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
Awa is…
Megan White
2011-10-05
It’s easy to feel competent. Easy, that is, until you find yourself spending the week in a Senegalese village with only a basic knowledge of Wolof and no Western toilet! During my first week of village life, my name became Awa, after the first of my father’s two wives, and my journal became my new best...
Read More
Mangi Fi Rekk – I’m here
Lukas Brenard
2011-10-04
Hey everyone, Asalam malekum, I probably didn’t spell it right but it means, “peace be upon you and upon you be peace”. There are a lot of pains made here to ensure ones individual peace and many questions in Wolof are answered smilingly with the phrase “Jamm Rekk” – peace only. I have never felt...
Read More
A New Perspective on Islam
Paulina Personius
2011-10-03
In the US talk of Islam and Muslims in general often comes alongside talk of war and violence. At home the news talks about Muslims as terrorists and makes it seem as if the majority of them are extreme jihadists. Here in Senegal I have discovered a new, very peaceful version of Islam that vastly...
Read More
Catching the Monkey
Charlotte Benishek
2011-10-03
Of all the Wolof words and phrases I learned during my one week stay in Leona, the village where I will work and live this year, I can easily identify that which I’ve seen most represented in the Senegalese psyche. “Ndank a ndank,” or little by little, was a constant refrain during my stay. Actually,...
Read More Africa Contains Multitudes
Emily Hanna
2011-10-01
“Ami! Aminata! Viens ici! Come here!” My 18-year-old Senegalese sister Aicha, calls for me, then, unsatisfied with my speed, pulls me from my room and plops me down in front of the television. “You won’t believe this” she tells me in French. A documentary is playing on TV, narrated in hushed tones by a solemn French actor,...
Read More
Senegalese Nightlife
Elias Estabrook
2011-09-26
“Alhamduliliay!” I say, with a sigh of relief, as my brother, Djibril, and I arrive at home from our long run through the dark yet lively streets of Dakar. He laughs at my Wolof, an Arabic saying meaning “Thanks be to God (Allah).” For once the power is still on at my family’s compound, a collection...
Read More My Baby Steps
Lucy Blumberg
2011-09-16
I am like a baby: I can’t eat without assistance, I can barely speak in complete sentences, I won’t sleep through the night, and for the first few days here in Dakar I couldn’t walk two blocks without my feet catching on a stray piece of concrete or rubbish. All of my senses were assaulted...
Read More
“It’s Great”
Erica Anderson
2011-09-16
In the process of keeping sporadic correspondence with my family and friends at home in the States, a lot of people have been asking me, “so how is Senegal?” There could not be a more unanswerable question; it feels approximately equivalent to being asked “what is the meaning of life?” Sometimes I choose to respond...
Read More
Luxurious?
Emily Hanna
2011-09-14
Since arriving in Senegal, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the concepts of privilege and luxury, and how drastically their definitions can change depending upon one’s environment. Personally, my perception of what constitutes a “luxury” has shifted dramatically since my immersion into Senegalese culture. There are material aspects of of this duality of luxury, of course;...
Read More My Friend Dan, the Hippo
Madeline Ripa
2011-09-13
The moment I stepped off the plane in Dakar was the first time I set foot on foreign soil. I’ve been experiencing culture shock every since then, and am loving every minute of it! With that said, I’ve had a few misunderstandings, mistranslations, and overall struggles. The following is a compilation of them all. ...
Read More
Care for some Tea?
Samuel Parson
2011-09-12
…Let me fire some up for you. So as you can see, the ways things go in Senegal do not go the same way as things in the US. If you didn’t know Senegal is a third-world country where our every-day conveniences like electric stove tops, cars, and even toilet paper along with so many...
Read More
Time Spent Pondering
Brian Baylor
2011-09-10
As I take my Siesta time, reminiscing rather than sleeping, my mind is racing, wondering what to think of it all thus far. I flash back to a “Fellow” and I, searching for his house, wandering aimlessly, confused on what was left and right in a district in Dakar known as S.I.C.A.P Mermoz. In our...
Read More