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Returning to Thiès It has been a busy and beautiful weekend. On Thursday, students began arriving around noon in Thiès. They organized their own transportation to get back. Despite an unexpected visit to a police station (talk to Birch and...
Ndangane is a rural village in the Fatick region of Senegal. The village resides on the Marigot de Djilor river. Access to water provides the natural landscape with lush green vegetation giving the desert vibrant color. The economy of Ndangane...
Brandon and Bree have been working at the Djarama Association. The mission of Djarama is to “build, through culture and education, a youth that is aware of its values and respectful of the environment.” Djarama Diallow is an agro-environmental intentional...
Jonah and Ryan will be heading into their senior years at GC this fall. We are both studying biochemistry and plan to go to medical school. For service we are working at a regional health clinic to gain medical experience....
In this post, Axel and Sam reflect on the diverse group of people that find their way into the Beer Sheba community. Axel and Sam have been serving at Beer-Sheba for four weeks. Americans Many of the Americans who come...
Samuel and Suzanna have been working with an organization called The Humanitarian Association, Friends of the School. This organization supports the public schools with after-school classes and a holiday recreation program. Samuel and Suzanna have been teaching English in the...
Anna and Gabe have been working with an organization called Centre de Formation Yoonu Njub (The Way of Righteous Training Center). The training center includes a trade school for girls who dropped out of school, a clinic, and some additional...
My (Emma B) service assignment for the second six weeks of SST is at Vivre Ensemble – La Pouponnière de Mbour. La Pouponnière is an orphanage. The main purpose of the orphanage is to serve infants through three year olds....
For our service placement, we (Mira Yoder and Olivia Krall) have spent the past few weeks in a village called Fandène. Fandène is located just 7 kilometers east of Thiès. One thing that is unique about Fandène is that the...
In this post, Birch and Anna reflect on the meaning and practices of teranga in Senegalese culture. Teranga is sometimes translated into English as “good hospitality”. Americans think of hospitality as the efforts we make to help guests feel welcome....
In this post Emma B. and Gabe reflect on our week of music and the arts in Senegal. On Monday, June 6, our group met up with a griot and his drumming group. Griots were part of the traditional caste...
On June 6, our group stopped by Village Artisanal de Thiès, where local artisans make and sell their crafts. The village is in an older part of the city and is surrounded by large, beautiful trees. The village itself consists...
Suzanna My name is Suzanna Yoder, and I’m an upcoming senior, social work major. Coming into SST, I was hoping for a host family with many kids. Looking back, I’m thankful that my host family only has one child, as...
by Samuel Stoner-Eby and Sam Scheele In our fifth week, we visited two development projects to the southeast of Thiès . The Beer Sheba Project is a Christian agricultural education project. Ndem is a community NGO. Ndem has a variety...
On Friday night we celebrated our host families with a small program and party. Adama opened the meeting and translated when necessary. David gave a small thank you from Goshen College. The heart of the program was statements of gratitude...
In this post, Ryan and Olivia reflect on their experience with food in Senegal. Food and Culture Food and cooking are a central part of culture and over these last four weeks, our group has enjoyed cooking and eating local...
In this post, Emma Zehr and Caleb Gingerich reflect on their experience with language in Senegal. French and Colonialism My host family does not speak any English. I took a semester of elementary French prior to arriving in Senegal, a...
After two busy day trips, we spent Saturday in the village of Ngollar. Adama, our local coordinator, and his extended family invited us to visit their village to get a sense of rural life in Senegal. We knew that there...
Our third week focused on the religious context of Senegal, particularly on the role of Sufi Islam and the different brotherhoods. We had two lectures to start the week. On Monday we heard from Moïse Diémé, who spoke with us...
On Thursday and Friday of our second week of study we visited Saint-Louis. Saint-Louis is located at the mouth of the Senegal River a few kilometers from Mauritania. It is the site of West Africa’s first French settlement and is...
Breeana Wheeler is a biochemistry major and Brandon Jimenez is a peace, justice and conflict studies major. In this post they reflect on the tensions between tourism, being a tourists and remembering the history of the slave trade at this...
Language During our first week in Senegal we connected with host families and figured out the rhythms of study. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings consist of language study. Yacine Diatta teaches an hour of Wolof. Then students have an hour...
On the evening of May 6, a Friday night, fifteen Goshen College students flew into Blaise Diagne International Airport. The airport is 45 kilometers east of Dakar and some 25 kilometers from Thiès where the Goshen College Senegal program is...
In early April, the Yoder Lind family returned to Senegal. We came early to prepare for this summer’s Goshen College semester of global engagement in the land of Teranga –a Wolof word roughly translated as hospitality but with shades of...