Success!

In Senegal, going to school is difficult for girls. Only 29.2% of Senegalese women over the age of fifteen can read or write, due in large part to a lack of support or money at home. Many girls want an education but, instead, are forced into early marriages, or live in households where their parents cannot afford to pay for all of the children to attend school—and sons are always given priority. Being exposed to this blatant gender inequality and the negative effects it is having on the development of Senegal has motivated me to dedicate my Peace Corps service to providing Senegalese girls with the support they need to continue their education and make a better life for themselves, their families, and all Senegalese people.

During the last school year, I worked with three local middle schools to offer the SeneGAD (Senegal Gender and Development Organization) Michelle Sylvester Scholarship. I interviewed thirty-six scholarship candidates and went through the grueling process of trying to pick the one girl from each school with the most financial need. After meeting all of the girls, seeing where they lived, and getting to know them a little better, I realized they were all in need of a scholarship. Unfortunately, SeneGAD was unable to do outside fundraising at that time and all money for the scholarship was generated from fundraisers done within the current Peace Corps Senegal Volunteer community (made up of people, such as myself, that make about $12 a day). This being said, forty-three Senegalese middle schools applied for the scholarship and when it came time to distribute the money, SeneGAD only had enough to sponsor 35 girls. Luckily, many of the volunteers, myself included, have very supportive friends and family in the U.S. and we were able to raise the additional money (even though our former boss forbade outside funding because it “isn’t sustainable,” even at the expense of not providing some of the girls with the scholarships we had promised were available) necessary to provide every winner with a scholarship.

As of late, Peace Corps Senegal has a new Country Director, SeneGAD is now allowed to accept outside funding for the M.S. scholarship and our other activities and events, and I am the new Scholarship Coordinator. This said, the tide has changed and I am excited to spend my second year in Senegal working on youth and gender development projects that will contribute to the future and development of Senegal.

Just this past Saturday, some fellow volunteers and I organized a leadership conference for the scholarship candidates in and around Tamba. We arranged for the very inspirational Training Coordinator at our training center in Thies, who happens to be a Tamba region native, to come and lead the day long conference. She spoke about her early life in Tamba, how she overcame sexual harassment at school, evaded an early and forced marriage, and made the difficult but correct choices that led her to getting a university education, and a husband that supports her desire to work outside the home. Each of the thirty-five participants was encouraged to speak about controversial and rarely spoken about issues such as sexual harassment, sexuality, and early marriages, and to share their dreams for the future. Overall, the girls seemed to have a great time and the event was a huge success.

As the Scholarship Coordinator, I am hoping to encourage other volunteers to host the same kind of conferences and continue involvement in the lives of all the scholarship candidates. I’m also focused on working with even more middle schools across Senegal, to provide more girls with scholarships, and to support more girls in achieving their goals. At SeneGAD we believe to empower a girl is to empower a village. With some encouragement, I believe many of these scholarship candidates will one day become leaders in their communities and I am dedicated to ensuring that they get the support they need and deserve.


Interested in Making a Donation?
Please contact me or leave a message on this blog with your email address and I will contact you! A donation of $50 will sponsor a girl to attend school for a year. Anything you can donate would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you are a member of a service club or organization looking to make contributions, please consider SeneGAD. The girls and I really appreciate your support!

Strikes, Strikes, Strikes

It is sometimes frustrating to see a problem and know you are helpless to fix it. This is how I feel about the current state of education in Senegal. Not only are the facilities and materials seriously lacking, but the students know it and are continuously striking. In theory, striking is a good idea. If the government is not acknowledging your needs and at least trying to meet them, striking to protest their negligence would make sense. However, when you are striking every year with the same grievances and have not seen any improvements, it may be time to try other tactics.

In Tamba, the school year “starts” in October and ends in June. Not surprisingly, the students were on strike last week when I got home from my vacation. I had some stuff I needed to accomplish at the schools this week, so I kept my fingers crossed that the kids would be back in school by Monday, Tuesday, or some day soon. It wasn’t until yesterday, while the students were still on strike, that one of the teachers informed my friend that the strike would be until JANUARY—like every other year. Well, this news blew my mind.

All day, I was upset thinking about what the teacher had said. When I finally arrived home, I sat down with my teenage siblings and their friends to ask the questions I’d been thinking of all day. Unfortunately, they confirmed that indeed the strike would probably be until January and is pretty much an annual occurrence. The conversation went a little something like this:

Them- We don’t have enough teachers or materials, and there are no toilets or electricity.
Me- If you strike for the same reasons every year, do you see any results from all the time you spend striking and out of school?
Them- No. There have been no improvements.
Me- Ok. Well there needs to be improvements, but if the strikes aren’t working, isn’t it better to at least be in school? Isn’t there another way you can try to get the attention of the government?
Them- We need to strike, we need materials for school.
Me- The strikes aren’t working. You need to try something new. I came here to help Senegalese people develop Senegal. Education is very important for development. If you are the future of Senegal and you are not in school for half the school year, you can’t develop Senegal. You need to be in school.
Them- Shrug.
Me- Repeat of last comment over and over again.
Them- We need more materials.

