Fellow Stories
True gap year stories from Fellows abroad!
Check out the latest blogs from Global Citizen Year Fellows in Brazil, Ecuador, and India!
Category
Class Year
Country
The Floor
Allie Wallace
2012-11-14
Before I came to Senegal, I was fairly detached from the floor, or as detached as gravity allows. The floor was a convenient place to keep chairs and tables and trash cans and other such useful items. It was a chore, always needing to be vacuumed, swept or mopped. I never gave it much thought...
Read MoreThe First Day
Kevin Do
2012-11-13
I woke up to the sound of roosters cockle-doodle-dooing and saw myself surrounded by little white strings woven together to create my mosquito net, but past that I saw an unfamiliar ceiling. The ceiling to my new room. I woke up at eight and was greeted by many ” A Finii e jamm?” which in Pulaar literally means,...
Read MoreVideo of my first two weeks in Senegal
Jordan Ricker
2012-10-30
You can watch my video on YouTube by clicking here!
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The mothers of Keur Dioba
Jordan Ricker
2012-10-26
Just the other day I traveled with Marisa (another Fellow) and two people from my Apprenticeship to a village called Keur Dioba that was about 20-25km outside of Mboro, the town in which I’m currently living. We went to a children’s school in the afternoon and there was an after-hours program for adults going on....
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Time has Fallen Asleep in the Afternoon Sunshine
Emma Anderson
2012-10-26
Once upon a time, two young global citizens named Aissatou and Aminta, thoroughly exhausted with the prospects of chilling in their respective Senegalese family’s compounds all day, decided to go on an adventure. Their illustrious plan was to meet at a particularly convenient hotspot and from there catch a bus to a small village approximately...
Read MoreThe ‘Girl’ Effect
Alison Rivera
2012-10-26
I met this one girl in Dakar. She was cool; she took me out dancing one night. Brazen would not describe her but the slang word “sassy” will. Her false name is going to be Alpha; not exactly a pseudonym since the name perfectly describes her. Catholic, Senegalese, single mother were my very first impressions....
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A Village of Their Own
Emily Ford
2012-10-23
1993. A special year for planet Earth, for I was brought into this world. It also happens to be the year my host sister, Daba, was born. I seemingly won the geographic lottery by being born in the U.S., while the cosmic forces fated that Daba should be dropped down in the village of Medina...
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Reflections Eternal
Annie Schwandner
2012-10-20
I’m living in a village named Sebikotane. Technically it is the outer, outer rim of Dakar, Senegal. But if it were up to me, I would place them in different galaxies. Although this village has 25,000 people and a paved main road, it is incredibly different than Dakar. Differences can be caused by many factors; geography, socio-economic standings, how...
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Dafa Tang
Olivia Hill
2012-10-16
When I told my host family in Dakar that I would be going to Kebemer there were no words of encouragement. “Tres difficile” my host grandma said to me as she shook her head and wagged her finger, “not Dakar.” As the exchange of gestures and a few words went on I started to get...
Read MoreA Roaring Peace
Cheyenne Tessier
2012-10-10
The voice coming out of the television screams. French. 1 million words per minute: Protests. Riots. The American Ambassador, killed in the Libyan embassy. I tune in, as my family continues to nonchalantly eat Ceebu Jen from the communal bowl. An American. A Youtube video. September 11th. “Innocence of Muslims.” A blur of confusion. I...
Read MoreDakar
Israel Nelson
2012-10-10
It’s not every day you see a woman carrying a bucket on her head. It’s definitely not every day you see a woman with a bucket on her head dressed in western clothing. And it’s definitely not every day you see this woman with a bucket on her head walking down the road in western clothing texting on her...
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Discovering the Unknown
Joe Wolf
2012-10-10
Before embarking on this journey across the world, I knew very little about Africa, Senegal, and especially Senegal’s capital, Dakar. This experience as a whole will be about discovering the many unknowns of these places. I have lived in Dakar for the past month. It has been interesting, exciting, and unforgettable. After a long eight hour flight from...
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