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Senegal, 2009

A journal by Gail Kaneb, who was recently in Senegal with her family

Senegal is a country where remote villages are almost untouched by time; a place where family is everything, where community is a powerful force, and where villagers customarily welcome strangers into their home. This is the account of our family’s voyage to see the 10 villages we are sponsoring with Tostan, a Senegalese-born non-profit. Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program teaches democracy, human rights and responsibilities, health and hygiene, and problem solving in the first year; and then literacy, numeracy, budgeting, and microfinance in years two and three. Communities become healthier and more prosperous, so there is a waiting list - even though to get the program, a community must provide food and housing for a facilitator for 3 years, a structure for the school, elect a 17-member Community Management Committee, and send 30 influential adults and 30 teens to school. The program gives communities the information and the tools to lead their own development, to open a dialogue about human rights and responsibilities, and to make informed decisions about practices like child and forced marriage, female genital cutting (FGC), and keeping girls and boys in school. We thought the primary impact would be about ending age old practices. It turned out to be so much more… This journal, originally sent in installments on my blackberry, is the account of four incredible days in the life of our family.

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Our girls in local clothing. Tostan honors African culture and customs that are not harmful.

To: Friends and Family Subject: Senegal I Dakar is a surprise. We had read about how aggressive the vendors are, and it is true. But what we hadn't read is that you don't see anyone who is hungry, because everyone shares their food. You don't see any homeless, because even those who live in a single room find space for one more. Every time the car stops, we are approached by little boys, begging. It turns out these are the “talibé” or students, little boys who have been sent to Dakar from the country for a Koranic education. The marabouts who teach them are not paid, so it became a tradition for the boys to beg for part of the day, and go to school the other. Some take advantage of this, and their students spend more time begging than learning. But there was a march recently by marabouts who are trying to change the tradition, and find other ways to finance food, clothing and housing for the boys. The climate is exquisite. Brilliant sunshine, cool ocean breezes, fresh-smelling air. Years ago, this was savannah, African grassland with safari animals. Now the Sahara is encroaching, with sand everywhere, held back by fringes of palm trees and by buildings - from

shacks, to villas and skyscrapers. As we drive from Dakar, the landscape changes, although the ground is still all sand. We see our first baobab tree. Wolof legend says that it was originally the most beautiful tree in the world, but became too vain, so God turned it upside down. It really looks like a huge tree trunk, jammed upside down into the ground, with the roots spiking out of the top.

After driving for a couple of hours, we head down a dusty road to the village where Molly lived for 3 years. Her experience in this village led her to collaborate with the villagers in creating The Community Empowerment Program, the core of Tostan's organization.

Tom measuring the 600 year old Baobab tree with his arms

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President of the Community Management Committee

Our son, George, and the man who gave him his Senegalese name. Soccer balls are like gold...

The children are healthy and beautiful. Young girls carry their brothers and sisters as soon as they can hold on.

I thought we were just stopping by, but when we arrive we see the villagers sitting in a circle, in the shade, clearly expecting us. As we get out of the car, they break into song, and start clapping and chanting. One man chants, and we all repeat it. They are warm and welcoming, but no invasion of personal space until I start taking photos and show the children their own pictures. The kids crowd around, touching the screen, pointing at themselves, and asking, 'Couldn't you take a photo of me with my friends,' or 'How about me?' I don't understand any words, but they have no troublemaking their meaning VERY clear! Then this amazing, statuesque, stunningly beautiful woman begins to speak. She is the president of the Community Management Committee, incredibly bright, warm, and gracious, and she explains (with simultaneous translation) that when Molly first came here in 1982, the village got together to discuss what they wanted for their future. They decided that

there were 18 priorities, among them clean water, a place where a woman could give birth safely, a garden, an oven to bake bread, a school, and a place to store grain... As she read each goal, and what year it was achieved, the others' watched our faces to make sure we appreciated the magnitude of what they had accomplished. It truly was amazing. They were funded for only three years, and after that they did it all themselves. Some initiatives they paid for, others they applied for grants (themselves) with matching funds. There are only three goals they haven't yet met, and two are outside their control: electricity and a paved road.

