The search for a better future

Saturday, November 30th

Blog entry by: Jerrell Oates (McCrorey YMCA, Youth Services Coordinator)

As a wonderful journey in Senegal is winding down, I find myself having flash backs of my 1^st time on the plane, imagining what it would be like in Africa; and as I reflect in these  last moments with my teammates and new family of Senegal one thing is evident, my vision was real!  Senegal was a place of love, free spirited people, and a search for better opportunities.

The search for a better future is very evident in the city of Dakar.  The efforts being made to educate themselves and to provide and take care of their family is also at an all-time high, which made me very proud to be apart of the Senegalese culture.  Knowing that getting a good education is important for these families, and considering education as a top priority meant the world to me.  I had a student at a YMCA say to me with a strong accent “why don’t you know any other languages?”  I then said to her “in my country, it is required for us to learn Spanish in school, but any other foreign language is optional to learn.”  I then proceeded to tell her that I was very proud of her and that I would do better with brushing up on my French.  After speaking with this student, I started to think.  I thought about the communities and families of these students, and wondered how they are able to fund and provide for there families.

Having an occupation, trade, or skill is very important to have in Senegal.  In my opinion Compromising and Negotiating is the ultimate skill to possess.  There are a variety of skills and occupations that you see on regular bases that use these tactics. Just to name a few, you see hundreds of fruit markets. These fruit markets contain the greenest watermelon, with a fleshy red interior. (If you didn’t know, the Watermelon is thought to have originated in southern Africa, where it is found growing in the wild). 

Another occupation that is very popular in Senegal is Taxi Driving.  Majority of the cars that you see on the road in Dakar are Taxi’s.  You occasionally spot vehicles with the same purpose, such as buses, and vans.  I must say ….the vans are the most intriguing to me.  The back door of the van is always open, even when moving, and there is always a ladder attached to the back of each van which a person is usually riding on searching for customers.  There are even times when the worker on the ladder gets off to see if anyone needs assistance in the streets when the van proceeds to take off without him, leaving him with the only option to run and catch up with the van and hop on… dangerous right? Well I must say that they make it look easy. 

The most popular occupation in Senegal is the Markets.  The concept of a market is any structure that allows buyers and sellers to exchange any type of goods, services or information.  Market participants consist of all the buyers and sellers of a good, who influence its price.  The influence of a price, trade or good would be considered as compromising or negotiating.  If you are thinking about shopping in Senegal, Compromising and Negotiating is a good set of skills that you might want to obtain.  Being a tourist from another country and experiencing the market for the first time can be very overwhelming, and for me it was just that. 

Understanding the currency was also a difficult situation, and to be completely honest, I still don’t completely understand,  but thank God for Jack, Max, and Poppa Joe, our three main Tour Guide’s/Trip Leaders who helped us negotiate prices and get good deals.  The owners of the shop would lure you in by saying “hello my brother or hello my sister, wont you come take a look in my shop, you don’t have to buy just look”.  There communication and customer service skills are amazing.  Although there prices seem high and we eventually negotiate a lower price, you gain a greater understanding for the culture and a greater respect for the people.  I had to step back and process my emotions on how everything operates because everything was happening so fast, but one thing I took from this whole experience is that everything I bought was worth it.  I realized that compromising and negotiating is just apart of their everyday life.  They build everything from scratch, the creativity is like no other, the labor is unbearable, working non stop in 90 degree weather with a limited supply off tools and materials, and they all do it with the same goal in mind…. Support their families to ensure a better future for them.  

As I stated to my team members a number of times we were blessed with the opportunity to be able to represent the YMCA of Greater Charlotte, we are blessed to be able to live out the YMCA Mission, which is to put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirits, mind and body for all.  We are forever grateful for the experience Dakar provided us.

God I am thankful for every opportunity that you allow me to be a blessing to someone else, please continue to keep your loving arms around all of your people and continue to humble our spirits so that we do not take life for granted.  Help us to take this experience from Senegal, Dakar and apply it into our communities, to spread the word and make sure that we are doing our part to make this world a better place.  In Jesus name I pray amen.

 

Created by: Jerrell “Aggie” Moussa Oates.

 

Enjoying the ocean on the final day

Listening is essential to learning

Friday November 29th

Blog entry by: Kathryn Brody (Harris Y Leaders Club, Sophomore at South Meck HS)

From the time we are little we start to learn basic communication skills, such as how to talk, read and write. We quickly realize that these skills will help us get what we want, when we want it. But when and how do we start to listen? No one really teaches us how or shows us, it is just something that is programmed in us, an instinct. 

Listening is essential to learning. It is how you share and gather information from others. Not only is listening absorbing information but also analyzing and finding deeper meaning to what is actually being said. Very often listening is confused with hearing, which would bring me to assume that the deaf are unable to listen. This week I was able to see first-handed that is not the case at the school of the deaf in the Petri YMCA. Even though the participants are limited on physically hearing the words that are being spoken they are able to deprive meaning from motions, which is in their own way listening.

