FALL 2017 - CIEE Dakar

Authored By:

Aminata Fall

Teranga Newsletter from Dakar, Senegal

ORIENTATION SESSION

After their arrival in Dakar, the students are welcomed at CIEE Study Center for their academic orientation. This is a great opportunity to meet the staff of CIEE, to exchange and to have an overview on the progress of their program. Then they will meet their cultural pal whom they will explore the beautiful places of the city with, get acquainted with the Senegalese culture before returning to their host families. Aiming to get them integrated to the Senegalese culture, students are invited to eat a senegalese dish gathered around the bowl in a friendly and warm atmosphere as it is done in most of Senegalese families. They are briefed on how to greet people, the manners to adopt within their host family, how to take buses to get home and or come at school.

City Tour

Students are not in Senegal only to learn about the culture, they are also in the country to explore the complex fabric of their host culture and learn from their experiences. This learning also comes through fun activities. During their tour, students meet with peers and Senegalese friends to play football while enjoying the sunset.  They also enjoy the experience of eating around the bowl and drinking attaya, the much celebrated Senegalese tea session.

Touring through Goree Island

CIEE students had the opportunity to visit Goree Island. This sacred place commemorates hardships and injustice suffered by enslaved Africans. Visit to this island allowed students to gain a better understanding of the history of millions of Africans forcibly who, over three centuries, were wrested from their homeland and taken to the Americas.

Following the program’s visit to the Slave House, one student stated: « At first, I was surprised and confused as to why I was weeping so much because this did not happen to me, and my ancestors were lucky enough to stay in Africa. But then later on, I realized that these were not just the ancestors of the Black Diaspora but also my (Africans) ancestors. »

Toubab Dialaw 

Field trip to Toubab Dialaw, a village about 40km away from Dakar. A unique experience to stroll through the village, eat a fish, visit the cultural center where a reputed dance school meets other disciplines: music, theater, painting, sculpture, architecture. A chance to discover amazing houses with delirious architecture.

Rural VISIT 

For their rural visits, students are placed in different villages around the country to experience life in rural areas compared to life in the city. Not only does this experience allow them to know more about Senegalese society and culture, it also helped them to improve their Wolof and to learn other local languages. Students choose the top 3 areas where they want to stay. Before departure, they receive directions and all the logistical support they need for the trip. Students are placed in different host families and discover a new life style such as farming, riding on horse-pulled carts, or experiencing life without electricity.  Even with this lack of infrastructures, students had a very positive experience of rural life and how caring, and welcoming people are.

A student said: « Being and living in community is a huge part of African culture. Everyone is considered family even if they are complete strangers.  Our village tour guide gave a tour of the village and everyone we met, he referred to them as family. Everyone lives together in unity. They all cook for each other and take care of each other.  Everyone welcomed my friend and I with open arms. In this village, they speak Serere and when we attempted to speak it with them, they automatically welcomed us as family. My rural visit host family decided to give me their family name since I already have a Senegalese first name from my host family in Dakar. My official Senegalese name is Khadija Diouf 

Celebration of Achoura (Tamxarit): A senegalese Feast

The Celebration of Achoura is a very important moment for the muslims. It stands as the end of the year in the muslim calendar. It is celebrated one month after Eid al-Adha(Tabaski). During this feast, people prepare a special senegalese dish called « Cere » and it is a great moment to ask for forgiveness to each other.The night, while celebrating, men disguised themselves in women and vice verca. Afterwards, they enter the houses of the neighbors where they sing, dance and in return receive money or rice from families. 

PUDC VISIT

Ngoudiane is a commune in Senegal and is 96 km away from Dakar and 26 km from the Department of Thies. As the program talks about the variety of subjects linked to the development field of a country, the students went for the class practicum and learnt about the Community Development Emergency Program. This program, elaborated by the President is part of the Emerging Senegal Plan with the technical support of the UNDP. It contributes in improving the access of the rural population to the social services through the implementation of socio – economics infrastructures. The rural areas deal with lack of water, electricity, transportation means, and hospitals. The global objective of this Program is to change the living conditions of the population and to tackle against social inequalities.

VISIT AT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

CIEE students met with the executive director Alioune Tine and the Executive assistant Director of Amnesty International in their office at Sacré cœur . Amnesty is an international organisation which is leading campaigns to fight against injustice in the world. So the students had the chance to learn more about their missions and their current activities. It was an interesting moment for the students.

The executive assistant adresses to the students.

District of Thiaroye  

The students went to a field mission on poverty, universal health coverage and family safety grants. These programs are part of the vision of the Senegalese President who intends to fight against the vulnerability and social exclusion of families but also offers the opportunity to less priviledged people to benefit from coverage of the disease risk. People with low incomes (rural areas and informal sectors) are affiliated to a health insurance scheme and receive the same care as persons affiliated to other social security schemes, through budget imputations and Health insurance institute. This was a great opportunity for the students to share with resource persons and know about their living conditions, how the grants are reducing the risks and shocks of poverty.

Going to the Stadium: Senegal versus South Africa

The Students were taken to the stadium Leopold Sedar Senghor to watch the soccer game. Senegal was playing against South Africa for the World Cup qualifier and became the third African country to qualify for the 2018 World Cup by defeating South Africa 2-0 in the first leg game. With the students, we went enjoying the ambiance of the stadium for the second leg game. And it was more like a celebration of our second qualification to the world cup. We finally won 2 by 1.

Final Saint louis and Lompoul Excursion

For the final excursion, the students had the chance to visit:
The historical place of Saint-Louis: One of the biggest city of Senegal and located in the northwest, Saint-Louis is 320km away from the capital city. This city is listed as UNESCO world heritage.
The bird’s national park of Djoudj: It is 60 km far from Saint-louis. With 365 bird species (nearly 3 million in the park), djoudj is the third biggest bird park in the World.
The desert of Lompoul and finally the Pink Lake at Keur massar. This excursion was a great opportunity for CIEE’s staff and the students to spend times together.

FINAL DINNER CIEE

CIEE held its end-of-semester dinner on Friday 13th at Olumpic club. It is a great occasion to give the french award for the staff and the students to spend good times together. The Language commitment (french award) was given to the winner.