Arrival in Senegal

After 3 flights, and more than 24 hours in airports and airplanes, we arrived in Dakar, Senegal on Tuesday evening.

My cohort of teachers from around the US all in Senegal!

Once we arrived, we got to our hotel, checked in, ate a fast dinner and all crashed.

Few things that are wonderful: 1. The temperature is like home: sunny with a breeze, as we are by the ocean. 2. The Senegalese people are SO nice, and enjoy teasing us. 3. They have great cappuccino- which of course makes me happy!

Today, Wednesday, was our first true day.

We started off with a seminar on the history of education here in Senegal. While Senegal is a relatively young country, it had many Colonial influences in their teachings and schoolings.

While the mission of their school system is to promote “rooted training” to allow for greater global problem solving, many see issues with this. First, students must learn in French, which is not a native or “rooted” language, and are not taught about local heroes or history in their classes. Secondly, schools are very over crowded and due to the increase in physical schools (they have built many new schools as oil and gold in the area has brought in money) in the last few years, students have been promoted when in the past they would not have been.

Most students know many more than the two main languages, French and Wolof. While French is learned to be written, Wolof is not. English is mandatory starting in middle school and in high school, along with French and English; students take another language as well.

Elementary school starts age 6. It has 6 grades, and many do not graduate until they are 13 or 14. Elementary school is set up so that in one year, such as first grade, you would learn all new information, the second year you would review and expand on that information. The third you would learn all new information, and in the 4th review and expand on that information, etc.

A student starts high school at approximately age 17. A high school is made up of 2 tracks- literature or science track. A student goes to school six days a week, and has as many as 10 different classes during that time.

If you pass your final exam, around age 22, you can then apply for college or trade schools. Only 30% will pass. By the start of high school, many girls have dropped out for economic reasons or to get married.

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After lunch we went to the ONLY teacher college in Senegal, to meet with a professor and members of their English Club. Each year, people apply to become teachers. If you get into the program, you can pick your subject area, but not your location to teach. You could be sent anywhere in Senegal to be a teacher, perhaps in a city or suburb, but the greatest need is in the rural areas. Last year 3300 teachers applied for 30 openings.

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Lastly, we went to a monument dedicated to the Renaissance in Africa. It is a 52m (170 ft) high statue on top of a large hill top, which can be seen (almost) all throughout Dakar. It is made of 200 tons of copper, which was brought over from and was built by North Korea. The artist was Senegalese. Inside are art pieces made to honor those who have fought injustice, and other pieces which depict the tribes still in Senegal today.

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Some random things I have learned so far driving through the city of Dakar:

1. There are no stop signs or red lights in Dakar… or at least I have not seen them.

2. Apparently, lane markings are more of a suggestion, not a rule, since most people seem to not even notice their existence.

3. Traffic is horrible, and somewhat scary.

4. Horse drawn carriages, small children, ATV’s, and the occasional Bentley’s all share the road with all the other 300,000 common taxi’s, cars and buses, all going at their own speed and direction. Oddly everyone is calm.

5. Senegal has its own speed at which they do things, much like what I learned about in Costa Rica. They have their own Senegalese time. Such as, if you say something will start at 9 am, no one including the person who organizes the event will be there until closer to 10 am. This has been fun with organizing taxis!

6. Women still carry items on their head, which is incredibly impressive!

I am exhausted, and need to get up in 6 hours... more to come later.