Growing bonds in Senegal

Québec Sans Frontières (QSF)Crossroaders based in Gapakh, Senegal this summer wrote this post when they returned to the village after a short break.


The second part of our placement started with the laughs and hollers of children running to meet us to welcome us home. We were greeted just as warmly by the rest of our families. Seeing their expressive smiles made us feel like they were just as glad to have us back as we were to be there. There’s no question about it; the bonds we’ve formed with our host families get stronger every day. The same applies to our host villages and the women at the community market garden.


Women working in Gapakh. Photo courtesy of Vanessa Mongeon.
 

The reality for the majority of Senegalese women in rural areas like our villages involves numerous children to care for in addition to all of the cooking and cleaning responsibilities – often without electricity, which makes even the simplest tasks more complicated. For our organic gardening project, it made sense to create a work schedule that could accommodate this reality. The women split up into different work groups so they can work on different days of the week. Once this system was in place the women approached their jobs with renewed motivation, working to the rhythms of their singing and dancing.  

Thanks to everyone's hard work we are beginning to see results. We're starting to see tomatoes, eggplant, watermelon, okra, and peppers begin to sprout. After some observation, we noticed that the plants grow better in shaded areas. To create more shaded areas, the women, along with our local partner the Association pour la promotion de la femme sénégalaise (APROFES), decided to go ahead with planting fruit trees. With this solution in place, our project is even more likely to succeed. The market garden is still just getting started, but already, little by little, we're seeing it grow into its potential. With only a few nights remaining in Senegal, we continue to find inspiration all around us including in the beautiful stars at night and with our unforgettable host families.  

Thank you to the QSF volunteers in the village of Gapakh for contributing this post: Jacinthe Fortier, Jeanne Gleeton, Vanessa Mongeon, Isabelle Paluck-Leblanc and Julie Trudel. Don't miss your opportunity to become a QSF volunteer, apply by September 5th!