On this trip I have done a lot of listening. There are so many stories to be heard and so many points of views being shared and it really gets you to think about things in ways you would not have before. As the saying goes, “we have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak,” and that expression has never rang truer than this week. We have all, as a group, done our best to absorb every detail from our meetings with the Senegalese YMCAs so that we are able to understand them and better share their stories later.

In all, this trip has gone by very quick! I cannot believe we are on the last couple days and this has been an amazing experience. We have made great relationships with our hosts and we could not have done so without the power of listening.

-Kathryn Brody

Could you survive without your local YMCA?

Thanksgiving Day, November 28th

Blog entry by: Megan Bushey (Harris Y Camp Counselor/Youth&Government, Senior at Charlotte Catholic HS)

Could you survive without your local YMCA? Would you just find another ' swim and gym'? Maybe if you lived in the U.S., but for the people in the village of Roff it's the YMCA that makes receiving aid possible.

The drive from Dakar was a long, and rather bumpy one. Earlier in the week our group had visited a slum in there and found a different type of poverty level that we had never experienced before. It still didn't prepare us for what we found in Roff. No electricity, no fresh or running water, and just the shade of the baobab trees to keep them and their reed huts cool. Agriculture is the main source of survival out here so when we visited the men were away tending the fields and livestock. Most of the women and children that greeted us did not have clean clothes or shoes.

Yet, with so much to want for they greeted us with a kind of hospitality that would put any southerner to shame. There wasn't a frown to be found for miles, and their smiles only grew wider when we revealed the gifts we had brought with us. Rice, soap, candy, water, clean shirts, and anti-malaria bed nets were the causes of their gratitude and joy. They even started singing about it.

It is villages and people like this that should inspire the YMCA to continue building healthy mind, body, and spirit for all. This is why we are not just 'swim and gyms', or childcare. We are educators, missionaries, and mentors. If you work the YMCA and care nothing for the welfare of your community then you are in the wrong occupation.

This week has opened me up to a whole other side of the YMCA that I never knew existed. The level of care and concern that the YMCAs of Senegal show for their communities is unparalleled, and they are able to do so much with so little. I hope that upon my return to the states that I can share my experience in such a way that we would be able to give more to these African YMCAs. 

Can I save the whole world? Absolutely not.  But I can share my experiences with my YMCA and inspire my community to help. Luckily in the United States our YMCAs receive enough funding so that they don't have to turn away new people, but the Senegal YMCAs do. Maybe our global service learning team will be the ones to change that. Besides, it only takes the moment of one pebble to change the course of an entire stream.

- Megan Bushey

Harris YMCA teen

The Door of No Return

Wednesday November 27
Blog entry by: Austin Neiheiser (Lake Norman YMCA, Sports Coordinator)

When we think of history we typically think of September 11, Independence Day, or even one of the World Wars. One might not associate Senegal with too much history but do not be mistaken! Today we had the pleasure to visit Goree Island and I found more than planned. It is in fact very rich in history and culture.

Austin, Jerrell & Deion with their new Senegalese friends at Goree Island.

Goree Island started off as a slave trade island that the Portuguese would use in order to keep slaves. They had a process and plan for every person brought to the island. The first step was to weigh each individual that came in. If they were a certain weight (about 130 lbs) they were sent into the next section to be sorted into rooms. If they did not meet that requirement, they were immediately sent into a room where they would be force fed until they were fattened up enough to make weight. They had rooms for infants, virgin women, all other women, and men. They also had what was the size of a cabinet under two stairways that was intended for people who misbehaved or violent. The last and worst room was intended for slaves that were so violent they were sent there to die. The reason they let them die off was in order to make an example out of them. At the back of the complex there is the door the slaves would exit to get on the boats called ‘The Door of No Return.’ This is because once they go through that door, they would never return! They said about 20 million slaves have made it to the island at one point but only 12 million would have lived through it.

Team at Goree island - viewing the rooms that held slaves before entering the Door of No Return.

 The culture on the island is just as interesting and eye opening! There are actually a few hundred people who live on the island to this day. It is a lower income area but they have no problem making do with that they have. It is a lot of selling of goods to tourist and people who visit the island and working in the shops.

Overall it was yet another fantastic and eye-opening day that I will never forget. The kinds of people and things you see are unforgettable and allows me to look at life in a whole new way. The history was very interesting and I loved learning and seeing how the island operates. I pray to be back sometime again!

Charlotte's Global Service Learning Team visiting Goree Island November 27th, 2013.

Merci!

Coach Austin

'My eyes have opened to see more of the world'

Tuesday November 26
Blog entry by: Deion Granger (Y Achievers Program, West Charlotte HS)

The YMCA Global Service Learning program is relevant to not only the YMCAs in America but it also holds an important porpose in the 100+ YMCAs located all throughout the world. The purpose of the global service learning program is to send young Y members to other countries to learn about the culture and learn about any problems that the countries are currently facing and to learn about their success to bring back knowledge to the united states to implement the knowledge learned to improve our communities and schools. 

Team hearing from National General Secretary Jean Bassene about the Senegal Y priorities and the Charlotte partnership.