An elder, almost blind, dressed in pure white, was led in by a young man. The elder is a holy man, an imam known for the healings he performs, and he gives us all a blessing, even the children sitting quietly with hands open. When he is done, we move our hands up to our face and down to our heart, taking it all in, the spirituality, the beauty of the moment, and the goodwill of the people. Then it is our turn to speak, to express how honored we feel at the way they received us (they have nothing to gain by our being here) and how impressed we are by their achievements. Then I introduce our family, and at each introduction, one person from the village stands and takes the hands of the one being introduced, looks into his/her eyes, and gives

the person their name. Mine is Kumba Sar, the name of the woman who "adopted" Molly when she lived here. What an incredible way to connect across time, space and race.

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Incredibly well-organized infirmary

Molly and the Chief

The Community Management Committee is accountable to the entire village

These people now do their own feasibility studies, their own accounting, are training their own nurse, and have the best organization I've ever seen. The pride, the glowing skin, the way they were dressed, the level of cleanliness of the adults, the health of the children, the immaculate infirmary complete with graphs of immunizations, are amazing. We meet the chief, a wise old man who can hardly see, and he draws two trees in the sand. He explains that prayers can "nourish" a person like water nourishes a tree. He says “You have two trees here. One is watered - it flowers and flourishes. The other one is brittle and dry.” He has a peaceful presence, and the children grow still and listen as he speaks. We brought 2 soccer balls to the village. Molly asked for two adolescents to receive the balls. A boy and a girl came forward, and Molly asked her if she would use it. She said yes, but Bach, our driver, has his doubts. The boys are the regional soccer champs, so they will probably use the balls... Still, you never know. This village has broken so much ground.

This is where the Community Empowerment program started, and that program is changing the world. So girls playing soccer seems like a relatively easy barrier to breach. There is a lot we in the west could learn from the way this community has come together to create change. Best of all was to see how sustainable this program is. It was funded for only three years, but gave them the tools to continue their own development. The people are healthy, EVERYTHING is written down, every basin of water is accounted for, and every pill is paid for. We scan incredibly detailed records going back to 1982, which are reviewed by the entire village annually - a level of transparency and sustained good governance unheard of in most places. When Molly first came, everyone lived in thatch huts. They have increased their wealth enough that they now live in permanent houses, have a school, an infirmary with a nurse that serves 21 communities, a granary, 2 commercial ovens, an animal-fattening project, corn grinding machine, chicken coop, microfinance, and a garden for each family. When they spoke, they glowed with pride in what they have created on their own. They told us that they believe that anything is possible if they work at it, focus on it, and pray for it. Awesome, Gail

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The men and boys form our Honor Guard

Our welcome from the people waiting in 104 degree heat

To: Friends and Family Subject: Senegal II Last night we stayed in a wonderful old French colonial hotel on the banks of the huge, fast-flowing Senegal River. We're on our way to visit the villages in the Fouta where we are sponsoring Tostan's Community Empowerment Program. This is a very conservative area, where in 2002, religious leaders warned Molly, the founder of Tostan, not to come visit, because they could not guarantee her security. But the local women said, "Come anyway, we'll guarantee your safety." The program continued, and since then, the demand from the villagers has been strong. So Tostan chose this area for "our" program because it is the most resistant to social change in Senegal, and therefore critical to reach a tipping point. We're driving through an incredibly hot, dusty and arid area. There are trees and bushes pushing up through the sand, but even the leaves are an olive-beige. The only flashes of colour are the clothing of the people on the side of the road, and the bright green of the occasional locust tree. All of a sudden, there are men and boys on horses and foot, waiting in the burning sun to guide us to the village celebration. We follow our honor guard to the sub-prefect's office, where we are officially greeted and welcomed. Then we go to the village itself. Everyone is dressed in their best, clapping and singing and welcoming us. My eyes keep welling up as I look at the women and girls and cherish this incredible opportunity to change lives. Hearing about it is one thing. Looking into their eyes, seeing how they have prepared for our visit, how much this means to them, is another. The chief stands up and starts talking about the impact of the program - that families who had been torn apart by conflict are now talking to each other, that everyone now understands their

human rights and responsibilities, and they are dealing with violations of those rights in their own community. He told us that they have already abandoned child and forced marriage, and then astonished us by saying that they are in the process of abandoning excision - female genital cutting, or FGC. We had been warned that the subject was totally taboo in this conservative area, so we shouldn't even mention the word...

