Posts tagged Senegal
Life is calling. How far will you go?
Maternal Health “Ah ha!” Moment - Peace Corps Service Leads to Career as a Midwife
In this video,Peace Corps Volunteer Caitlin Givens talks about her “Ah ha!” moment in the Sahel desert that led her to shift career paths and become a midwife. During nursing and midwifery school, she serves as a doula and helps women plan for labor and birth. She now draws from her Peace Corps experience to connect with and care for women from diverse backgrounds in the U.S.
“Access to clean water is a human right and a necessity for good health.” - Peace Corps Volunteer Nicholas Karr
Happy World Water Day!
In this photo, Peace Corps Volunteer Caitrin Martin and children from her Senegalese village celebrate the construction of a well to provide clean drinking water to their community.
(Source: peacecorps.gov)
Race to Benefit Senegalese Girls' Education
A West Michigan man says the empowerment of women in Senegal helps not only them, but benefits the environment as well.
Andrew Oberstadt became an ally to women in that West African nation when he helped organize Race for Education, a run that will raise money for girls’ education in Senegal’s Tambacounda region.
He and Geoff Burmiester, both of Holland, organized the event with fellow Peace Corps Volunteers.
Oberstadt didn’t intend to take up the cause when he first moved to Senegal via the Peace Corps in 2010. He was more focused on issues such as environmental protection.
What Oberstadt didn’t realize was how keeping women in school could positively affect the environment, he said.
If women earn degrees, they begin careers. When they begin careers, many postpone marriage and pregnancy. When they can plan and space their pregnancies, they have fewer children. Overpopulation — a major issue for the African continent — wreaks havoc on the environment, as the demand for resources increases.
“I am now convinced that women’s empowerment and family planning are some of the best causes we can support to make a positive change in the world,” Oberstadt said in an email.
Two Volunteers are helping communities across Senegal install 52 water pumps over the course of a year. In August, they began installing the “rope pumps,” which use a simple, appropriate technology that accelerates the process of pulling water out of wells. The pumps also relieve congestion around wells in local villages and give people access to more water.
(Source: peacecorps.gov)
Pulaar Proverbs (My Favorites) (via mikadoo)
Image description: A Peace Corps volunteer works with a local nurse in a hospital garden in Senegal. The garden provides vegetables to HIV/AIDS patients.
Learn more about volunteer opportunities in the Peace Corps.
Weekly Awesome Senegal, part V
Volunteers in the Tamba region of Senegal took the fight against malaria on the road, biking to nine villages with messages about preventing and treating malaria. Knowing that some volunteers bring a variety of surprising talents to country with them, they decided to make the project as inclusive as possible. A “tam-tam” drum, used to get everyone’s attention and bring the villagers to a centralized location, opened each event. The volunteers introduced malaria concepts with skits, then asked a community health worker to do a health talk about malaria and to answer questions from the villagers. Finally, the volunteers demonstrated how to make neem lotion, a natural mosquito repellent made from cheap, readily available ingredients and the leaves of the neem tree.
An undisputed giant of world music, Senegalese artist and humanitarian Youssou N’Dour has raised Senegal’s exuberant mbalax style to global stature. Introduced to American audiences on seminal albums such as Paul Simon’s Graceland and Peter Gabriel’s So, N’Dour continues to influence virtually every realm of the international music scene, riding high on tumbling African rhythms and stratospheric vocals.
Celebrate Peace Corps’ 50th Anniversary with Youssou N’Dour at The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 6:00 p.m., in the Concert Hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Tickets are required. Reserved seating tickets, two per person, will be distributed on the day of the performance, beginning at 4 p.m. in the Hall of Nations.
A Peace Corps Volunteer and local counterparts review a completed well project. Senegal - 2009
A Peace Corps Volunteer takes what he learned working on an urban garden at a hospital to help local families to develop their own sustainable food sources.
Senegal - 2007
