Fellow Stories
True gap year stories from Fellows abroad!
Check out the latest blogs from Global Citizen Year Fellows in Brazil, Ecuador, and India!
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Class Year
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Out of the kitchen and into the classroom
Gaya Morris
2010-01-11
Watching Mame Ami carefully trace the lines and curves that make up her name reminds me of me when I try to help cut onions without a cutting board, or clean rice, or help with laundry back at home. I am always amazed by the speed at which Kine can shave an onion without cutting...
Read MoreA Bride’s Moving Day
Hilary Brown
2010-01-10
The Thursday after my debut as a Senegalese bridesmaid was the night when close family and friends accompany the bride to her husband’s home and involves much tradition and festivities. I arrived at the bride’s house just as she was being prepared to depart with a shower and two foulards (big pieces of fabric) wrapped...
Read MoreThe British Are Coming, the British Are Coming!!! Or, err… the Bread?
Ananda Day
2010-01-05
An account from the morning… 8:00 a.m. – Wake up, get ready for the day, head over to our family’s restaurant to go eat my bread and tegga degga (natural, no added hydrogenated oil, peanut butter, yum). 8:30 a.m. – Find out that the bread has, in fact, not already arrived at Mamour’s Boutique, and...
Read MoreIntroducing computers
Gaya Morris
2010-01-05
Sitting here in the computer lab, having just given a lesson to a young woman, a friend of the school director, I am suddenly very thoughtful about computers. That’s how it is here – I came this morning without any specific plan, I opened the computer lab, spent some time exploring the various activities installed...
Read MoreGetting settled in a new Senegalese home
Ananda Day
2009-12-28
This post by Fellow, Ananda Day has been cross-posted from the Current TV News Blog. Home’s a pretty big deal to me, its where I feel safe and comfortable, where all my roots are, where I go to relax, breathe, and just be. From what I can tell my new home here in Senegal, which...
Read MoreHow do you help Sebikotane, Senegal?
Gaya Morris
2009-12-28
This post by Gaya Morris has been cross-posted from the Current TV News Blog. When I first entered the backstreets of Sebikotane, a large town just east of Dakar in Senegal, Africa, I saw only a peaceful, culturally vibrant, almost idyllic community – people and houses packed together in a spidery web of sandy streets...
Read MoreSenegalese Bridesmaid
Hilary Brown
2009-12-27
Last week I had the honor and surprise of being a bridesmaid in one of my Senegalese friend’s wedding. I first heard about the event a month ago when my friend was showing me, the new toubab, off to all her friends while giving them an oral invitation to the celebration. A few weeks later...
Read MoreAmerican Holidays in Africa, or How Victoria’s Heart Thawed
Victoria Tran-Trinh
2009-12-27
For our first monthly meeting in Dakar, the Fellows celebrated a late Thanksgiving at Rachel’s house. I was averse to having a “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner, but tried not to dampen everyone else’s holiday spirits. It just struck me as rather America-centric to feel the need to celebrate traditional holidays while abroad, especially while in an...
Read MoreRoot of the Sound
Mathew Davis
2009-12-19
I recently went to a naming ceremony for my next door neighbor’s newborn. The ceremony in Wolof is called Ngente. There was an extreme amount of rice an even more people. I had never seen so many plastic chairs in my life. All the men were huddled to one side talking about something. But like...
Read MoreFirst graders master the triangle
Gaya Morris
2009-12-18
I am sitting in a CI (first grade) class right now, behind the teacher’s desk as an observer. This is usually where I end up in the mornings when I am at a loss of what to do. Today these six to eight-year-olds are learning how to draw shapes on their little personal chalkboards. These...
Read MoreLe President
Mathew Davis
2009-12-18
My brother Aliou Leye is my mentor in Sangalkam. I feel lucky to have him looking out for me in the village. He works for the rural village of Sangalkam youth association. In 2002 he started an organization called the Foyer des Jeunes. He started it in order to help students get into university, mentor...
Read MorePoverty’s Design
Ananda Day
2009-12-18
There are many different scales by which to measure poverty: less than a dollar a day, being able to provide food, shelter, healthcare, emergency funds, stability, etc. Compared to many places in Senegal, my community is pretty well off in that the majority of the population can afford at least their food and house, which...
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