This is the basic definition of the trip in which I believed, in until arriving in Senegal, but now just after two days my whole outlook on life changed I became more outspoken and have greatly improved on getting my feelings across even with a huge language barrier gap. My eyes have opened to see more of the world and able to understand the significance of events happening in other countries. To simply put what the first two days of this trip has showed me is that not only is everyone is a family in the YMCAs in America but we are all family in all of the YMCAs in the world -this is what global service learning is; a connection with all family around the world.

Conversation with Nico Gourdet (Y USA) talking about USA role in a global world.

-Deion Granger

West Charlottte HS Senior, Y Achievers Program

Knowledge is power

Monday, November 25th
Blog entry by: Raven Sutton (Morrison YMCA, Leaders Club, Junior at Ardrey Kell HS)

A lot of people underestimate the reading they do everyday and take it for granted. Those people also probably don't realize that somewhere- possibly very close to them -others are struggling to survive because they don't have this simple ability. As some dread going to school others realize that literacy is the key to success and making it out of poverty. 

Team learning about the importance of adult literacy

Luckily, my mother recognized the need for me to do well in school and always said "Knowledge is power" and this experience is making me see that she could not have been more correct. If someone is illiterate they can't read job ads, fill out job applications, or expand their minds with new information and that confines them to the same cycle of poverty.

Being able to read means always being able to communicate which will provide important connections to engage in the world. Here in the Senegal YMCAs the people thirst for knowledge. They are excited and grateful to go to school and be able to soak up all the information possible to make a way for themselves. 

Even in a place where a lot of families know at least 3 languages there are some who are illiterate in their own languages and don't know French or English so they don't get access to opportunity or other necessities like health care. "Illiteracy anywhere leads to poverty everywhere." -M. DeVaul. 

-Raven Sutton aka Rama (my Senegalese name)

Day 1: "We are One family, One YMCA"

Sunday November 24th

Blog entry by: Michael DeVaul (Sr. VP Organizational Advancement)

Lynn, Kathryn & Raven getting to know the local kids during today's city tour.

The team had a great first day.  We had a chance to tour the City of Dakar and see a few key monuments and historical places.  The team especially enjoyed walking into one of the neighborhoods and having a chance to interact with families. 


The team stopped for a visit in one of Dakar's local neighborhoods.

In the evening, we were officially welcomed by Joseph Coley and the Parcelles (teen/young adult) branch. In the words of Joseph "We are one family, One YMCA and we are blessed to share this partnership/collaboration with the YMCA of Greater Charlotte.

The team was grateful to have a welcome party hosted in its honor, where 100- 120 teens and young adults shared dance and singing from the Y Arts program. Every team member, jumped right in with no hesitation and fully embraced the dancing and singing extravaganza.

You could see each team member's personality coming to life. As you might remember, two years ago upon our visit, this was a dream of the Senegal YMCA to develop this program. Our challenge grant that we donated funds for in 2012 helped to purchase instruments and get this program started.

Y Arts Program focusing on young adults and their talent for singing/music at the Parcelles Y branch.

Our theme for the day was "what are we grateful for and what inspiration did we get from our arrival, first day". Lots to journal about last night!

- Michael DeVaul (trip leader)

YMCA of Greater Charlotte

VP Organizational Advancement

Officially arrived in Dakar

The team arriving to the Villa Rosa hotel in Dakar, Senegal. The week is about to get underway!

First in Flight!

The team all boarded and departing from Charlotte Douglas to Washington DC Dulles - everyone all smiles! For Deion Granger and Jerrell Oates (pictured seated together first row) this is their very FIRST flight experience. They look excited! And behind them Austin looks like he has on his napping goggles?
The flight to DC will be a warm up for the longer flight across the big pond to land in Dakar- the capital of the country of Senegal. Happy flying everyone!

2013 Global Service Learning Trip to West Africa

Today the YMCA of Greater Charlotte delegation is headed to Dakar, Senegal in West Africa where the group will visit and volunteer with the Senegal YMCA. Team members began their Global Service Learning experience this fall volunteering locally with the Y Readers program and have also committed to fundraising goals to suppor the project.

Team members include:

Kathryn Brody (Harris Y Leaders Club, Sophomore at South Meck HS)

Megan Bushey (Harris Y Camp Counselor/Youth&Government, Senior at Charlotte Catholic HS)

Deion Granger (Y Achievers, Senior at West Charlotte HS)

Raven Sutton (Morrison Y Leaders Club, Junior at Ardrey Kell HS)

Austin Neiheiser (Lake Norman Y staff, Sports Coordinator)

Jerrell Oates (McCrorey Y staff, Youth Services Coordinator)

Also traveling with the team are Michael DeVaul (Senior Vice President of Organizational Advancement) and Lynn Lomax (Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer). These senior staff members will help guide the continued strategic partnership and developments alongside Senegal's General Secretary Jean Bassene.

While in Senegal, team members will volunteer in the classrooms at the Senegal YMCA primary school, which currently serves 280 children ages 3-12. The YMCA of Greater Charlotte has helped to financially support the development and expansion of this school.

It's officially departure day Charlotte Douglas International Airport!