Whilst in Senegal, I participated in an interview and discussed my views and how I felt about the issue in which we were faced. I tried my best to explain my perspective in French. Please bare with me…

This blog is about something I did in Senegal that I take great pride in having done, not only because it actually came together when I wasn’t sure it would, but because of how the impact outlasted my stay.
We were often told to not be naïve about how deeply we would impact the Dakar community. Afterall, 60 days is nothing to even realise where you are, let alone pose an action, and even less a durable one.

However, when I first ran a workshop teaching some 50 children about the Right to Food, an insuppressable good feeling of having felt like I did “something” slowly grew on me. In Dakar I ran two workshops in which 30-50 children listened as I did a little 20 minute spiel about the goals of ANORF (the African Network on the Right to Food). Right to food, Food Sovereignty, the importance of consuming locally, the benefits of family agriculture and rooftop gardens. Will they remember something of it other than some chick with a weird accent made them sit through class during their summer time? They most certainly… might!

You see, I didn’t just make them sit and listen. They were looking at comic strips depicting the concepts in a simplified way. bam. I spent the first half of this sub-project planning out how to convey abstract concepts liking buying Senegalese to promote the economy. With the help of Seydou Ndiaye of our host organisation and consulting around to see if the cultural references I was making made ANY sense (eg: The kids in panel 1.3 are playing traditional Senegalese wrestling, right? They are not fighting). I then drew them out. Knowing the value of a quiet room and a working crayon kind of came into play.

So while I was talking to the older children of the workshops (12 years old –ish) the younger could look at the comic drawings. And after, all could start colouring (the pictures were just lines)! And then they could take the material home to keep! Showing to whoever was at home and keeping for when they are older. Ok so it may be a bit of a stretch, but it may just be!

Overall it was a pleasure. I remember waking up the morning of the first workshop and thinking “Who am I to be doing this?” But it wasn’t just me. It was ANORF using the resource I offered. I love drawing. I love kids. So though I spent my time working, it was too awesome. All in all, it was just so opportunistically awesome that our forces came together. This is what I was sent to do / taken in MY direction, and serving both.

So even though now I have that famous picture all people who beg to be awesome have in their Facebook profile picture (the “I have been with cute little smiling African children” picture), I don’t feel ashamed. I feel like those kids in my picture will tomorrow be among those strong Senegalese who stand up for their rights and be tomorrow’s economic competitors -  by the sustained efforts of ANORF and other native centers’ and the Senegalese people’s own zeal for standing up for what they believe is right… movements upon which I had the honor to join if but for a snippet.

Click to view slideshow.
After this experience, its not a question of if I come back to Senegal… but a question of when. I thank Alternatives, RootED, Québec Sans Frontières, ANORF and my team of fellow interns for making it such an emancipating and unforgettable experience.

And now, several months into dreary studying and cold weather, I look back to the (sometimes overly) sunny days and it still brings a smile to my face and heart. But  my passing in Senegal has turned out to be a beginning : before I left, the Kid’s Section Coordinator of the  Cultural Center Blaise Senghor I was working with asked me for a contact with ANORF. I gave it quite easily, thinking “oh its nice to be able to give what  is actually wanted”, I thought the video of the workshop a more grueling give. What came of that contact however was a whole month’s worth of organized daily activities for kids during the last month of their summer holidays! And on top of that, it was themed “Right to Food”!  That just made me feel all that more involved! Not if, but a matter of when…

Whether it is taking pictures at a demonstration or recording a conversation, I fervently believe in the importance of documenting the people’s movements. I believe it not just because of my less than stellar memory, but because sharing stories brings about solidarity and solidarity brings about justice. So here is another Root.ED Radio podcast…of a vibrant elder in the Dakar community explaining why she believes urban agriculture and food sovereignty is important in establishing a healthy community.

Also..rest assured that Root.ED is still alive. As coordinator, I can attest to how eye-opening this iniative has been…and I am currently taking some time to strategize on how to make this initiative even more efficient and relevant to the needs of our communities. Root.ED ( like all initiaitves) needs to figure out how best to attain their set objectives and prior to that…check to see if there objectives corresponds to the needs of the people. that is where i am at right now..and I would love to hear from all of you with regards to thoughts, ideas, concerns etc..

stay focused y’all!

