Our third week started out with a lecture on religion in Senegal. Then on Wednesday we traveled to the holy city of Touba where we toured the main Mosque of the Mouride brotherhood. The Mouride brotherhood is an Islamic Sufi order that was founded in 1883 in Senegal by…
On the 15th and 16th of May, we traveled to Dakar to visit Gorée Island and learn more about the impact of slavery both domestically, in Senegal, and in terms of the role that memorials like Gorée Island play for the African Diaspora and other inheritors of the colonial…
Part of SST is developing close relationships with the cohort of people who are encountering the unfamiliar with you. During Study we gather three times for an evening meal at David and Kendra’s home to affirm and celebrate that collective experience. In small groups, students are tasked with shopping…
Much of SST is about being present in a different context of everyday life. Grace is being present in the Neto household. Dominique is being present in the Diop household.
On Thursday and Friday we went to Saint. Louis. Saint-Louis is located at the mouth of the Senegal River a few short kilometers from Mauritania. It is the site of West Africa’s first French settlement and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. We stayed in the old town center located…
Students participated in a two day orientation over the weekend before meeting their families on Saturday evening. Orientation on Friday included some basic introductions to the Senegalese society and culture from Pastor François Bagne and Cécile Ndione and a visit to a local clinic where Dr. Adamson gave us…
Goshen SSTers arrived in Dakar around 8:00 p.m., made it out of the airport around 10:30, and were arranging mosquito nets in Thiès around midnight. They had been in route for some 32 hours but were lively and in good spirits. Karsten said he felt remarkably refreshed!…
The students final day in Senegal began with a Sunday service on the roof of Chez Goshen. We had a final Senegalese meal at the hotel and then traveled to Dakar. In Dakar we spent the afternoon on the beach at the most western point of the African continent. Around…
Our second day back from service started off with more student presentations, which lasted most of the morning. In the afternoon we discussed re-entry and ended our formal sessions with another story time. In the evening we went to the home of Christine (our local coordinator) and David Yanon. We…
Students were responsible for arranging their own transportation back to Thiès. They all did a fine job of it and began trickling back to our study term home in Thiès late Wednesday evening. By Thursday evening everyone had safely returned and were either resting at the hotel,…
