An Open Heart
On 1 October 2024, I was deployed to Nguèr, a small village of 300 inhabitants in the commune of Médina Sabakh in the department of Nioro du rip in the Kaolack region. I remember being scared when the deputy mayor drove my cluster and me to our respective villages. As we were in the car heading back to my village, I turned my head to Alex (an exchange volunteer from Uganda) and told him in English that I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue and that I wanted to go back home. With a smile on his face, he reassured me that he understood exactly what I was feeling as he had already been through this stage and had felt the same way the first time he had served in his country before coming to serve for a second year in Senegal. Still heading towards my village, he held my hand and motivated me by saying “I know you will do it! You are afraid and it’s ok cause it’s the first time for you but you will call me later to tell me that you feel good on your site…you are Fatou, I know you are a brave girl”. Those words gave me a boost and I told myself that he was right and that I could do it.
Once in my village, I was surprised by the warm welcome I received from the locals. They were all seated in the main square when the deputy mayor parked his car – I wasn’t expecting that! After the usual introductions, the village chief, who is also my host father, took the floor not only to welcome me but also to ask his community to be kind to me and to work together to ensure that my mission ran smoothly. The words of the village chief were very reassuring, as he insisted that I had left my family, friends, and comforts behind to come and live with them and that every member of the community should treat me like a daughter, sister, or aunt to facilitate my integration and my mission.
My Immersion Period
The very next day, I went on a community walk with the youngest daughter of my host dad to see the resources available in the village. After walking through the entire village, I realized the challenges that existed in this community. There was no electricity in the houses, no health center, no market, no primary schools, no shop, let alone a food shop. I was astonished and wondered how there might have been only fields, a mosque, and a single classroom to teach Arabic. On the third and fourth days, I went door-to-door to every house in the village to introduce myself, chat with them, and vaguely explain my mission, while insisting on the importance of their presence at the upcoming meetings. It was a very pleasant moment, because the families were receptive and interested in what I was telling them, and I could see in their eyes that they were ready to collaborate. To better understand the history of the village and the difficulties faced by the community, but also to facilitate my integration, I took part in all the community activities, the main ones being rural activities followed by happy and religious events.
These activities also enabled me to carry out several actions during my two months of immersion to facilitate the development of the Nguèr community.
Action 1: Community Meetings
During these 2 months of integration (1st October – 1st December), I facilitated twenty-one meetings with members of the community, including a meeting to present CorpsAfrica and my mission as a Volunteer. Then, 19 meetings with focus groups to facilitate exchanges during the meetings and freedom of expression for everyone.
In fact, in our African cultures, when an older person gives a point of view or an idea on a subject or a situation and this point of view or this idea has flaws, out of politeness and respect the younger people prefer to keep quiet even if they had a better idea. What’s more, in rural areas, women don’t often have the right to speak, so to avoid this from the very first meeting, the community was divided into four different groups (ladies, mums, young men, and old men) to gather suggestions and ideas from everyone.
Action 2: The Ghost Children’s Plea to the Judge in Nioro du Rip
During our conversations with members of the community, several parents asked me about the fact that their children did not have birth certificates. After asking several questions at the meetings to find out the real cause of this problem, I made an appointment to go to the Médina Sabakh town hall to find out what steps to take to get these children their birth certificates. When I got back from the town hall, I counted twenty-four ghost children and seven parents who didn’t have birth certificates either. After putting together the files with the officials at Médina Sabakh town hall, we managed to get an appointment with the judge in Nioro through his secretary, Mrs Sy.
Action 3: Raising Awareness About Breast and Cervical Cancer, Home Births, and Family Planning
Nguèr has no health post, let alone a health center, so home births are very common in the area. To remedy this situation, I felt that the women in my community needed to be made aware of this and other issues affecting women in general. To do this, I contacted a midwife by the name of Mariama Touré, who works in a neighboring health post 4 km away so that she could come and raise awareness among the women in my village. The awareness-raising went very well and twenty-two women turned up.
For me, this awareness-raising meeting was one of my best meetings, not to say my best meeting from the start of my integration to the moment I wrote this article. Why? Quite simply because at the end of the meeting I was filled with a sense of pride. Yes, I was proud of myself, and even prouder of these brave ladies who listened attentively asked the midwife lots of questions and, at the end of the meeting, promised to apply all the advice given.
Do you think I’m a feminist? I’d say yes! But I’m not a man-hating feminist. I just like to see women shine.
To sum up, my two months of immersion were rich in discovery, teaching, and learning. I overcame challenges and obstacles that I thought I couldn’t overcome just four months ago. In just two months, I’m growing both personally and professionally. At the end of the day, I’m wondering who will come out of this experience the real winner, the community or me, because I have the impression that I’m getting more than I’m giving. There are still eight months to go in this community and my greatest wish is to see it shine and stand on its own two feet in many respects.