When I was working at Rogers Wireless, I looked forward to the days when I would have the time and leisure to do… nothing at all. Before my Internship in Senegal, my life in Montreal was very hectic; when I wasn’t working, I was in class or studying, or adding the finishing touches on a Living well with HIV booklet I was co-designing with a friend. Weekends were divided up between trainings for my Internship and quality time with friends, family and lover; My plate was always full.
When I left for Africa, I gave my resignation letter to Rogers Wireless, a company for which I was employed for 4 years. My last day of work was bittersweet; I was utterly happy that I would never have to deal with the bureaucratic bullshit, the blatant favoritism and mind numbing work, but I was also sad to let go of my co-workers, and of the safety net Rogers had always provided.
Coming back from Senegal; I promised myself I would find a job that meant something to me, and that would contribute to my future career, as well as my personal growth. The first few days of job searching was depressing; there seemed to be nothing out there that could enthrall me. Re-adjusting back to my life and relationships in Canada seemed harder than I had expected it to be, and all I wanted to do was sleep and reminisce on my summer.
I felt lost without my routine, and my health had taken a toll since I got back; life back home just couldn’t compare to my two month stay in Dakar.
I pressed on with my job search, through the help of a friend and coordinator at Alternatives (the NGO that sent us to Senegal), I was directed to NetFemmes. From there on, I found interesting community work positions and I have sent a couple of CV’s and motivation letters.
Two weeks into my life as ‘unemployed’ has been hard; even though I am yet to be officially broke, the lack of capital flow is a confidence crusher. Even more so, I have so much time on my hands and little motivation, that all the “free” time has become toxic. My lack of motivation could have been brought on my homesickness, and my (lengthy and excruciating) re-adaptation period. That is the irony of it all; I have fallen in love so deeply with Africa, and Senegal, that this country that has been my home for 15 years is only cold earth and snow.
Classes start tomorrow; perhaps they will add a much needed “routine” semblance to my week, and jerk me back into reality. Even writing is a hassle. Senegal, how I miss thee.

I’m trying, trying to make something,

In this world, out of nothing

I’m trying, transforming these obstacles into pure fuel

I’m recycling these thoughts

I’m demanding change within me

Commanding my thoughts

Aligned one by one in this assembly line

Pieces of this puzzle, pieces of this ensemble

Pieces of me, pieces of a better me

I’m trying, trying to move pass this black man’s plight

Use it as motivation to make this continent right

If we learn how to unite, it could help ignite

A movement, a great change

Help get rid of these chains

Yes they did exist but they should no longer retain

Somehow they’ve never left and hold captive our brain

But you hold the key

Not the government, the constitution or this society

I’m trying, trying to transform what I see

Into what I’d like to see

A painter I am and my oyster they call world

Is indeed my canvas

With a distinct mixture of colors

That once where denied entry

Once denied rights, once denied peace, once denied longevity

I transform it all into a better future, a better picture

One with unity, love, respect

A better we

I’m trying, trying to make you see

That this present affects the future beyond you and me

It’s about living without the veil, stop ignoring what you’ve seen

Those footprints that lead to the we

That will help change your pace and your beat

The past, the present and the future

They depend on much more then that assumed thought that 

“we live in a selfish community, why try”

It’s far from that, we need to work past that

Break it down, leave it in the dust

Build it up, polish it and call it the better us

I’m trying, trying to make an example out of me

Humbly I’ve chosen this path

One with less lighting and often narrow

I’m striving to reach to the peak

But along the way, I write these words for you

So you can see me, so you can be inspired by me

My imperfections, my failures, my determination

I do it for those with no hope, no inspiration

Those who were stolen, those who are lost and broken

And those just trying, trying to find their way home

Blinded by the pain

I’m here for you, we’re here for you

We hold the torch, guiding you

Sing that song, leading you

Leave those footsteps, just for you

I’m trying, trying to elevate the we

Encourage the us

Be an example for the you

Never forget the G O D that guides the me

Transforming the I, the us, the we, the you , the me

Into the movers, the shaker, the builders, the doers, the creators, the innovators

