Fellow Stories

Blog 3

Ezekiel Alford

2017-09-23

My family makes me feel at home they know I don’t really like talking in Wolof or at all. Like I went to work for carpentry 10-3pm. And my family went to this big gathering. So it’s dinner time (9:45ish) my brothers and I are exhausted exhausted from the heat from the heat and not...

New Continent, New Family

Erik Oline

2017-09-21

9-18-17 Keur Birima, Senegal.  (wrote on the 18th, but uploaded 21st – Limited internet) Last Sunday (10-9) I left the comfort of the Tostan Training Center and headed out to meet my host family for the next seven months. Earlier in the week I had received a small packet about my host family and community...

The “W” Curve and Life in Laala Land

Wyatt Foster

2017-09-17

One of the first things you learn at Global Launch is the idea of the W curve. A wavy line that roughly resembles a W is shown a projector and the GCY staff tries to make it clear that in the beginning you will feel great, the top of the curve, aka the honeymoon phase....

My Body -Young the Giant

2017-09-14

What is a name? Back home, my name is my sense of belonging.  It’s what my friends call me, How my parents beckon my presence, How teachers measure my attendance. How trivial is a name? My friends often misspeak my name, My parents confuse it with a sibling’s My teachers skip it all together.  In...

Peace Only

Isabelle Johnson

2017-09-10

The last week of training is finally coming to an end. The cohort & I have been staying at the TosTan Training Center in the city of Thiès. TosTan’s mission is to bring the community together by teaching literacy skills to adolescents and adults in Thiès. It is lovely meeting and communicating with the staff,...

The Art of Mindfulness

Ebunoluwa Akinbode

2017-09-09

“If I can be here now, I can be there then.” -Abby Falick     Where am I right now? Close your eyes.     I’m standing in a parking lot. The Meier Stanford dorm stands erect in front of me. Beside me is the massive coach bus that will be transferring my fellow Senegal cohort and...

journal entry #002 -universal joy

Stephanie Sanchez-Aguilar

2017-09-08

“Sometimes crying or laughing are the only options left, and laughing feels better right now.” –– Veronica Roth, Divergent     That first initial contact with Senegalese air was intense. It was humid, the sun was hot and the feeling of being overwhelmed started to bubble in the pit of my stomach. What in the world...

The Toubabs of Thies

Elise Leise

2017-09-08

      In a street shop bursting wall to wall with colorful boxes and packaged foods, I ignore the curious eyes on me and step up to the counter with my attaya and bleach. Conversation blurs around my ears in a rapid-fire stream of unintelligible words. “Toubab,” I hear. Foreigner. I smile, the one universal gesture...

Short Hair, Don’t Care

Elise Leise

2017-09-07

      Phones recording, people yelling, razor buzzing, I flicked remnants of my hair to the floor of the Stanford dorm bathroom. The electric atmosphere of the overcrowded space hummed, punctured with gasps and uncontrollable laughter. In the space of four days, not even the duration of Global Launch, the Fellows around me flipped...

Blog Entry 2

Isabel Munoz Beaulieu

2017-09-07

I’ve been in Thiés, Senegal for almost a week now and I must admit that I’m loving this country. Since making lists is therapeutic for me, as weird as it sounds, I’m going to list the things I’ve observed and experienced this week that are making me fall in love with this country ‘ndank ndank’...

Dallen ak jamm!

Wyatt Foster

2017-09-07

Dallen ak jamm!! AKA, welcome to Senegal!! This phrase was printed on a huge banner in our main classroom at the Tostan Training Center where I’m currently staying during my first week in Thiès, Senegal. That phrase is written in Wolof, the second national language, behind french, in Senegal meaning it’s spoken by nearly 50...

51 Things to do While Waiting for the Plane to Dakar

Katie Dodge

2017-09-07

1.     Go pee. 2.     While peeing, think about how you won’t be using toilet paper for the next eight months. 3.     Try to calm the rising panic in your stomach as you imagine your life without toilet paper. 4.     Go for a walk around the terminal. 5.     Charge your phone. 6.     Second-guess every decision you have...