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The skit on child marriage

The men grin and hang their head as they see the truth in the skit

Yet here is the chief, standing up and saying they were talking about making a public declaration of abandonment, after only 8 months of the program. Then a few of the adult participants perform an incredibly well done and powerful skit about child marriage. The father is given a hundred thousand francs (about $200 - a lot in this part of the world) from a man who wants to marry his 12-year-old

daughter. The mother resists, but is won over when he tells her they have been hungry, and now they can buy a chicken. The daughter tries to refuse, tells him she is number 1 in her class, but the father threatens to divorce the mother if she doesn't comply. So the girl does get married, and it's an unhappy marriage, with a terrible mother-in-law. She becomes pregnant, her husband divorces her, and she goes back in tears to her family. She is upset, and what is she going to do now? She can't go back to school because she is pregnant. The mother yells at the father, because the daughter's friends who stayed at school have well-paying careers. The teacher comes, and yells at the father, because he should have kept his daughter in school. Besides that, she is too young to give birth; she could die. The father says he didn't know that, it's all the mother's fault, she didn't tell him his daughter could die. Everyone laughs... It's serious and a spoof at the same time, and the men are enjoying it as much as the women, laughing while covering their faces with embarrassment as they recognize the reality of the situation. I understand for the first time how just 60 people can spread what they are learning through a whole village of 1000 people, and get agreement to change customs that have lasted over 2000 years. There are many speeches, quietly translated from Pulaar into French, and English when we don't understand their French. It turns out that three of our ten villages have come to this celebration,

and representatives of the classes and committees each come up and thank us, eye to eye, hand to hand, heart to heart. They were solemn when we walked in, until they made their presentations, and until I used my 3 words of Pulaar. But now they are all smiles, 'Take a picture with all of us,' 'Thank you so much,' 'It's so wonderful you came...' The people in these communities are incredibly warm and grateful, especially considering the fact that we have given them nothing tangible. But the education they are getting is like a window on the world. They are no longer isolated, no longer forced to submit, no longer feel they are at the whim of spirits to keep themselves and their daughters healthy. A hand up, not a hand out. It is incredibly beautiful to see it actually working. Love, Gail

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We fell in love with the little girls.

Once they know they have the right to their own voice, women speak publicly, but it is a difficult shift… This woman was visibly trembling as she explained about human rights.

To: Friends and Family Subject: Senegal III We drive further into the blazing heat of the countryside, trailed by clouds of dust, to a place where the 5 other villages we are sponsoring are gathered. It is like passing into another century. As we drive, we see a man quickly wrap a turban, throw on a robe, jump onto a beautiful white horse, and gallop until he is side-by-side with us as we approach the village. The rest of our honor guard is waiting on horseback, men in their traditional robes, carrying ancient muzzleloaders. They point them at the ground and pull the trigger, spurts of sand flying up from the blasts of air. We get out of the car, and the villagers have made two rows for us to walk between, clapping and singing. Diane, Molly's sister and great contributor to Tostan, with the whitest skin you have ever seen, starts dancing as if she were born here, and the crowd goes wild... They are thrilled any time we show how much we appreciate their culture. We enter a structure made of poles with matting on top, and sit at the head table. In front of us are 6 little girls, in traditional dress, carrying signs about the importance of education for girls and ending child marriage, so solemn, wanting so much to do it perfectly! The little girls and some of the women have black makeup on their faces, replicating the tattooing that the women used to have on their lips and face. I am so amazed that they can still be incredibly beautiful with the black lines on their faces, that I take hundreds of photos as they speak and dance.