The people of the better tomorrow

Not scared of the struggle , the sacrifice or, the pain

With one thought that remains

Engrained in all our brains

Knowledge is infinite

Power is only as great as what you make out of it

Love for others requires love from within

No need to be discouraged

No need to feel change will never come

Become that agent of change

That catalylist , that activist, that philanthropist

Just become the better you

Whatever you do atleast try

Try today, try tomorrow

Try until you are doing, contributing, and changing the world around you

Try

It’s so interesting that the reason we came here was for FOOD security and FOOD sovereignty. We are also pushing the education of Rights to FOOD. All of the topics based on FOOD, yet it seems to me they know more about food here than we do individually. Food isn’t only a way to live, but it’s a way of life. Food seems to be all the things in life you need to know in order to live right. Respect, sharing, unity, appreciation, trust, communication and manners. ALL in ONE DISH!!!!
Put yourself in the body of a young man or woman. Now remember the lessons you’ve learned. Now remember your routine of eating. Now erase the routine of eating and follow along with what I will describe as our meal together. You are obliged to keep your eyes in the vacinity of your own direction of eating, meaning that’s where you can take food from. You can not take food from other areas of the dish where the meat, fish or chicken would be with the extra vegetables and what not. The only way you can get in the middle is when we as the older individuals provide it for you. If you try to reach outside of your area of the dish, your hand will get slapped and/or you will get that ‘Do not do that’ look. All of these things, including other norms that I didn’t hear of just yet, meaning ‘We are all together. You should focus on what tasks are in front of you while we, as a community, will providefor you. Respect the rules and trust in your community and elders.’
Now let’s go forward a few years. You’ve went through some years of life in this world following those guidelines, but you’ve been doing it long enough and you would like a new role in life. I guess I can show you a new chapter to life and food. You can view the whole dish now and you want to reach for parts that you feel you can have. Go ahead! Respectfully serve yourself, but know that you must provide for the community as the community provided for you, including the community that is too young to be the provider just yet. Now you are part of the older individuals. You can take for yourself, provide for the rest AND they can still provide for you, via bringing food to you although you are allowed to take for yourself. This is a way to show ‘You have grown up in this world with these guidelines. You have been taught, now you can teach and share. You can now look around the world and see what you will go for to choose your own path. You can choose what in the world you will put on your ‘spoon’ along with what your community provides for your spoon, but most importantly you can also choose what to provide the ‘spoon’ of the community. The move in life that you have made has given you 2 privileges added on to being provided by your community, you can now provide yourself and provide others. You can give and take, yet your privelege to receive is still there.
The next time you have a meal, with family and/or friends, you should appreciate what has been put into providing it for you. You should also see more of an appreciation for what’s on your ‘plate’ and how it got there.

So if food is in need of defense and security, from whom or what do they need defending, is the question that I ponder strongly? I myself have a vague idea from who it would need defending, but according to the book “In Defense of Food”, by Micheal Pollan, brings up the idea that, with the influence of “Scientific Nutritionism”, we have shift our eating lifestyle from not just eating food, but to eating valuable nutrients. With that I feel we are becoming more dependent on the advice of nutritionist, and as a result delivering a “Narrow concept of physical health”(Pallon, M). He continues to say that food appears to be now a matter of “Biology” eating scientifically by the nutrient and the number under guidance of “experts”. To me food is equivalent to eating: for pleasure, with family, as a community, including expressing our cultural identity. Eating to me has been about culture, bodily health, but with nutritionism on the rise has changed our eating and I believe has elevated sickness (diabetes, obesity etc.) in the lives of eaters.

Many people have access to food but with the advice of nutritionist, in my opinion may not necessarily or exactly have access to Food, nonetheless the idea that nutrients is more important than food itself. But with our minds conditioned to think nutrients instead of food; could this be a lack of food security, or is it a sense of insecurity? So what is food security? Is it eating the right amounts of cholesterol, eating saturated fats, eating high or low amounts of calories or, is it having the accessibility to eat whatever we want whenever we want without scientific nutritional values hanging over our heads which “secure” our eating. Is it “secure” to say, eat only saturated fats, lower your cholesterol in order to eat healthy. Or is it secure to say, that it has become a sense of agri-business to make processed foods that contain the suggested amount of nutrients to maintain “good health”. Why does it matter the amount of nutrients consumed in a single meal and why not focus on just eating natural grown foods that are God’s gift to mankind. While the majority of Americans scramble to eat carbohydrates or foods full in protein, the majority of Africans scramble to eat food period.

Since my first walk through Dakar (y’know the most exhilarating one where most of the group, I included, spent their time taking pictures of the pebbles on the road and related superfluous stuff). I’ve noticed the outrageous amount of exercise around me: women, men and children of all ages smilin’ and sweatin’ (and NOT because of the heat).
People are running barefoot on the streets while others are wearing name-brand running shoes. A man walking along a main road will simply drop to the ground to do 20 push ups and keep walking. The national sport is la lutte senegalaise and I recently watched a pay per view fight while drinking some super strong tea with my neighbours. The match is between Papa Sow and Ness (two of the most monstrous wrestlers I’ve ever seen):

There’s a variety of other activities too: some youth choose to jump rope on the beach (be jealous) while a group of children amuse themselves running with rolling tires on the dirt…
Strong young women are shooting hoops in a full-sized b-ball court outside of the youth center I’m typing in while a group of young ones scoring goals in a makeshift sandy football field across the street. I can hear a group of Senegalese teenagers dressed in white tae kwan do uniforms screaming ‘yaaah’ at the top of their lungs while swinging punches and spin kicks in their martial arts classes. And the beach… omg… anyway… I can’t stop thinking’ and talkin’ about how fit these folk really are.
So how does exercise fit into the daily Senegalese routine? A majority of people exercise in the morning (6-9 a.m.) or the evening (5-8 p.m.) … before and after work or school because of the extreme heat at the peak of the day – it is a desert climate after all. I’m trying to run nowadays along the highway with a couple of running buddies that I’ve made in preparation for the Oasis Marathon in September. Yet, most of the people I informally interviewed don’t have many concrete training goals apart from staying ‘en forme’ and feelin’ good with their friends.

