II. Towards Saint-Louis

         II. Vers Saint-Louis 

The culture shock when you first enter a new country is very real. Clichéd though it may be to say, it really is like a different world. But eventually you get used to the differences, and (having suitably acclimatised) you turn your mind towards what you’ll be up to. For my part, on Monday, I went to see the school attached to the Centre des Arts et Cultures Africains.

Centre des Jeunes Filles de Darou Nahim de Louga

Located on the outskirts of the town of Louga, the school is a charming place. 60 students take classes in cooking, sewing and woodwork - among other things. However, the school is designed to accommodate up to 250 students but only a quarter of that number can be admitted due to a lack of available funding. The activities of the school will be covered in more detail in a later instalment.

The next day (Tuesday), the real work began. Rising early in the morning, we made the 50 mile drive to the former colonial city of Saint Louis, capital of Senegal until 1957. Situated close to the northern border with Mauritania and next to the Atlantic Ocean, it’s a lively place (with some truly chaotic traffic) and it will be my temporary new home until Sunday. Today, though, we were there for the ‘closing ceremony’ of the Réussir au Sénégal project, held in the conference centre of a local hotel. 

Conference centre hosting the Closing Ceremony of the Réussir au Sénégal project

The Réussir au Sénégal project was started in 2017 with funding from the GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur International Zusammenarbeit) This project provided around 4 billion CFA in funding to small charities, organisations and businesses in order to help young people gain professional training and expand their access to entrepreneurship. The Centre des Arts et Cultures Africains, through its role in providing technical training to disadvantaged and sometimes vulnerable young women, has been one of the beneficiaries. In all, the project has reached around 85,000 young people across three northern provinces of Senegal (Louga, Saint Louis and Matam) during its lifetime. 

Now, however, funding for the project is wrapping up and a group of close to 100 beneficiaries, administrators and partners, as well as the Governor of the Saint Louis region, The Honorable Al Hassan Sall, came together to celebrate the achievements it has brought. We heard testimony from the directors and secretaries of important projects, all of whom have created something different and something special in the realm of helping young people access the tools and training that they need to make a secure living in trying circumstances. As well as a heartfelt speech from Marème Thiam where she explained how the funding from GIZ had helped her build up the aforementioned school in difficult financial circumstances, we also heard from some of the beneficiaries themselves. It was moving to hear how even small sums of money - especially by the standards of developed nations - had made such enormous differences to the lives and livelihoods of people. 

Afterwards followed a leisurely lunch by the river which divides the two main areas of the city, where I had the chance to try Thieboudienne, a dish with fish and rice that is native to Saint Louis and considered a staple of Senegalese cuisine.

View of the river of Saint-Louis

The day was rounded off with a frenetic journey towards the apartment where I’ll be staying and a well-deserved rest. 

Tomorrow work begins on the project relating to the creation of the website. Stay tuned…