Some of the women, in their traditional indigo fabric, take turns presenting a human right and what it means to them - The human right to survival means that they have abandoned forced and child marriage and other harmful traditions that can lead to suffering and death. The human right to a clean environment means that the village is now immaculate. The human right to health means that they now promote pre and post-natal consultations, the children have all been vaccinated, and malaria has been substantially reduced. The human right to be treated equally means that the girls can go to school, and women don't have to blindly obey their husbands. The right to be free from all forms of violence means that girls and women are no longer beaten. What is amazing is that there are as many men as women present,

all supporting the changes. The men are losing power over the women, but they are gaining a healthier, happier and more prosperous community, and when asked, they say that deep down, they know this is right. This particular village has not yet started to talk about female genital cutting, or FGC. The son of a religious leader in a nearby village has been spreading stories that Tostan is against Islam, which almost resulted in that village stopping the program. The religious leader from here has intervened, and told them that Tostan doesn't impose anything, that this village has been in the program and they still pray, that they will make their own decisions. But given the rumour campaign, the local facilitators, all from the same ethnic group, have decided to wait till things cool down before mentioning health risks of FGC.

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Young women use black makeup to

honour the old custom of facial tattoos

Over a thousand people, streaming out

of the celebration. As I turn to take the photo, Tom says, “Our kids are in

that crowd!”

We feel a little bit like the Pied Piper

There are at least 1000 people jammed under the shaded pavilion, serious and joyful all at the same time. When the formal part is over, the little girls with the signs break into the biggest grins, their job well done, and people clap and dance and stream out. Our kids go out with the crowd, where people are lining the road, clapping and dancing us on our way. Unaware of this, we follow Molly on a tour of the village and go into one of the houses. It is remarkable how clean everything is. We haven't seen a scrap of litter in a Tostan village yet, even the ones that weren't expecting us. I make the mistake of taking some photos of kids, show them their pictures, and get mobbed. A 12-year old girl helps me to get them under control. She tells me that she is #1 in her class, and would like a soccer ball. I ask her if she would play soccer if the girls had a ball, and she says yes. I feel really badly that the boys will probably get the ball and not the girls. But because we haven't given 2 balls to the other villages, there will be ill will if we do it here. We will definitely find a way to get more of them to Senegal - they are like gold. Once there are enough, I would love to put the issue of girls playing ball into the hands of the Community Management Committees. I know you have to pick your battles, but I'm having trouble walking away from this one. Our kids come back for us, and we finally leave the village, only to find people still waiting in the intense sun to clap and dance us out. I am struck once again at how little it costs - now $6000 per year for 3 years - to change thousands of lives forever. I can't believe how teaching concepts like democracy, human rights, problem solving, hygiene and health, in a way that is meaningful in the local context, can lead to a peaceful revolution that ends 2000 year old practices like child marriage. And we haven’t even gotten to the literacy, numeracy and microfinance portion yet!

I can't wait to see what happens then! Gail

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Khalidou, Director of the Program for Tostan Senegal, who turned down the

opportunity to speak to the EU Parliament because the villagers had worked so hard

to prepare for our visit.

The man on the right had an amazing presence. He is teaching and organizing high school

students in Podor to help end child marriage and female genital cutting.

It is awesome to watch the men support the empowerment of the women.

Celebration in Podor for election of all-female city council and mayor

To: Friends and Family Subject: Senegal IV We head out first thing in the morning to the local Tostan office to meet the facilitators, supervisors and coordinators, partly to honor their work, partly to understand more about how they are organized and what their challenges are. They are extraordinary people, members of the same Pulaar ethnic group they are working with, most without any formal education except that provided by Tostan. These are people who

