Through this blog, follow the trip to Senegal of the 11th class.
The 11th class left to set up the "JOKKO" space, a multipurpose room for education, training and sharing.
Marius and Gaëlle are the accompanying teachers of this social course.
April 5, 2023 - We are already at the last day of the social course!
In the morning we finish the mural on the kindergarten and the balms before we start packing.
Just before noon, we gather with the children of the school to sing some songs together to say goodbye in music.
The director Cheikh is very touched by this fresco that he finds magnificent.
It is with a twinge of sadness that we leave them...
Our taste buds enjoy one last time the flavors of the Senegalese cuisine with a delicious tieboudien.
Big tidying up and remarkable cleaning of the place by the students who were very assiduous in their task.
A goodbye to the forest for some before a great picnic prepared by Geneviève. Bissap and ginger juice and monkey bread (Baobab) on the table; what good flavors.
At the end of the meal, all the students gather to sing an original song created with their words to the rhythm of Chalouper by Gaël Faye, a melody that Geneviève likes a lot.
The text of the song below!
She likes to share and talk
Being in her bubble, in her world
Dear Geneviève everyone
remembers your name well
She is tolerant and kind,
Empathetic and understanding,
Let's not forget your little Djibril
There is sunshine in your suitcase
Sometimes she misses the Ragusa
Yes, she is a fan of chocolate
In the morning she opens the bank
And brings back the tapalapa
She is always thirsty for adventure
She is smiling and loving
Philosophic even in hard times
And successful internship for sure
Refrain :
Not missed, not missed x2
Not missed x3
She has all the values of a Saint Genevieve, you who are Protestant
Calvinist but well of the Vosges
You are resistant and fighting
Everywhere she has knowledge
The birds around her coo
Gather the group with ease
You talk a lot and that's cool
Her smile and her voice in the evening
Enchant us but before 8pm
She is a morning person no doubt
And often in a very good mood
Thank you for the welcome and the joy
The organization, the meals
Seydou, Abdou, Petit papa
And of course Mister Camara
Refrain :
Not missed, not missed x2
Not missed x3
Thanks to Cheikh the director
Mariam and her coconut fritters
Aliou the driver with a big heart
Alassan, with his discreet garden
Thank you Mohamed, the dye
Gaëlle and Marius for the love (oh the ego!)
For all these songs in nature
It was not missed not missed missed
Refrain :
Not missed, not missed x2
Not missed x3
Thank you Léna with a big heart
Thank you Saphina all smiling
Thank you Lulu the confidant ear
Thank you Noa for your beautiful voice
Thank you Morgan always the banana
Thank you Mathieu social engine
Thank you Mathis very committed
Thank you Gustave always positive
Thank you Samuel our great Sage
Thank you the forest the birds
Thank you the city of Keur Massar
We will meet again soon
Ok guys x2
Ok guys x3
Not missed, not missed x2
Not missed x3
We finish this training course in beauty, we kiss Geneviève and we go up in the bus direction the airport. The plane leaves on time and in spite of a small fright when a student announces us that she forgot her passport in the plane, we find it and we get ready to take off from Casablanca.
We are very happy, proud and fulfilled with this course. The commitment of the students, their openness to others and their group cohesion were exemplary from beginning to end.
We think of this sentence seen on the island of Ngor:
"To live is to learn to love".
Thank you life!!!
Gaëlle and Marius
Saturday, April 1. Get up early even on days off.
We take the bus and we meet Mohamed and his family to finish the dyeing of our scarves started yesterday afternoon.
The process: repeated soaking of the cotton scarf in ochre colored vegetable dye; for darker tones soaking in a black clay solution.
To darken the ochre tone into a yellow-green tone, soaking the scarf in a wood ash solution. We made batik and pattern prints, all scarves are unique and the result is amazing.
The morning ended with an exchange with Baifal musicians and a moment of magical music.
We then took a pirogue ride to learn about the history of the pink lake which is 20 minutes away from the traditional hospital.
Some Senegalese high school students met last Thursday and joined the students' activities.
Many smiles and beautiful moments of sharing...
Morgan, Mathieu and Noa
Friday, March 31. This morning, after breakfast, we split the class into two groups.
The first group painted the tires around the kindergarten in white (base) and then in colors while the second group picked, then prepared the solar maceration of desert date palm, vernonia, ipomea, boscia, isopoea, etc...
After lunch, we discussed together the questions we could ask to the students of a Senegalese high school that we will meet on Thursday. We also refined our ideas for a mural on the wall of the kindergarten.
In the afternoon, we did soccer, volleyball and frisbee, drawing and singing with the students. Around 5pm, we played Djembé with Petit Papa. At 7pm, Morgan and Mathieu prepared chicken with mashed potatoes, carrots and potatoes for dinner. A real delight!
Noa, Morgan, Matthieu
Thursday, March 30. We are already less than a week away from our departure from Senegal. Our busy days and the fraternal atmosphere that reigns between the members of our group as well as during our various exchanges with the Senegalese we meet seem to have accelerated the time.
Let's go back to today, Thursday March 30th. This morning after breakfast, we divided into two groups. While some of us are busy with Mrs. Vandemeulebroecke making balms with multiple virtues from the plants previously collected in the center's garden, the others are busy continuing the fresco we started on the wall of the kindergarten.
We end our respective activities at the time of our usual bowl. Once we are full, we welcome a class of high school students from the 1st literary class with whom we will spend the next three hours. We started our meeting with group games all together in a big circle and with some songs. Then, we were able to exchange around different themes thanks to the questions that we had given each other beforehand. We told each other about our typical days, our wishes and dreams, our religious ideas and our families. We left while dancing to the sound of Little Daddy's djembe. After our new high school friends left, we continued playing the djembe with Little Daddy. The day ended with a musical improvisation among the plants in the garden while eating a delicious watermelon.
