They share vlogs about their daily life. 

@macs_explore for their exceptional photo and video capture skills and their adventures with their two teenage boys. We met during their travels in Iceland and had inspiring talks about travel and life.

What do you wish a fellow worldschooling family had told you before you left home?

It will not be like you expect it to be, everything will go wrong and the kids will get homesick. But that’s ok–it’s all part of the adventure and this journey you are on together. 

What’s your favorite story to share about this experience? 

When I was stuck at the border of Western Sahara and Mauritania at 3 o’clock in the morning, with one suitcase and two kids in tow, trying to hitchhike my way to Senegal. I decided to take public transport from Spain to Senegal because my car broke down in Spain, and I had to be in Senegal in a couple of days for work. I knew everything always works out in Africa, so I decided to just go. And of course it worked out, and we reached Senegal after four days and four nights on the road.

 

What are you excited about seeing/doing/learning next?

Bringing my van outside of Iceland and experimenting living in it with my family. We are converting it into a camper and hope to be able to give it a try soon.

Many thanks to Helga and her family for spending time with us to share their experiences. You can follow along and learn more about their journey at:

• Facebook: MommyNeedstoTravel
• Instagram: @mommyneedstotravel

Or on their website, www.mommyneedstotravel.com