Thursday, February 20

Our day started after breakfast with a study and discussion session, "How Do I Make Sense of the Poverty I see in Senegal?" at the hotel. As Americans with money to travel, this question is a difficult one not only here but in other developing nations. We shared feelings and observations; I shared that making personal connections however small which may in some way improve another's lot is one way to make some sense and how good I felt making the individual connection with the women in the village and having some meaningful interchanges about some health concerns of theirs.

We stayed at the hotel and representatives for three AJWS grantees COPI, CADP, and CASADES came to meet with us.

Each project had three or four people present, and we were told some had driven many hours to join us. The leaders of each project (all men) spoke and presented what their projects were doing and then after some of the others who were beneficiaries of the projects spoke about how these organizations had changed their lives.

Comité d'action pour le Développement de la zone de Palmier (CADP)

Community Peace Dialogues

Purpose: To strengthen peaceful coexistence among 23 conflict-affected villages by organizing ten inter-village meetings with a focus on managing local tensions, building trust and alliances to engage with local warring factions; to organize four workshops on conflict management for community leaders; and to support ten community gatherings for reading the Koran and skill-building in market gardening for women and young people.

Paul, the man from CADP discussed the work being done in many villages below the Senegal/Gambia border to build peace. By working with the rebels, people in the area have been allowed to vote. Villages have been brought together to work collaboratively to develop the region. The three areas being focused on are 1) social dialogue 2) direct communication with the rebels and 3) monitoring activities and assisting women in developing income generating activities, renovating schools, building bridges. A cross border committee (Senegal-The Gambia) was developed between the Senegalese in Senegal and the displaced Senegalese in The Gambia to improve communication, work on conflict resolution, and address gender issues. The combatants (rebels) have been brought together with the people affected by the conflict to hear about its direct impact and as a result are allowing more income generating activities to occur. For many years the people in this region could only cut tress, make charcoal, and harvest cannabis. Now the production of cannabis is decreasing, more children are returning to school (as teachers are more comfortable being in the schools), and community gardens are being developed. There is increased cross border traffic so displaced persons in The Gambia have more access to goods. This group also has a strong focus on protecting the environment, in particular working to protect the forest.

He named the successes of his group"

· Returned many displaced people to their home

· Increased the numbers of students who have been able to attend school, especially at the border

· Improved health services in the border region

· Promoted building confidence in youth

· Increased the combattants understanding of the organization's role in the region

Construire la Paix par le Développement Economique et Social (COPI)
Building Lasting Peace Through Community Organizing

Purpose: To contribute to lasting peace by establishing a space for consultation and dialogue between community members, organizing training in conflict mediation, and providing vocational skills and livelihood opportunities for at-risk youth and women.

COPI has been working in a region with warlords, 21 villages almost completely empty, and 20,000 villagers displaced to The Gambia. The region has land mines, and there have been 32 land mine accidents in the past two years. The organization has been working to bring communities together as well as religious leaders and priests to work on rebuilding the infrastructure. Women have been most affected by the conflict. Recently there has been an increase in rapes. There are many women raising children alone with large families living in single rooms. With the support of AJWS a Support Center has been developed. Work is being done to re-integrate displaced persons/refugees and combatants who have laid down their guns in the villages with a Reconciliation and Forgiveness Program. Workshops for women have resulted in the women becoming increasingly vocal and assuming community leadership positions.

A young man, Denbo Baye, spoke who is President of the COPI youth organization and told us that many youth had stopped going to school including him. COPI has developed a self-help group for dropouts and vocational training in the region and at the border. A process has been worked out to ease border crossing by allowing use of a single identity card from Senegal on both sides of the border. There are workshops addressing leadership and conflict management and efforts to target youth who are most prone to join the combatants and to promulgate roadside attacks. This young man is a rapper and has made a CD that addresses the political issues, and he also organizes concerts. At the end of the presentation, he sang to us his song about democracy.

Comité d'Appui et de Soutien au Développement Economique et Social en Casamance (CASADES)
Peacebuilding and Women's Leadership

Purpose: To set up two peace committees with key community leaders to mediate local conflicts in the rural villages of Médina El Hadji and Ouassadou; to reduce transborder disputes by mediating tensions between farmers and cattle herders and raising awareness on gun trafficking and free movement of people and goods; and to mobilize women to participate in local peacebuilding efforts through training in leadership and women's rights.

CASADES was formed in 2004 to work on reconciliation by promoting social diaglogue and working with border communities. The organization has developed capacity to work on conflict resolution and is also committed to protecting the forests and the environment. Some of the successes have been re-integration of displaced persons, more children returning to school, especially at the border, improved health services, increased confidence building for women and youth, and increases understanding by the combattants of their responsibilities in the region. They have created a School for Peace by uniting two schools of different ethnic groups and have created a new high schools for children of several different ethnic groups.

We heard from Senobu Sanai who was speaking on behalf of the displaced women. She addressed some of the problems with health care. With the conflict health facilities have not been available. Women have often needed to give birth outside. Pregnant women have limited, if any, access to physicians and cannot travel the great distances required. It has been unsafe for them to travel alone due to risk of attacks. Pregnant women with many children have been forced into the role of the head of the household. In her region, they have developed a local health center and worked with the combatants to convince them of its importance. Women are eager to learn skills to allow them to earn income. She stated she had learned to tie dye and made the material and outfit she was wearing. It was beautiful and we were all very impressed.

Our session with the visitors ended. We had all checked out earlier, so we boarded the bus which was already loaded with our luggage. On to lunch at Le Walkunda. The food was good and we had some nice alternatives to the fish and vegetables, like pizza and lovely fruit cups. I met Anne-Marie, the proprietor, who I believe was from Belgium. As I walked around the restaurant I was charmed by the art collection, paintings on the walls, wood carvings, and hand-made dolls. She told me everything in the restaurant was made by local artisans.

Next stop the airport in Ziguinchor for our flight back to Dakar. When we arrived, we collected our luggage and boarded the bus. I had this idea that I would be able to find the jacket I had lost when we left Dakar somewhere in this airport. While everyone patiently and nicely waited, Abdou and I went with a young man to check this out. Abdou apparently found the real airport lost and found while the young man and I went to the Senegal Airlines office. There was a nice men's suit hanging in the corner, the "lost and found" but no jacket. We then made our way through the airport as he asked various people for directions. We connected with Abdou at the Lost and Found which was adjacent to an office with police officers. Abdou told me the jacket was not there, but I sort of stuck my head inside the door and saw a small room with a big pile of stuff, a nice leather jacket on top of the pile. As I did this, a police officer emerged from his office and started yelling at me - apparently I could not look in the room without the police present. End of the story - no jacket. (no surprise to me)

The bus took us back to the Radisson Blu and we had a seamless and quick check-in. We had a free evening and some of wanted to go out for dinner. We regrouped a little later and decided to go to a local restaurant recommended by the hotel. Our bus and driver were to take us there. Well, the driver wasn't quite sure where we were going and we had a nice drive around the large nearby hospital, ended up driving through a field, and finally got to the restaurant, L'Endroit. This was truly a local place with a menu of African dishes from Senegal and several other countries. I ordered this spinach and lentil dish from the Cameroons which was not at all what I thought it would be, and I did not like it very much. Those who ordered the Yassa Poulet (chicken) really liked the dish as did I with the taste I got. After a while, a small band came in with some female singers. The band was playing music by Santana to start out with. We all had a really fun time, sat through a few numbers by the band and then back to the bus and to the hotel for a good night's sleep.