Enjoying the company of some of our Keur Soce based staff. We have a great team on the ground in Senegal who are incredibly knowledgeable and fun to be around.
Thanks to the incredible generosity that our community showed last year at our fall gala fundraiser and through our year-end giving campaign, we are able to hit the ground running in 2023! I am currently in Senegal working with the team to finalize plans for our yearly projects which will include at least four new gardens, a health post, and two new schools.
Seynabou, one of our technicians, will manage our new STEM focused teaching garden at Keur Soce High School.
At the request of Keur Soce High School, we are also building our first ever school garden this year. The administration wanted to improve their science curriculum, and together we decided that a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) focused teaching garden, with an integrated aquaculture system, would help to give students valuable skills for their educational and professional careers.
Gorgui, a technician in Podor, is our new regional Tree Program Manager and will oversee the construction of a new permanent tree nursery and training center in Podor.
Seynabou Ndao, one of our phenomenal technicians who we profiled last year, will manage the project and help teachers to develop a new garden-centered STEM curriculum. Seynabou has a degree in physics and chemistry from the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, and we are so excited to see the positive impact she will have as a resource and role model for students.
In Podor another one of our technicians Alassane Ba, who goes by Gorgui, is stepping up as our new regional Tree Program Manager. This year we are constructing a permanent tree nursery and training center in Podor in order to combat severe deforestation and desertification in the region. Our tree nursery and Gorgui’s work will help to strengthen our gardens and the ecology of our partner communities against the effects of climate change.
It’s a joy to be able to share not only our exciting projects for the coming year, but also how our staff is growing as they take the lead to improve our programs in Senegal. We are so proud of them! Your continued support makes this, and everything Andando does, possible. Jerejef - thank you!