A Few Shots From Our 24th Intercultural Dimensions Program In Senegal, January, 2017

 Néné, Khadija, Sali at Diedhioucounda

 We visited the Peace Corps office in Dakar.

 On the road to Tamba

 Adjusting his Kora

The wonderful bread of Sedhiou

Intercultural Dimensions 2015 in Senegal -- Dakar area

A half dozen or so years ago, our late friend Bill Griff gave the financial support needed to begin a school garden at the Lycée Thiaroye outside of Dakar. The then principal Abdou Salam Deme was enthusiastic about the possibilities of a garden especially as there was a significant amount of land available for this use and the students and faculty were equally enthusiastic. As the garden grew, support was forthcoming from a European organization and the municipality, so a pump and a water basin were installed as well as drip irrigation. The garden has flourished with technical assistance provided by the Peace Corps.

At the Lycée Thiaroye school garden the Principal, Mr. Kao Diaby explains the importance of the co-curricular educational benefits of the garden as well the economic and health aspects of the project

The Lycée Thiaroye Garden Club with Peace Corps members and ID
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Ben Diogaye Beye noted journalist, cineast met with the ID team to discuss his work and that of Ousmane Sembene with whom he collaborated.

Brunch in Southern Morocco

Once upon a time, two Peace Corps volunteers took a trip through the anti-Atlas mountains. On the third day they found themselves very hungry having not eaten since the day before. As they left the mountains and began to cross a broad valley toward the city of Taroudant, they spied a shack by the road with a Coca Cola sign. As they approached the shack, a car speeding along from the opposite direction stopped. Six men in the car descended, greeted the volunteers and insisted on presenting them with a meal of chicken, bread and dates. This delicious, generous gift they shared with two fellows who were just hanging out there. Alas, they had no Coca Cola to go with it.

Garden at the Thiaroye Lycée

This beautiful, productive garden at the high school in Thiaroye, Senegal, was empty space behind the school, when my late, close friend Bill Griff decided to collaborate with the former principal of the school, Abdou Salam Deme to create a school garden.  Now, a couple of years later, with the hard work of the students and staff and the support of the municipality, the new school principal El Hadji Sao and Peace Corps Volunteers David Vaughn and Danny White, the garden is flourishing and greatly productive.

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

Various places our Intercultural Dimensions program visited in Senegal

 APROFES Theater group in Kaolack

 Garden in Kolda assisted by a Peace Corps Volunteer (on left).

 Janet at the market in Kolda before visiting the village of Temento Samba

 Dancing at Temento Samba

 The Chief, Samba Mballo gave us his home during our visit.

 Solar power for this home in Temento

 pounding couscous at Temento

 preparing dinner at Temento Samba

 Fields adjoining the village

 Pape, who coached successful men's and women's soccor teams now turns to basketball.

Vocalist who sings with the balafonist at Sedhiou

 M. Mané, master balafonist at Sediou

 Fatou Diemé at Diedhioucounda

 El Hadji Abdoulaye Biaye giving us a lesson about the Region of Sedhiou

 Garden at Diedhioucounda

 We took a pirogue ride on the Casamance River to the Ile du Diable. (They say, it's best not to step onto the land).

 Computer room at the "Fort" in Sedhiou. (I hope it's being used by the people in Sedhiou.)

 Dinner at Diedhioucounda

 Cakes were baked for us in the solar oven at Diedhioucounda

 Tea in the afternoon at Diedhioucounda

 The Kankouran marches about in Sedhiou in front of our compound.

 Some of the women of Diedhioucounda

 On the road east of Kolda-maybe some work should be done here instead of building the new airport!

 We always enjoy visiting the artists' retreat, Sobo Badé at Toubab Dialaw.

 On the road outside Dakar

In the market at Kolda