Salut from Senegal

Currently, I am living and working in Fatick. It is a small town and has the neighborhood feeling like in Ellison Bay, where everyone knows all of your family members and can remember your most embarrassing moments. The only differences between my lives here and there are the heat and humidity from the afternoon sun, the main transportation is a donkey cart, and the streets are covered with sand and pigs scrounging for their lunch amongst the curbside trash.

After spending almost three months in Senegal, there are many things in the daily Senegalese life that I have gotten used to. No longer am I afraid to give directions in Wolof to my taxi driver nor am I surprised about the 10 chickens that are seated behind me on the bus, resting quietly until their owner grabs them by the wings and jumps off at the next village. Waiting for an hour or more after the planned time of meeting someone no longer gets on my nerves. “Inch allah” or “As God plans it,” is the easiest phrase to say, which hints at the fact that you will never show up on time, no matter how hard you try.

Yet, with the many facets of the Senegalese life that have been integrated into my daily actions, there are still many things that I see each day that bring tears to my eyes; people, places, and ways of life that are so hard for me to comprehend. No longer being the common tourist in Senegal, I have become a person on the inside who can truly see this way of life. My new host mother, Adam Mar Ndiaye, tells me that I have seen the “true life” of Senegal and it is up to me. In her words, “show others the reality we face each day.”

With the hardships, I have also seen the beauty in the Senegalese people and how they are always willing to give, no matter how little they have. I have witnessed these struggles and helping hands while working at my Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Femme Enfance Environment (FEE).

FEE is an organization that was created in 1990 in hopes to: protect the rights of women and children; promote the social and economic standings of women; and promote literacy and higher education for children of all ages. This organization also helps children who are in situations where they lack the basic necessities of food, shelter, and a proper education. I am working with two programs that FEE has created in the past 18 years for young women.

The first program is called “Centre d’Accueil d’Hebergement des Filles Scolaries de Fatick” (CADJF). With this program, FEE provides 30 young girls (between the ages of 13 – 18) with a place to live during the academic school year since they live in villages that are “out in the brush,” or their families suffer from financial problems. These children were each chosen by FEE to continue their studies in middle school and high school in Fatick.

Life as a young woman attending school is very difficult. My boss, Madame Diouf, detailed some of difficulties that they face each day at sunrise. The girls wake up at 5 am to start cleaning the house and getting the breakfast ready for the entire family. Then, the girls help their younger siblings shower and get ready for school. They are constantly working around the house until it is time for them to go to school; and then after a long day studying at school, they come back to continue cleaning the house while cooking the dinner. There is little time in the day for these girls to rest, let alone study.

Since 1997 through the program CADJF, FEE has been giving many young girls the opportunity to concentrate solely on their school work rather than household work. Not only are they helping young girls who are enrolled in school, but FEE is also giving a chance to many young girls who are not able to attend school. There are many cases of young girls in Senegal who either are maids or have to stay at their own homes to do all the household chores while their siblings attend school. FEE has created an after-work program called AEJT that provides literacy classes, computer classes, and fun activities for the girls to give them a break from their daily work.

In the past three weeks of working for FEE, I have been on the go starting new projects or classes each week. I started teaching a computer class at AEJT, and I now truly appreciate all the work that my teachers have done for me at Gibraltar. I never knew how exhausting teaching could be until I dove into my first class head first. With seven students – half of which are illiterate in French and have never touched a keyboard until now – it is always an adventure and a bit of a headache at times trying to explain the day’s work to the girls. But, it is also so rewarding at the end of the class when the girls thank me and give me high fives for everything that they have learned that day.

Not only have I worked locally here in Fatick, but I have also braved “the great outdoors” of Senegal that include heat, sand, dust, and did I mention the heat? Within two days, my colleagues and I distributed 200 mosquito nets to students living in rural villages. It was absolutely amazing to hear the chirps, excitement, and laughter of the children at the schools when they saw our truck pulling up with the new mosquito nets provided by World Education.

With all of the knowledge that the staff here at FEE has shared with me and the time they have invested by taking me under their wing, I feel like it is time for me to help them. At the CADJF, they lack a decent library and place for students to study to progress with their education. Their bookshelves in the library are bare. In most cases at the public schools in Senegal, four students have to crowd around one book in the classroom. Some children cannot even attend school, not because they live far away, but because their parents cannot afford to buy a notebook and pencils for them to write. Instead of just seeing the problem from a distance, I am stepping right in to help these girls get the proper reading materials and school supplies they need.

Currently, I have started my project called “Project Amossa,” which means “This is beautiful,” in Serére (the second language I am learning in Senegal). I am planning on putting on fundraising events during the summer, and hopefully throughout the fall months, in Door County to raise money for the girls of CADJF. Events and activities are still in the works as you read this, but I am working as hard as I can in my free time here in Fatick to give back to such a loving community. It has always been my dream to give the same opportunities that I had as a child to future generations, and I’m hoping that “Project Amossa” is my chance to see that dream come alive.