Water for Sénobowal: A Milestone Worth Celebrating

We’re thrilled to share some big news: the new deep borehole well in Sénobowal is complete!

Drilling is finished, the pipes are installed, and our pumping test confirms what we’d hoped, a strong, clean, and abundant water source ready to transform daily life for more than 5,000 people and over 30,000 livestock across Sénobowal and ten surrounding villages.

The new borehole in Senobowal is producing an abundant amount of clean water, which will transform daily life for the entire village and the surrounding ten villages that rely on them for water.

This project has been a long time coming, with many starts and stops over the past year. But the water crisis in Sénobowal didn’t begin last year. It has been building for decades.

Everyone (big and small) was eager to fill their containers once news spread that we had hit water.

Context: Why This Matters
Sénobowal is one of the oldest villages in the Diéri region of northern Senegal, a dry pastoral zone south of the Senegal River. The people here are Fulani herders (known locally as Peulh) who have sustained themselves for generations through seasonal livestock migration.

Historically, many Peulh families moved between the dry grasslands of the Diéri and the fertile floodplains of the Senegal River, called the Walo, depending on the season. But as farmland expanded and populations grew, many communities were forced to settle in one area. The people of Sénobowal chose to remain in the Diéri and continue their herding traditions. But to do so, they needed water.

Senobowal already had a substantial water tower that just needed upgrades to the well and pump system. With these upgrades, they now have a dependable water supply that will help them remain on their ancestral lands.

More than 100 years ago, the village dug a 60-meter well by hand, an incredible feat in and of itself, which served the community and passing herders for decades. But in recent years, climate change has shortened the rainy season and lowered the water table. The old well structure began to fail, and the water became unsafe. A mini borehole installed later helped for a time, but it was too small for the population’s needs. Despite a strong local water committee, which replaced broken pumps and even upgraded the system to solar on their own, they simply couldn’t keep up with the constant maintenance costs stemming from overheating pumps in an undersized well.

Andando staff talking with leaders of Senobowal in the shade of the newly constructed health clinic. By listening and partnering with the community, we can identify the best solutions to meet their needs - together!

We first got to know Sénobowal while partnering with the village to build a rural health clinic. It quickly became clear that without reliable water, the clinic could not provide the safe births and basic services the community deserved. Together with local leaders, we made emergency repairs to their troublesome mini borehole as a stopgap measure while we raised the funds to drill a brand-new, deep borehole well, wide enough to support a high-capacity solar pump that will be installed next month.

What’s Next: Help Us Launch the Women’s Garden!
With the well in place and water secured, the next step is a women’s cooperative garden that will provide food, income, and stability for 125 women and their families.

The women are organized. The land is ready. But the garden infrastructure, fencing, watering basins, tools, and seeds, still needs funding.  Once completed, this garden will not only help to bolster nutrition, and improve livelihoods, it will help this remote population to remain on their ancestral lands in the face of mounting challenges. 

Gardens can help keep kids in school. In other communities with a women’s cooperative garden, pastoral families have reported that having reliable food and income helps women and children remain in their villages - kids can stay in school and mothers can stay close to healthcare!

In recent years, the seasonal migration that used be brief and local has turned into an exhausting five-month journey, stretching hundreds of miles south in search of adequate pasture. Without enough food in the village, many women and children have had to join the migration, pulling kids out of school and placing huge strain on families.

As we saw in our partner village of Belel Kelle (click for article), a women’s garden can offer another path.

With reliable food and income from produce grown locally, women and children can remain in the village year-round. Kids can stay in school, mothers can stay close to healthcare, and with water now available just minutes from home, girls and women no longer need to spend hours each day hauling water, time they can now use to learn, grow food, or rest.  A thriving village with more year-round residents also means that we can begin working with the village to reforest their lands and fight back the ever-encroaching desert.

Our community helped bring water to Sénobowal, and the joy and relief were unmistakable, with smiles, laughter, and celebration as the first water flowed. Now, let’s take the next step, and help ensure the families of Sénobowal can grow, thrive, and stay rooted on their land for generations to come.

Want to help?

Fish to Table: On the Edge of the Sahara

In only a few short months, the women’s cooperative garden of Mbantou Croissement is enjoying their FIRST fish harvest!

