Senegal 2018-19

Art is everywhere in Dakar, from art vendors selling wooden sculptures on the side of the road to the ubiquitous graffiti/street art found randomly adorning city structures. I’m planning on doing my Capstone Project on street art in Dakar and will paint a mural at SABS for my final product. I want my subject matter to be representative of me and my experience in Senegal, but I haven’t decided the actual subject yet. Through the universal language of art (unlike math that I have found to be not so universal) I will be able to connect with my host community. Living in Senegal has offered me so many experiences, some less wonderful than others, and opportunities to connect with people and discover things I otherwise never would be able to. The needy children you see on TV commercials, I’ve met them here on the streets of Dakar. At times I’ve given them bags of peanuts, bottles of water, and sometimes even leftover crepes from home. However, I still miss home more and more with every p...

For our December monthly excursion the SeneGALS (including Devin) and I went on a three day trip to Kayar, a small coastal fishing village about an hour north of Dakar. We were accompanied by our chaperone, Ibrahim, who is the best, and always spoils us with snacks courtesy of American Councils. Our chauffeur dropped us at the village and we loaded our luggage and selves onto the back of two horse pulled wagons until we arrived at our respective houses in Kayar.     When I first met my host family they warmly greeted me and my host mom introduced me to the other family members as “her daughter”. She is the mother of five with the oldest being twenty and the youngest about two. For lunch they fed me salad made with locally caught sardines and vinaigrette. The main dish was mafé which is rice and lamb with a peanut sauce. I enjoyed the conversations with my parents and my uncle because we talked about Trump and how there is a growing perception that his new foreign poli...