The main expense remains the material used to build the table, as well as the initial purchase of seeds. The beauty of the project lays in its absolute self sustainability; once the tables are built, they can be reused for every other cultivation, and once the plants are harvested, their seeds are cultivated for the next batch. Mme Diouf fervently believes in training as many people as possible, she believes micro gardening can be the difference between being malnourished and being well fed. “Le Micro- jardinage peut eradqiuer la faim en Afrique.” she says. Micro-gardening can eradicate hunger from Africa.

Whether this agriculture project can be maintained at a larger scale is questionable. One thing is sure, those involved in the project experience its benefits everyday; working under the glaring sun, rain or shine, the women and men supplement their nutrition with fresh produce from the garden. Situated smack in the Urban midst of Dakar, Micro-gardening is like the pebble that creates ripples on the water; because of its high visibility, a population that has been removed from agriculture can now participate and experience food, from earth to the table.

Our work is now defined as creating a database of documentation (audio, video, photos and writing) for our host-organization ANORF  (the African Network on the Right to Food) on how the community understands their access to food. From this, our host-organisation will have a better understanding of the level of how to intervene and lead their campaign to raise the Senegalese community s awareness about their right to proper nutrition (Article 25 of the Declaration of Human Rights).  Our work this summer will leave RAPDA (le Reseau African Pour le Droit a l Alimentation, ANORF in french) with material to produce whatever communication media they might employ to raise awareness. From that it is expected that in that marveoulsy-mobilised spirit the community has (as demonstrated by the recent  demand to keep their constitution uncorrupted by their current president) their government can be pressured into investing into better food industry management. What is also cool is that the issue of the Right to Food innovatively reunites Human Rights agents with the network of activists already working on food security and food industry sovereignty issues in Senegal, allowing for a larger platform. The more heads you put together, the more innovative the solutions! Exciting work? Exciting work.

Many citizens have a fatalistic understanding of whether they have access to food. In a country who s agriculture depends on roughly 70% rainfall and who s average period of dependence on their own harvest is 6 months out of 12 ( 1 to 2 months in some regions) it is understandable that many Senegalese share this generalized perspective that if their kids are starving, it is just bad fortune. In reality, there is enough ressources on our planet to adequately feed an estimated 12 000 000 000 people. In Africa alone, there is enough to house 4 000 000 000. Despite those insecurity factors listed above, Senegal has a thriving rice, peanut and fish industry (on the tight budget our team has, thats just about all we eat everyday). So why does the number of children rated red° double in rural communities during the dry season (November to May)? Why are there people lined up to eat 50-75 CFA (roughly 1 Canadian cent) boiled bean soup in the cities? The short answers are 1. bad transnational management on the governments part to protect the national economy from the global market: Many of the products Seneglese arduously produces are simply exported and become too expensive for the local to buy, resulting in importation of redundant products like rice (…from Thailand, for example). 2. bad national management between producers, transformers (no wack alien robots… just those who might, for example, transform harvested mangoes into juice, adding value to the product) and consumers. A prevalent and unfortunate phenomenon, for example are intermerdiary merchants who will buy in bulk from farmers at rip off prices (taking advantage of the latter s more-immediate needs for remuneration since their time has been consumed by manual labour) to then sell them again at rip-off prices to consumers.

We meet up with invigorating Senegalese activists and get to participate in their great projects: Last saturday we got to sit-in the debrief meeting of the committe responsible for the World Social Forum in February in Dakar (an international conference serving as a space for dialogue for concerns and solutions on many global societal issues). For the next two weeks, we are going to work with the passionate Mme Jhuff (older than us, but really much more spirited and refreshing!) and her urban gardening project. We were tilling the small community garden under the strong sun just this morning in the middle of city.

More on the culture and impressions, and of course more work, in latter, more illustrated blogs. But now you know that a)Im alive. b) Im not bumming around. c) Some seriously amazing stuff is going down in Dakar.

Peace.

°  Medecins Sans Frontiere devised an easy system to quickly determine the nutritional status of children using a paper arm band with three sections (green means everything is ok. yellow is a sign of mal- or undernourrishment. red means the child is in perilous starvation) according to their bicep circumference.