Crossing Cultures program in Senegal, West Africa

Intercultural Dimensions, Inc. announces its next Crossing Cultures Senegal program.

Intercultural Dimensions, Inc. (a 501(c)(3) educational organization) offers a unique and stimulating travel and educational program focused on the French-speaking Republic of Senegal, West Africa. The program dates for the 2013 Crossing Cultures Senegal program are January 5 to January 21. It will be ID's 22nd program to Senegal.

Led by two former U.S. Peace Corps volunteers, this well-established cultural immersion program appeals to people in and out of academia. It works well for those who want to experience family life and community projects in rural areas of this diverse nation and for those with special interests in dance and music training, teaching, literature, environment, medicine, government, NGOs, agriculture, language and health projects. Past participants have said this is a life-changing program.

The Crossing Cultures Senegal group (three leaders and three to five participants) is small allowing the leaders to tailor activities to the participants' interests.

Reasonable cost. Extended stays for volunteer work or field study can be facilitated. This program is an eye-opener. For some it can be a stepping stone to their future; for others it can be an enrichment of the work they are already doing. Applications are being accepted now.

Please visit ID's website for more information and to apply to participate in the next program:
Please click here:www.interculturaldimensions.org
John Hand and Janet Ghattas

 Janet with a women's cooperative

Peace Corps volunteers in Senegal sponsoring Girls' Camps-Will you Help?

Recently, we met a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal who is doing some excellent work helping people at a major hospital in Dakar and at a high school in a suburb of Dakar to establish and build gardens adjacent to the institutional buildings. There are some images of those gardens in our recent posts. Since our return home, he has written to us about another project that he and other Peace Corps volunteers are undertaking, camps for girls. He writes:

"Peace Corps volunteers in Senegal have started to develop annual, week long girls' camps in different regions. The camps range in age groups, but generally are designed to give females a safe, open space to discuss crucial gender issues (that they might not be able to elsewhere), learn about the environment, health-related issues, the importance of education, etc, and, of course, to have fun. This year the Dakar region is hosting the second annual girls' camp the first week in October. A number of volunteers in the Dakar region are participating, using our combined knowledge of Health/Environment Education, Small Enterprise development, and Agriculture. I'll be helping out with a few of the environmental sessions, basically helping spread the work about moringa and showing the usefulness of bottles and such as alternative containers. We're all set to go, save for a bit of fund raising."

So, Janet and I contributed a few bucks and we are hoping that some of our Breaking Away blog readers might wish to do the same. If you wish to view the girls' camp project on the Peace Corps site and consider making a donation, which is tax deductible, please visit:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=685-178
 
Excerpt from the PC website:
"...Our main objective with this camp is to help these young women see the importance of school and how it benefits both themselves and their family lives; in short, creating the perfect work/life balance...."

And for more information and updates, please let us know. John and Janet

Therapeutic art and gardening at a hospital in Dakar

We visited a therapeutic art workshop and two gardens at Fann Hospital in Dakar. The patients are enthusiastic about these additions to their medical treatment.