Mathis, Gustave, Samuel
Tuesday, March 28wake up at 7:30 am !
Lena, Mathieu and Gaëlle will run to start the day.
Then after breakfast, everyone takes his or her brush and heads for the kindergarten.
We draw all the colors, the children are with us and the morning passes very quickly!
At noon, Mr. Kamara and his children cooked us a delicious meal: rice with chicken and vegetables. Yummy!
Then, after having found a corner of shade, a moment of reading.
At 3pm the children join us and look forward to playing games!
Students do Frisbee, circus, theater workshops and ball games with the school children.
The director of the school, Cheikh, even joins us to embellish the paintings. He is very happy to see so many colors in front of the kindergarten. Our dear Geneviève also contributes to this nice moment of work.
Each tire is uniquely colored and all the students from Steiner School and Keur Massar add their personal touch.
We end with a very interesting exchange with Abdou, our chief painter, and Geneviève about cultural differences.
We look forward to seeing the kids tomorrow for new activities!
Gaëlle and Marius
This morning, Monday March 27, After breakfast, we split the class into two groups.
The first group painted the tires around the kindergarten in white (base) and then in colors while the second group picked, then prepared the solar maceration of desert date palm, Vernonia, Ipomea, Boscia, Isopéa, etc...
After lunch, we discussed together the questions we could ask to the students of a Senegalese high school that we will meet on Thursday. We also refined our ideas for a mural on the wall of the kindergarten.
In the afternoon, we did soccer, volleyball and frisbee, drawing and singing with the students. Around 5pm, we did Djembe with Little Daddy.
At 7pm, Morgan and Mathieu prepared chicken with carrot and potato puree for dinner. A real treat!
Mathieu, Noa, Morgan
Sunday, March 26, 2023
After a very busy and sometimes tiring week of work, but which did not seem long to us, here we are already on Sunday. For once, we don't wake up at 7am, but rather around 9am.
After a quick breakfast, we took the road to the Virage district in Dakar. Once there, we met Olivier and the surf instructors, one of them being the vice-champion of Africa. It's with them that we were introduced to the basics of wave riding, which we successfully applied during the next hour.
We then went to Olivier and Claire's house where we were invited to share a barbecue, songs and their pool. Once full and refreshed, we walked to a mosque located two streets away. The imam welcomed us warmly and took the time between two prayers to answer our questions. After returning to the traditional hospital, our place of residence during this training course, we ate, then as usual, continued to discuss in the common space and each one left to go to bed gradually, closing this great day filled with laughter, sharing and beautiful meetings.
This Friday, March 24th wake up at 7amLena is waiting outside for our morning jogging, at sunrise... the other runners preferred to extend their night a little this morning. We then went to the medicinal plants gathering in the traditional hospital. Samuel, our wise man, guided us in the jungle garden to the mango trees, nepnep (Acacia nilotica), filao, niaouli, neem, moringa, but also herbaceous plants like Vernonia, friend of Lenalianas like momordica, ipomea, wild passionflower.
We cleaned all the plants with great care before putting them in the oil in solarization for a few days. We will make balms with 1000 virtues in the course of the next week.
In the afternoon, we organized activities with the children of the hospital's school, in CM1 class, 39 students aged 10 to 12 years. The students animated workshops around songs (Noa and Gaëlle's workshop), theater (Lena, Lulu and Saphina's workshop) and outdoor games (Gustave, Mathis, Mathieu, Samuel and Morgane's workshop): a success for each group; all the children were delighted... and us too!
Ludivine and Lena made themselves pretty African braids... then, Geneviève made an extra contribution on the island of Gorée, where we shall go tomorrow to visit the places. We are looking forward to it!
Morgan supervised us for the cooking of the pasta, AL DENTE: spaghetti with vegetables.
While we are writing the blog, the students are playing "werewolf" in the Yoro-Ba box.
We think well of you all! The course is going well...
Marius and Gaëlle
Today, Wednesday March 22We wake up with the song of the muezzin for some or the melody of the hornbills (a bird with a big beak) for others...
While one small group goes for an early morning jog, another prepares breakfast. After eating, we gather and head out with the school principal to tour the various classes.
In each class, we sang for and with the students. Many of them remembered "tombaï tombaï", a song they had already sung with the students who came the previous year.
We ate rice with fish and vegetables, a typical local dish accompanied by a tamarind sauce: the Tiéboudienne, recognized by UNESCO!
For some students, we went for an inhalation to remove toxins from the body! It cleared our sinuses!
We did the first layers of paint on the tables for the new lab. After a short break, we exchanged on Islam with Geneviève for philosophical theme.
We ate overcooked pasta (cooked by Mathis, Samuel and Gustave) with a good watermelon for dessert!
The 11th
Here we are!
On Tuesday, we landed around 3am in Dakar. There, Geneviève was waiting for us despite the late hour, we then loaded all the suitcases on the roof of the bus which was waiting for us and on the way to Keur Massar. And then straight to sleep.
After waking up late, we all ate "the bowl", discovered the surroundings and the program, then in the afternoon we painted furniture all in blue for the laboratory.
In the evening we went for a walk in Keur Massar which is very colorful and animated, then we ate a good meal prepared by Ludivine, Saphina and Lena-Blanche.
See you soon!
The Filao room (Ludivine, Lena-Blanche, Saphina)