This is a problem I can’t fix. I can come and encourage kids to go to school with leadership conferences, mentoring, and scholarships; but when I leave, what will it have done if the government isn’t providing the education children here need and deserve?

At least, now my 18yr old sister can come to the girls’ leadership conference I’m hosting tomorrow… since she doesn’t have school and all. Maybe if she gets the education she deserves, one day she’ll grow up and have a chance to do everything she dreams about.

Rightttt

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this yet, but I have the absolute cutest siblings EVER. My two year old brother Papa and five year old brother Souleyman are my boys. We play every day (partly because they are the only ones I can beat at soccer), and they are with me almost the entire time I’m home. Naturally, I’ve given them nicknames since we spend so much time together. Once they step into my room it’s nothing but Papichullo and Souleymizzle. At first they didn’t get it, but now, I occasionally hear my mom or the other kids calling them the same.

Well, the other day Souleyman was looking at one of my books and I slipped and called him Souleyman. You better believe he corrected me and said, “It’s SouleyMIZZZLE.” Apparently, he doesn’t mess around…

Better Reallyyyy Late than Never? Sorry!

Just a little preface: I’ve had this entry in my computer for FOREVER. Here is a little bit about Ramadan. I’m sorry it took me forever to post. Enjoy!

My sincerest apologies for being such a poor blogger! I really appreciate that people are interested in what I’m doing over here, unfortunately it is difficult sometimes to find the time to write. I’m currently in the process of wrapping up some work I’ve been doing, assisting with the training of new Volunteers (in Thies), and trying to finish up my graduate school applications; and all before I get home for vacation next Wednesday! I’m going to be away from Tamba and my work there for almost a month and want to make sure I haven’t left anything undone. Add into the mix that most of the Senegalese people I’m working with are fasting for Ramadan, as am I on occasion, and you can understand the kind of stress I’m experiencing.

But as promised, I’d like to give you a taste of life during Ramadan for a seasoned Peace Corps Volunteer such as myself. In Senegal, and throughout the world, Muslims fast from sun up to sun down for the holy month of Ramadan, and the Senegalese celebrate Korite, a grand feast, on the last night of the month. This entails waking at around 6am to eat a large breakfast, praying seven times during the day, and abstaining from food or water until 7:10pm, when the sun goes down and everyone drinks kinkileba, mint tea, and juices, and eats dates and a big dinner. Due to the extreme heat, and the lack of water intake, this leaves most Senegalese Muslims, and occasionally me, exhausted and resting most of the day, every day, for the entire month.

As you can imagine, most Senegalese people still need to work in order to provide for their families, so by around noon the majority of people are pretty testy. For this reason, it is recommended that whether or not you are fasting—something that your host family will surely try to guilt/nag you into—you do not eat or drink in public. In addition, my experiences in Senegal have shown that most everyone will ask if you are fasting, why you aren’t fasting, or complain about how tired and hungry they are; feelings I can understand when they haven’t had anything to eat or drink all day.

Conversely, it seems that fasting in Senegal, which in Orthodox Christianity is a sacrifice you make and keep between you and God, is not viewed as such a private practice for the Senegalese Muslims I have encountered. People talk about whether or not other people are fasting, inherently judging them, and complain about the hunger and fatigue they are experiencing due to the independent choice they have made to fast. This environment makes working quite difficult.

I think fasting is great, and these observations clearly do not speak to the behavior of ALL Senegalese Muslims, or Muslims in general, but this is the first time I’ve ever encountered such a unique practice. I joined my host family in fasting for the beginning of Ramadan and to say it was tough is an understatement. It is definitely a challenge and sacrifice that I have a great deal of respect for. On occasion there are people who go to extremes, like fasting while they are pregnant and/or breast feeding, which I do not agree with, but for the most part it is a really special time in Senegal. I just thought these musings would give you an idea of what my life has been like for the past three weeks. Whether or not some people have been especially nasty to me during the past month, there are also people that invite me to join them in breaking the fast. All in all, I am still thankful to be getting this experience and a greater understanding of the Islamic faith.



Anyway, I’m back from my vacation in the States! It was great to see everyone. I’m working on a post for this week. I’m a better blogger starting TODAY.