Nanga def! Welcome, from ESF Team Sénégal 2010
We just returned from ESF’s third volunteer trip to Thiès, Senegal. This year’s team consisted of me (Lara Lechtenberg), University of Pennsylvania PhD student Bethany Weed, LaSalle University junior Victoria Garrick, and recent LaSalle University grad Leah Cunningham.
Previous trips have had more of a medical focus, but we tailor the Senegal experience to reflect our students’ interests, and Victoria, Leah, Bethany and I thought it best to help out in the two schools we have bonds with- local Thiès public middle and high school Cem Diemageuene and the national school for blind children, INEFJA (l’Institut National de l’Education et Formation des Jeunes Aveugles).
We had the time of our lives helping the kids learn and practice their English at these two schools, and with our supporters’ help, we were able to donate LOTS of supplies to each school- Play-Doh, noise-making puzzles & games and other sensory toys to INEFJA, and books & magazines in English and school supplies for Cem Diemageune. The school for the blind is bare bones in their facilities and supplies, yet the teachers and director are some of the most effective in the entire country- the oldest students who take the Bacc (roughly the French equivalent of the SAT and a high school exit-exam combined) regularly score higher than their sighted counterparts, and often highest in the country, proving their teachers’ intense dedication to their students. We’d love to partner with some blind organizations or schools in the US to help fundraise for some basic school supplies blind students need, especially a Braille printer and the special boards & styluses they use to make holes in notebook paper to create notes & do homework in Braille.
We also maintained the relationship we have with l’Hopital St. Jean de Dieu by visiting the doctors and nurses ESF has become friends with and donating basic medical supplies to help replenish the pharmacy. The rainy season hadn’t started yet, meaning the normally busy pediatric unit had yet to see its onslaught of malaria patients. We were able to visit the small group of kids who were there and give stickers, lollipops, and stuffed animals. We met with the director, Dr. Daveiga, who said that there is a national program to give hospitals and centers the drugs they need to treat malaria, but they never have enough antibiotics to treat the various infections and illnesses that come through their doors. Antibiotics are some the drugs that have had the biggest effect over the past century in extending our life expectancies in the developed world, but they are tough to get ahold of even in well-run hospitals like St. Jean. We’d like to collect various antibiotics for the hospital for our next visit.
Thanks for your support– merci, et jerejef!
