On January 2nd, our group headed to the Waranka school again to spend the whole day with the kids. Activities ranged from friendship bracelets, to games, to dancing, to hair braiding. Some of the girls are excellent coiffeuses (hairdressers)! All the kids seemed to be extremely excited about the activities. I’m glad we could make the first day back after their break a fun one!
After playing with the kids all morning, we had lunch. During the break, the school directors completed a painted tree with all our names on it. We raised money for the school before coming to Senegal, and a large chunk went towards painting the school. We felt very honored to be able to leave a piece of our group with the school to commemorate the wonderful times we have experienced all together. After lunch, groups of people went to do glass painting with Ibrahima, one of the school’s directors. Katie, Tiana, and I had completed our paintings earlier in the week and were able to take them home with us.
After we said goodbye to Waranka, we headed over to the SIT site to hear a talk from Moussa Sène Absa, a famous Senegalese filmmaker, and to watch his film, Yoole. Yoole is about the treacherous journey many young Senegalese men make trying to cross the ocean to find a better life in places, like Spain, for instance. Many of these men die along the way. Absa said he was inspired to make the film after a boat with 10 Senegalese bodies was found along the shores of Barbados. When the bodies were found, many people in Barbados asked Absa why so many people were trying to leave Senegal. Realizing he did not really know the answer, he made this film in response to their question. Poverty and scarce resources prompt many young men to seek better pay abroad to support their families. However, the sea is treacherous and their boats (pirogues) are often not sturdy enough to sustain a long, taxing journey. The film highlighted the need many young people feel to risk their lives to help those at home.
Overall, it was a very long and tiring day, but a rewarding one! The trip has flown by so far, and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the trip brings! – Delaney
Senegal: Culture and Service 
Delaney, I definitely think you captured the fun spirit of the day! I really enjoyed getting to know all the kids, and I felt like I made many connections on this day of service. I also greatly enjoyed meeting Moussa. Who knew we would meet so many Senegalese celebrities during our time here?! He was very informative and I feel like I learned so much about the immigration situation in Senegal and the struggles many go through.
Hayley
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This was definitely the day at Waranka where I felt like I was able to connect with the kids the most. Since my French isn’t the most advanced, I found it kind of difficult to really have much of a conversation with any of them, but it became easier as we spent more time there. I was helping to make bracelets and it was interesting for me to see how we developed ways to communicate about the bracelets even though I was struggling with the language. -Rachel
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