Senegal: Building Community Resources in the Casamance Region
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Desiree Mendi, Carabane Women's Association President, and Aissatou Badji, CWA Secretary.
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"We live on the small island of Carabane. It used to be a tourist spot, but with all the conflict, tourists are
afraid to come here. Life here was very depressed for all of us until we started working with World Education."
Aissatou Badji and her husband moved to Carabane Island in search of a simple life, but after years of civil strife in
this region of Senegal, life has been much harder than they anticipated. "Because of the fighting, there was very
little investment in anything here—education, commerce—and to get to the mainland, we were at the mercy of the fisherman;
we had no transportation of our own." At age 31, Aissatou, a mother of three, and her husband felt desperate and were
wondering whether they could survive on Carabane Island or would have to move again.
In Senegal, World Education is leading a partnership with local
nongovernmental organizations to achieve peace and promote
community problem solving and action to improve economic opportunities
and social cohesion. World Education holds cultural weekends
to promote cooperation and peaceful co-existence in the region,
and improve the quality of life for Casamacais, through a
combination of human rights training, association building
and advocacy, community planning, and capacity building for
community-based organizations in the region.
In December 2002, World Education approached community leaders
on Carabane Island to explore a small project that might could
help reinforce and advance the peace process for a community
whose needs had long since been forgotten.
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"Working with World Education has brought new hope to our lives.
Before World Education, I didn't have a lot of motivation; I felt defeated. Today, I wake up with all kinds
of ideas for the future."
Aissatou Badji, Mother, Secretary, Carabane Island Women's Association
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"We had heard about the cultural weekends from people
who attended from Carabane, but at first, we didn't believe
anything would come of it - we didn't trust anyone's promise
of help," says Aissatou. World Education staff realized
that Carabane Island was clearly an area eager for support
and training. World Education worked with community leaders—many
of whom are women—to launch a project that would reinvigorate
and revitalize the community. The community's primary request
was for a ferry that could serve as transportation to the
mainland. The Carabane Women's Association (CWA) was asked
to coordinate the crafting, purchasing and management of a
traditional ferry to shuttle merchants and community members
to Ziguinchor, on the mainland. The ferry provides people
with access to goods, health care, and education-none of which
were available prior to acquiring the water transportation.
"Our President, Desiree, asked me to become Secretary
because of my literacy skills," says Aissatou. "At
first, we were skeptical; we had other international organizations
tell us they would help us and they never followed through.
We were really surprised-and happy-when World Education came
through. Our trust has been restored."
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Ferry from Carabane to the mainland.
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"We [the community] purchased a canoe so we could have reliable transportation to the mainland to buy goods - tailors
can buy material, for example, and we can go to the Ziguinchor
market and the health clinic-we are no longer isolated. World
Education also trained us to financially manage the project;
we manage the fees, maintenance, schedule and the man who
operates the ferry. We opened a bank account in Ziguinchor,
on the mainland, for this purpose.
"We plan to start a smoked fish project this year. We
are very grateful for World Education's help. For me, it has
completely changed how I think about my life. I now have more
energy and can see a future for myself and my family."
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