The Mbantou Croissement Garden was established in 2018 and has a storied history of firsts:

• Andando’s first garden in the northern Podor region of Senegal

• The first of our gardens in the region to reach 1 million CFA in savings (approx. $1,700 USD) and enter into our 50/50 cost sharing agreement

• One of the first two gardens in the Podor region to add aquaculture to their garden

• And finally the first of our new aquaculture gardens to harvest their fish!

Due to their continued success and dedication, and thanks to a generous grant from Tomberg Family Philanthropies, Mbantou Croissement installed an integrated aquaculture set-up in their garden in 2024.

Construction workers forming the basin walls for the Mbantou Croissement Garden fish tanks.

We learned a lot since our initial aquaculture pilot program in 2021! Using feedback from the women and our local horticultural technicians, we implemented a new basin design that facilitates a self-sustaining rotation of fish production and breeding.

The fish basin at Mbantou Croissement includes steps that make it easier for the women to monitor fish health as well as harvest mature fish and transfer juvenile fish.

While the women waited for the basins to be completed, they participated in hands-on training at the Andando Keur Soce Training Center. This included both technical lessons on water quality testing, and feeding schedules over the course of production, as well practical hands-on field visits to our existing aquaculture gardens where they could practice harvesting, sorting, and transferring fish.

Aquaculture training at Andando’s Keur Soce Training Center.

After completing their training and receiving all the equipment and supplies they needed, the women of Mbantou Croissement were ready, and eager to get started.

The women of Mbantou Croissement proudly showing their equipment and supplies. They are ready to start fish farming!

In November, they received their starter set of fish fingerlings from Senegal’s Aquaculture Authority. Equipped with the knowledge, skills, resources, and support they needed for success, the women courageously took on the new challenge of growing fish in northern Senegal, on the edge of the Sahara Desert.

Releasing tilapia fingerlings into the fish basins.

Just last week, they celebrated their FIRST fish harvest! Along with vegetables grown in the garden, they enjoyed a delicious meal of “yassa jënn” (rice and fish with onion sauce and vegetables) using all locally sourced ingredients! This really is “Fish to Table.”

A successful first fish harvest! The women clean the fish to make a delicious meal featuring vegetables from their garden.

Why is this important?
Aquaculture is a fantastic addition to our agroforestry model. Each of our pilot gardens have reported a dramatic increase in their harvest yields and profits - and all of this with a ZERO net increase in water use! That means they are growing more nutritionally dense crops, yielding higher volumes, benefiting from fresh quality fish, and increasing their household revenue without changing their water consumption!

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Clean Water Access for Indigenous Communities in Senegal!

UPDATE: April 2025

The Village Chief of Senobowal shares about the water crisis his people are facing. Senobowal is centrally located and provides water for more than 40 smaller villages surrounding it. The existing water system is not able to keep up with the demand, and as a result people have to wait in line to fill up their water cart before returning back to their village.

Senobowal already has a substantial water tower and we are upgrading the well and pump system so they will have a dependable water supply!! This is just Phase 1. Phase 2 is to install a women's cooperative garden, but we need your help.

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Original: July 17, 2024 (View on GoFundMe)

Andando invites you to join us in transforming the lives of the people of Senobowal, along with 40 surrounding remote villages in northern Senegal, West Africa by funding a critical water infrastructure project and establishing a women’s cooperative garden. This project will provide vital lasting solutions to water scarcity, food insecurity, and economic hardship, for over 5,000 people in the region, creating a brighter future for generations to come.

The Problem: Why Senobowal Families Need Your Help
Senobowal’s location as a pastoral center and remote water source has made it a critical regional resource for more than 150 years. All told over 5,000 people and 30,000 livestock rely on Senobowal as their primary water resource.

Unfortunately families here have struggled with severe water shortages for years. Their primary water source, an ancient hand-dug well, is no longer potable, and the only other water source, a "mini borehole" intended for a hand pump, cannot meet the village's needs.

For nearly a year residents of Senobowal had to rely on water brought in by donkey cart from a well six miles away.

Without a reliable water supply, the villagers face significant hardships, especially during the harsh dry season. Year after year residents have tried to resolve the problem themselves by purchasing electric pumps run with diesel generators, but their small existing borehole was never intended to accommodate this level of infrastructure, so they have been plagued with insufficient water, and costly breakdowns. The most recent breakdown in 2023 left the village without water for 11 months forcing villagers to travel long distances to collect water from unsanitary open wells in other villages.

