Happy Holidays from Senegal: How you can help!

This year has been full of new encounters, from beautiful traditions to heart-breaking social conventions. I am still sorting out right from wrong, a process that becomes increasingly complicated as my understanding of and respect for Senegalese culture deepens.

As I have mentioned to many of you before, the area of development I have become most passionate about is gender equality. In preparing for the Peace Corps, I braced myself for extreme heat, weird food, and isolation. All centered on myself. I had no idea that the most difficult part would be witnessing the overwhelming inequality faced by women and girls in rural Senegal. As a foreigner working for an aid organization, I am in some ways spared from this treatment, but it is frustrating and painful to watch my sisters and friends treated with disrespect and often violence. Most girls in my village get married at 14 and start having children right away without the opportunity to continue their education.

Behavior change is an extremely difficult and slow process, but it has to start somewhere. I am impressed by Peace Corps Senegal's Girl's Empowerment Camps and this year have decided to organize the Father-Daughter Leadership Conference in my region.

We will invite 28 middle-school girls and their fathers to participate in sessions on goal-setting and action plans for the future, reproductive health and nutrition, and the dangers of early marriage and childbirth. For many of these girls, it will be the first time they have left their village and meeting other motivated girls from around the region will build confidence and encourage continued education.

We need to raise about $3000 to put on this conference, and are counting on donations from friends and family at home to make it possible!

Please follow this link to donate: https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=14-685-009


Here are some recent photos of what I've been up to:

At the Tambacounda Marathon for Girl's Education with Peace Corps Country Director Chris Hedricks and US Ambassador to Senegal Lewis Lukens

Hanging out with my brother Dahaba and our cousins Dahaba Keeba (Old Dahaba) and Housseinou

Awarding scholarships to driven students at the school in my village

Again, here is the link to donate to the Father-Daughter Leadership Conference:  https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=14-685-009

THANK YOU AND MERRY CHRISTMAS ! :)

Sanity Check

Hello my dear friends and family,

It is hard to believe I have now been in country for over 6 months! So much has happened, good and bad. I've started writing down the best and worst moments of each day to keep me sane, or keep me insane, we will see... Here are my entries from last week:

Date	Best of the Day	Worst of the Day
3/19	Seriously moved by the progress of the Women’s Garden	Cold dry millet for dinner every night is testing my gag reflex
3/20	New friend and roommate Ender the kitten	Only 10% success rate for latrine $ collection – can be difficult and awk culturally
3/21	Breathtaking hot red sunset against the silhouette of an enormous baobab Lying on mats with my entire fam under the glowing canopy of stars feels like a big sleepover every night	It is so hot that I can no longer enjoy the taste of food My little brother defaced the journal that Dillon gave me and I wanted to cry, but I didn’t want to tell my parents because they might beat him
3/22	My boss Djitte visited my site, was impressed with my projects, and had relevant suggestions for improvement	Massive dust storms + 115 degree weather + no real showers for 70km = hard to imagine ever feeling clean again
3/23	Started working on a food security grant through Obama’s Feed the Future initiative and excited about the potential	The Imam’s wife died today and there is a heavy sadness about the village
3/24	Enjoyed Carl Sagan’s book The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God	I’m pretty sure this is the temperature of Hell
3/25	Mango season is here! And it is so sweet	Sleep struggles: night sweats in an inescapable sauna

Right now I am preparing for my region's Girl's Leadership Camp and I am so excited! 30 middle-school aged girls along with their fathers are coming from villages all over the region for this 4 day women's empowerment camp. We have a panel of working women from the region discussing having a career as a woman in Senegal, along with sessions on sexual health, the importance of education, and fathers working as champions for their daughters. I am in charge of arts & crafts and photo documentation, and will write a blog post on the event when it's complete!

In the Women's Garden

Tambacounda, the hottest place on earth.

PC Senegal's Gender and Development Board!

Last month I was elected to the board of Peace Corps Senegal's Gender and Development organization SeneGAD. I am really stoked to be involved with this critical organization! Our mission is to empower Senegalese women, men and youth to effectively integrate gender equality into their daily lives, with the support of Peace Corps Volunteers.

Gene Sperling, one the the President's top economic advisors said, “educating girls is the most important investment in the world [because of] how much they give back to their families”. So far in my service I have found that statement wildly accurate and I long to drive positive change for these women and girls who give so much to their communities.

As Communications Coordinator, I help manage our facebook, blog, twitter, and write press releases and news articles about our organization.

Here is my most recent interview with my friend Connor on the self-defense classes he is starting!

PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER STARTS GYM NEGECEE

Peace Corps Senegal Volunteer Connor LaClair starts local and sustainable gym with self-defense classes for girls and boys.

Amy, Asu, Safi, and Sorhna – the first class of Gym Negecee!

An Interview with Connor LaClair

Tell me about the exercise program you are implementing in your village:

I founded Gym Negecee (Bambara for ‘Ironman Gym’) in late January. I built a simple gym structure in the backyard of my hut out of posts and double-thick rice sacks filled with peanut shells. I have a strong background in workout/self-defense methods, and I am currently teaching three self-defense classes for an hour each week to eight girls and four boys aged 9-12.

