Senegal 2018-19

While on exchange there are many ways in which we can give back to the community. Global Youth Service Day is an international event where young people from around the world participate in helping and improving their respective communities. For this year’s service day I have chosen to write a blog about my volunteer work at the SOS Enfants orphanage in Dakar. For the past several months, on Tuesday evenings, I have volunteered to teach English to the kids at the orphanage. The children are between the ages of 12 and 13 and I am happy to be able to teach them early so that by the time they are ready to graduate they will have proficient English skills. As a native English speaker I can expose them to how English is colloquially spoken and really help their conversation skills. They can learn English grammar in any book but I can give them an essential addition to their education. When I teach I like to get the children engaged by playing games or listening to songs rather than d...

During the last week of March, my female cohorts and I stayed with a traditional family in Thiès (pronounced like “chess”) which is one of Senegal’s larger cities located about an hour east of Dakar. Our house was a large compound which was home to four related families. Over the course of the week we had the opportunity to improve our Wolof as many of the family members did not speak either French or English. The first night we hung out in the “girls room” and met our sisters and aunts, some of which had babies. Afterwards we settled into our room that had only one large bed that the three of us shared. There was a very uncomfortable dent in the far right of the bed so we rotated each night as to who had to sleep in the dent. The three of us ate dinner separately with different families each night and then after dinner we reconvened with our program guide, Ibrahim, who took us on a walk around Thiès. Every morning we ate bread with mayonnaise and sometimes eggs, and washed them do...

Disclaimer (Explicit language): This is a personal editorial of my observations of the presidential elections in Senegal and do not reflect the official opinion of the United States. Sensitive political topics and issues will be discussed in this editorial but by no means do I intend for this discussion to be viewed as a criticism of Senegal, its people or its politics. I have very much enjoyed my time here, I do not feel unsafe, and I look forward to my last three months here. In the 2019 presidential elections occurring on February 24th, front runner Macky Sall, won his second term with 58% of the vote, beating the four other candidates: Idrissa Seck, Ousmane Sonko, Madickee Niang, and Issa Sall. Although he won a large majority of the vote, his ostensible popularity is likely due to undercover corruption. In 2017, the former mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall (no relation the president), was sentenced to 5 years in jail after being convicted of corruption and the embezzlement of $3....