Senegal Study-Service Term
Though Goshen College has sent students to West African countries since 1993, the first Senegal Study-Service Term unit began in 2004. Senegal, located on the Atlantic Ocean, borders Mauritania to the north, Guinea to the south, Mali to the east and surrounds Gambia. Its capital, Dakar, is the westernmost point in Africa.
Study
Students live in the city of Thiès for the study portion of the semester. French classes are held four mornings a week, and an introduction to the Wolof language is also taught. During afternoons and weekends there are lectures and field trips to begin learning about Senegal’s history, religion, environment, social issues, the arts and other elements of Senegalese culture which will be experienced in various ways. Students use French and Wolof with their host families and as they travel around Thiès and the country.
Service
During the second half of SST, students head out to different locations in Senegal, where they serve in a local community and meet a new host family. Common service assignments include working at a health clinic or hospital, or assisting in a community development project. You may find yourself working in a deaf school in Dakar or supporting AESCAW, a women’s organization in Richard Toll.
Latest Blog Posts
They are on their way home!
The students all arrived safely in Thies from their service assignments on July 26. After a day of reconnecting with each other and their Thies families we boarded the bus for the final retreat at the beach. The weekend was delightful. Students presented their projects, talked a great deal, and…
Fatick and Beer Sheba
We continue to marvel at the greening of Senegal, an amazing transformation that has come with the rains. As we traveled to Fatick to visit Zach and Lukas, we saw fields that were producing crops throughout the countryside and trees that are sprouting leaves. Lukas and Zach are meeting patients…
Service Visits to the Poste de Sante Keru Yiiw; and Ndem
David, Julie and Tom traveled to the small town of Gorom and took a dirt road for about a kilometer to the nearby clinic where Morgan and Naomi are assisting the medical staff as they receive patients. They live with the women on the staff in dormitories on the campus. …