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

Intercultural Dimensions announces its next Crossing Cultures Senegal program

Crossing Cultures Senegal-January 2013

Intercultural Dimensions, Inc. (a 501(c)(3) educational organization) offers a 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 2 to January 18. It will be ID's 22^nd program to Senegal. Escape the cold and experience the real story of 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.

The Crossing Cultures Senegal group (three leaders and three participants) is small allowing the leaders to tailor activities to the participants' interests. Many professors, teachers and students of French have been past participants.

 

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. Start now and apply early. 

Deadline for applications is September 15, 2012.

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

Route 95 in Utah-One of the Best

If ever you get a chance to drive from Blanding to Hanksville, Utah, take the time to do so-it is one great drive. Not only is the scenery fabulous as viewed from your vehicle but along the way, there are a number of great short hikes where you will find beauty and fascinating ruins and relics of the past inhabitants.

                                  Here, we see the route 95 bridge across the Colorado River.

                                           Anasazi ruin in Butler Wash, an easy hike from Route 95

                                               Pottery shards in a canyon close to Route 95

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.

" Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?" Jack Kerouac

The price of gold

In my lifetime the value of this coin, about the size of a dime has risen from about $4 to about $350 today. Much of that astonishing increase has occurred in the past decade.

Looking Back...

Chief Rising Sun, entertained at my birthday party in 1944. He participated in my father's production of The Sun Dance at the Broadway Theater in New York City in April, 1938. This opera was co-composed by Zitkala-Sa and William Hanson. I still have a Ute drum used in the production of the opera. My father sang the role of Ohiya in the 1914 production at Brigham Young University.

Chief Rising Sun

I guess you could say that my birthday parties have been going downhill ever since. 

Utah-Arizona - a few favorite shots

 (above) Cottonwood Canyon Road, east of Bryce Canyon, Utah

 The Betatakin Ruin, Navajo National Monument, Arizona

 A view of Keet Seel, Navajo National Monument, AZ, a spectacular, well preserved Anasazi ruin and an interesting hike.

 Grinding stones at Keet Seel

 Lower Calf Creek Falls, a nice place to cool off and have a picnic in Escalante country

 Hell's Backbone, an exciting scenic drive in the Escalante region

 Desert Storm in central Utah

The Grand Gallery, Horseshoe Unit, Canyonlands National Park-a fantastic panel of pictographs and petroglyphs said one of the finest examples of "Anasazi" art so far discovered. The hike to this fairly remote location is fun and interesting.

Our Elected Federal Officials Are Violating The Constitution

Our federal government officials are sworn to uphold the Constitution and to work to protect the people. But their current actions and inaction violate the Constitution. The failure of the Government to take the normal steps to pay the obligations of the United States, previously approved by legislation, puts the country and the people in immediate jeopardy of severe losses and injuries. Millions of innocent people may suffer as a result of our elected officials' collective violations of their sworn duty. Before the U.S. suffers a possibly disabling reduction in it's credit standing, the President should assure the public and the financial community that America's debts will continue to be paid in full and on time. While it is true that we owe too much money, the answer does not lie in refusing to pay our just debts and carrying out the legislation which is already on the books. If our expenses are to be reduced that should be done through future legislation -- not by refusing to pay what we owe.

Location:Cambridge

Should Wade Have Another Go At The Presidency?

Driving east from Kolda is not much fun...

The Casamance is a sorry story of missed opportunity. Long ago, just after independence in the early 1960s there were experimental gardens and a lot of hope in this region. People were enthusiastic. A Chinese agricultural team near Sedhiou established a magnificent garden of fruit trees and vegetables; they also produced a great deal of rice in a local rice field using methods and tools available to the people of the area. The roads in the Casamance were not paved but they were in good shape and one could travel from Ziguinchor to Sedhiou to Kolda to Tambacounda at speeds around 100 km. an hour. Try that now! It isn't just the roads that have suffered in the Casamance. There is a paucity of development throughout the region. Five decades have been largely wasted in a region that might have become the breadbasket of Senegal.

Maybe it's the politics. If the region were truly developed, perhaps the southern part of Senegal - and some of its people - would gain in power at the expense of some in the north. Maybe that is not involved, I don't know. But it seems strange to me that a region with such potential has been so long and to such a degree neglected. It's a shame.

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

Urban Farming

Check out this interesting site concerning urban farming

Sabo Badé - Artists' Space

 Sculptures by Gérard Chenet at Toubab Dialaw, Senegal

 The buildings and their settings, conceived and executed by Chenet are themselves works of art

The Mandinka Kancouran in Sedhiou

Here we see the Kancouran who protects young men who are being initiated from evil spirits (among the Mandinka).

Location:Sabo Badé