would have otherwise left the region and gone to the cities for jobs that do not exist, and who are visibly proud of their work. We learn some interesting statistics - like the fact that the program in this area started 2 years ago with 530 participants, and there are now 562. Most literacy programs in Africa have a very high dropout rate - from 50-80%. This one has a drop IN rate! Then a group of women join us who are participants in the program. Now that they know they have the right to their own voice, nothing is stopping them. They let us know that they think we should have visited them, since it was our program, but come to thank us anyway. Molly asks what had the biggest impact on them. One woman says equality - that she had always thought that a woman had to be in the background, but now she knows that they are equals, that women can do everything that men can do. Tom asks how her husband feels about that, and she says he likes it - now they can argue! Then we go to Podor, a small city where in 2002 there was tremendous animosity to Tostan because of fear that they might end female genital cutting. A group of 8 strong women come to visit with us. It turns out that they were part of the original group in 2002, and defied the religious leaders to continue the program. They are the ones who assured Molly's safety when the authorities wouldn't, and the ones who asked Tostan to come back now to do another program. They told us that things have really changed in 7 years. The day we were there, a woman was invested as mayor - the first time ever - and they had all helped with her campaign. And furthermore, every one of these 8 women had been elected city councilors!

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Part of Tostan’s success is that they honour

local customs and skills. This woman’s dancing was like a ballet. Note the beautiful

clothing—in 110 degree heat!

These are amazing women... Part of the reason so much has changed is that in the period from 2002 till now, they have personally gone out to countless other villages to tell them about human rights, because in that context, harmful practices like FGC and child and forced marriages no longer make sense. They told us that when they arrive in the villages, they start by talking about their own painful experiences as well as those of their friends and relatives. And then the village women talk about what they have gone through, and as they do, the people realize just how terrible the effects of these practices have been.

We were awed by these 8 strong women. One of them told us, "People thought I was crazy, going to school at my age! But look at me now. Nobody can force me to do anything I don't want to do.” Another said, “No one can put a piece of paper in front of me and trick me, because I can read!” In 2002, when they spoke, they hid behind their scarves. Today they are leading social and political campaigns, holding public office, and when we were there, organized a celebration of thousands of people. Wow. Love,

Gail

The celebration is packed, with people watching from balconies, the hillside, and even across the river in Mauretania

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Enjoying the welcome at one of “our” villages

To: Friends and Family Subject: Senegal V On the way back to Dakar, we stop at a village with an old chief who is responsible for the "organized diffusion" model that has allowed the Tostan program to create social change in at least 4 times as many villages as they have actually worked in. Way back in 1997, after the first village had abandoned female genital cutting, this chief told Molly that they couldn't abandon, even if they wanted to. She asked him why that was, and he explained that people don't marry within their own village, so all the intra-marrying villages must agree before they can change a tradition like FGC. If they all agreed, they would make a public declaration of abandonment, so that it would stick. She asked him what it would take, and he said that if he had the bus fare, he would go and talk to the other villages. So Molly gave him the transportation money, and he spent three months going from village to village. In the end, they had the first public declaration of female genital cutting abandonment of their 13 intra-marrying villages. This chief of a small village, an old man, has spoken to the United Nations and to the British Parliament. He knows the impact of what he taught Molly. Yet he is still humble. He looked at us, and smiled, and said something like, "I'm an old man. Who would have thought I could make such a difference at this time in my life?" This has been an amazing trip. To be present with our kids where it all started... To dance with

them and the villagers with the joy of being alive and changing lives and being together in Africa... To watch women from small villages without formal education hold the attention of thousands of people... To see how appreciative people are of the help they are given and how they use what they learn to help themselves and others... To see how the men support the growth of the women... To see the level of good governance and transparency they are able to sustain over time... To know that Tostan is now in 7 countries, yet the need is so much greater... To see people approach Molly every place we go, wanting the program for

their village, because the Community Empowerment Program creates such positive social, health and economic change that it is impossible to satisfy the demand. This has been way beyond what I had expected to see. I didn't expect to stop by the road to buy a dress on display, only to have a woman come up and grasp Molly's hands, look in her eyes, and thank her, because she was in the class, and they decided to make these dresses to generate income. I didn't expect the men to support the women at the cost of their own power. I never really knew it was possible to bring people together, village by village, and in the cities, neighborhood by neighborhood, to create a common vision and then, with very little money, implement it. It gives me so much hope. Gail