What kind of classes do you hold?

When I introduced the idea of a gym program to my community there was massive initial interest and the potential for incredible demands on my time. I made it clear I would only accept up to four classes of four students each, and planned to set a number of demanding credentials for the small number of students I wanted to teach. With the aid of teachers at the French school and adults from throughout the community, I chose twelve students who were not only very interested in the program, but also had good reputations as mature, responsible, studious, and committed young men and women. After working with them for almost a month now, I can say that those are the students I received.

I teach proper technique and self defense methods to my students, but Gym Negecee is more than just a gym. I do all my lessons in French, and lecture my students every lesson about morals, mental and physical health, working hard, and living their dreams.

What was your inspiration to start Gym Negecee?

Gym Negecee is a team, and I tell my students to stand up for not only themselves but for each other. The guiding philosophy of my Gym is a well-known quote from Spiderman; ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’

Why is it important to include women in your classes?

In my village, and in all of Senegal, there are not many options for girls to be part of a team, and to train and exercise in an environment that has traditionally been the domain of males only. At Gym Negecee, everyone is equal, and Negemusoow (Ironwomen) get just as much attention and opportunity as Negeceew (Ironmen). I hope that my program allows all my students to not only better envision their dreams, but to build their confidence and believe in themselves and their capabilities.

Where do you see this project going in the future?

I am taking the time to build a strong foundation for my Gym so that it may continue when I complete my service, and next year I envision expanding the program to a few more classes each week.

Anyway, at the very least I showed my community that they can easily build an entire gym out of materials that are readily available in just about any Senegalese community. Where there is a will, there is a way!

Connor is a Sustainable Agriculture Volunteer in Botou, Tambacounda,  and originally from Hyde Park, VT.

Please continue to email your SeneGAD updates and stories to your communication coordinators Lauren and Lisa at thomas.lauren.nicole@gmail.com and lisajbacon@gmail.com

If you want to help me out, LIKE our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/SeneGAD/379567262087810?fref=ts 

and check out our blog senegad.wordpress.com for more info :)

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Work Projects

Hey Ya'll! I'm back at the training center for a month of intensive trainings and workshops. I just finished 3 long days of Peer Support Counselor training. I am excited to be a resource for my friends and will be available 24/7 to talk on the phone about common Peace Corps issues like culture, environment, and relationship stress.

Tomorrow I will attend the Senegal Gender and Development (SeneGAD) conference. This program is the one I am most passionate about and excited to get involved with. We work on gender equality issues in Senegal and empowering women and girls to continue their education. It is a critical issue here in Senegal while gender inequality is widespread. Some of our programs include scholarships to help low-income girls continue past middle school, and Girls Camps and Men as Partners camps for fathers and daughters to open discussion on empowering sustainable change in gender perspectives.

Following SeneGAD we have our All-Volunteer conference with sessions on project successes and failures to be shared between the 250+ awesome volunteers here in Senegal. Next comes the West African International Softball Tournament (WAIST), where I will be playing on a team with my region against other Peace Corps Volunteers, embassy workers, teachers, and ex-pats from all around West Africa! Then I have two weeks of hands on Ag training, which will hopefully prepare me a little more for my projects. And finally my wonderful parents Scott and Kristin will be arriving! A very busy but productive month.

Me carrying water on my head for the first time! Heavy.

Some of you have been asking for more info on the projects that I am working on. So far, learning Mandinka has really been my biggest project, but after two months in village here are my projects and plans!:

Koupentoum Moringa Formation: In January we held a two-day long seminar for about 40 Senegalese in our area. We had discussions on the amazing health benefits of the tree Moringa Oleifera and went over how to package and sell the powder as well as connecting the farmers with a buyer. It was a big success and we hope to continue this training in other areas.

Moringa Training

Maleme Niani Malaria Day: Also in January we held a Malaria info and bug-net washing and repair tutorial in my village.

Adam on Malaria Day

USAID/Pepam Latrine Project: Partnering with USAID, the volunteer before me successfully built 30 millenium development goal approved sanitary latrines in my village. 75 families have signed up for the second round in Maleme Niani. I will work with USAID and the masons and families in my village and this project will probably continue for at least my first year.

Tamba Radio Show: I recorded a radio show on malaria (completely in Mandinka) with a couple other volunteers. I am excited to use this outlet to spread information and hope to participate in about one radio show per month.

Maleme Women's Garden: The previous volunteer in my village secured a hectare of space for a women's garden and got grant funding for a chain-link fence around it. I will work with my Eux-et-Foret (forest service) to clear the space for the women. We are discussing the women producing vegetables to sell to supplement their incomes and also working with fruit trees and Moringa intensive beds in the space.

Environmental After-School Club: I have been attending my village's environmental club and plan on helping the teacher Mr. C with demonstrations.

Observetoire EVDS: I will sit on the board of this USAID program aiming to keep at risk students in school as the assistante sociale.


It is starting to get hot again after the brief "cool" season. So much has happened in the last 4 months, and it is starting to get a little less daunting that I will be here for 23 more! I miss all of you wonderful people back home! Lots of Love, lolo