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To: Friends and Family Subject: WHOOPS— Forgot to Explain... A very good friend pointed out that I was using the term FGC without explaining it. It stands for Female Genital Cutting, often referred to in the west as Female Genital Mutilation. The latter term, though, implies the desire to do harm. In fact, the mothers love their daughters so much that they save up to have them cut, so they will be eligible for marriage. The problem is that there are many negative health consequences related to FGC such as severe pain, hemorrhaging, and even death. The women spoke of losing a sister or a daughter, and three periods of horrible suffering: the time of the cutting, the first sexual relationship, and childbirth. There are different types of cutting, the most severe being infibulation, the sewing or sealing of the vaginal lips. This is why Tostan is being asked to scale across Africa. In some countries, as many as 98% of the women are cut. In the first 5 years of the Community Empowerment Program in Senegal, 173 villages abandoned FGC. Over the next 5 years, the movement accelerated, and over 3300 more villages abandoned it. Because of this unprecedented result, in 2008, all of the United Nations organizations (WHO, UNICEF, etc.) officially endorsed this model as the way forward to end this practice. What is amazing about Tostan is that they get these results, not by preaching, but by giving communities the tools to lead their own development. The first year, the facilitator teaches human rights and democracy, health and hygiene, and problem solving. He or she always asks the people what they want for their village, and almost invariably, the answer is health and prosperity. The villagers determine for themselves which practices lead them toward their goals, and which lead them away from them. This is the process that has led to such incredible breakthroughs in: - The abandonment of child marriage and of female genital cutting - Enrolling girls (and more boys) in school and allowing them to stay there - Pre and post-natal care, and vaccination of babies - Clean villages and clean water - Democratic, transparent community governance that still involves traditional and religious leaders In year two and three, the facilitator teaches literacy, numeracy, budgeting, how to do a feasibility study, and helps the Community Management Committee set up a small microfinance bank. Villages with the program become cleaner, healthier, and more prosperous, which increases demand for the program. $6000 per year for 3 years will change the lives of an entire village. That’s about $6 per person/year. Incredible. Love, Gail

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Page 13 To: Friends and Family Subject: New Stuff... The kids have all gone back, so we’ve had some quiet time with Molly and her sister Diane. They have been finalizing the curriculum for one of the most innovative programs I’ve heard of in a long time—text messaging for literacy. Molly tells us that to most of the women in the villages, literacy seems like a luxury. The women can't imagine having time to sit in a corner and read a book. But their husbands work far away in the city, so they are out of touch for months at a time. Calling is too expensive, but if they could read, they could text message their husbands. Tostan recently tested a model for teaching literacy through SMS texting. The results were so phenomenal that they are now including it as part of their Community Empowerment Program. In fact, this use of technology could revolutionize the teaching of literacy in the developing world, because villagers are totally motivated to learn—they love the mobile phones, and get daily practice reading and writing. Valuable side benefits are access to information like market prices or vaccination campaigns, and better connection to relatives living abroad, so that they can involve them in important decisions. The other thing that Molly is really excited about is a new program bringing solar energy to remote villages. In partnership with the Barefoot College in India, Tostan is training rural women aged 40 to 55 who have been through the Community Empowerment Program to become solar engineers in their own communities. They spend six months in training in India to fully master the installation, maintenance and repair of solar units which will provide basic electricity and lighting for at least 50 households. The women will also be able to train others to become solar engineers when they return to Africa. I started to think about it… Imagine if you had to deal with medical emergencies by candlelight or kerosene lantern (which gives better light but has toxic fumes)... if there was no way to charge your cell phone... if your computer didn’t exist… if everything in your life had to stop at dusk… Imagine the loss of productivity, opportunity, and perhaps lives. We asked Molly how villages were chosen for the pilot project, and she said they have to be very far from the grid and well organized. There is a village in Djibouti, for example, that really wanted the Community Empowerment Program, but there wasn’t enough money to fund them. So the village sent a volunteer to another village that had the program, and she came back and ran it in her village for free. Now a different woman from the village has traveled to India for training, and the village is committed to paying her $6 stipend which will also go toward the replacement battery. When she comes back, the woman will travel to nearby villages where she will install solar units and train other women to be solar engineers. $400 will light up a family, and $20,000 will light up a village. It’s pretty amazing. Love, Gail

Mothers and grandmothers are being trained to be solar engineers for their own village.

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