Aida, Midwife at Senobowal

“Here we are in a dry area, a very dry area. We do not have enough water. It’s very dry. We are not close to the river, we are not close to anything. We are depending on the rainy season.”

— Aida, Midwife at Seno Bowal

Andando first partnered with Senobowal in 2023 to build a vital remote community health center and maternity ward. Infant and maternal mortality are devastatingly high in remote regions and ensuring access to clean water at this isolated facility is crucial for supporting the health and well-being of dozens of villages.

he new health post constructed in 2023 includes clean running water. But with the recent water troubles, healthcare professionals have to make do with limited resources.

Without immediate intervention, the villagers of Senobowal and the surrounding communities face worsening water scarcity, further economic hardship, and potential displacement from their ancestral lands.

The Solution: A NEW Borehole Well, Solar Pump System, and Cooperative Garden
The good news is the problem can be solved! We urgently seek your support to drill a new, properly sized deep borehole well and install a powerful sustainable solar pump system and women’s cooperative garden.

Thanks to previous investments the village already has a substantial water tower and by upgrading their well and pump system to an appropriate scale we will ensure a stable, long-term water supply for Senobowal and the 10 surrounding communities who depend on them for water.

Senobowal's water tower which has the potential to provide water for the surrounding villages once hooked up to an appropriately sized pump.

The new system will provide sufficient water for daily use, livestock, the health facility, and agricultural activities-- transforming life in the village!

Your Impact Will:

• Improve water access for over 5,000 people and 30,000 livestock
  Increase food security and improved household income for 125 families

• Reduce barriers for children to attend school

• Actively combat climate change through the planting of hundreds of native trees and regenerative permaculture techniques

• Preserve the local culture and build community resilience

Empowering Women and Keeping Kids in School Through Sustainable Gardening
Access to reliable water is just the beginning. We will also establish a women’s cooperative garden which is vital to supporting the health and well-being of the whole village.

Why does a garden matter? Families in this region rely upon their livestock for their livelihood. Traditionally the men will travel with their herds to forage for feed while the women and children remain at home. But in recent years, due to harsh conditions, entire families are forced to travel with the livestock for 6 or even 8 months out of the year! Ultimately, this means children are unable to attend school.

This photo taken from an existing Andando garden demonstrates the potential capacity to grow fresh fruits and vegetables with access to water.

The women of Senobowal came together to request a garden because they want the means to remain at home so that their children don’t have to endure the difficult journey and can attend school. Andando's agriculture program has a proven track record of success with 40 women's cooperative gardens already thriving in other parts of Senegal. These gardens not only provide food security but also offer economic opportunities to women like those in Senobowal who have few alternatives.

Each garden is designed to be self-sustaining, economically and ecologically, after an initial setup period, thanks to comprehensive training and support. The Senobowal garden will follow this model, helping 125 women gain the skills and resources needed to become successful market gardeners. This initiative will improve household incomes, provide tons of nutritious food, and empower the women of Senobowal to build the life they want for their children.

he planting of food-producing and live-fencing trees provides soil-regenerating benefits and ensures that infrastructure will last for generations.

Facing Climate Change Head-On
Andando's gardens are not just about food; they are front-line fighters in the battle against climate change. Using regenerative permaculture techniques, these gardens improve soil fertility, sequester carbon, and rejuvenate local ecosystems. Hundreds of native trees are planted, which are crucial for recharging aquifers and mitigating groundwater loss.

Senobowal's remote location, near Senegal's norther boarder with Mauritania, puts residents here on the front lines of climate change and the devastating encroachment of the Sahara Desert.

Your contribution will make a lasting environmental impact in the Sahel, one of the world's most vulnerable regions to climate change and essential to fighting desertification.

Preserving Culture and Community Resilience
The survival of Seno Bowal is essential not just for its residents, but for the preservation of the Pulaar people's rich cultural heritage. This region of the world is on the front lines of climate change and indigenous populations are vital for maintaining the ecology of the region. The Pulaar people have sustainably managed these lands for hundreds of years. With their traditional knowledge and sustainable land management practices they are essential partners in our shared fight against climate change.

The Pulaar people have a rich and vibrant cultural heritage. By investing in water and agriculture, they will be able to stay on their ancestral lands and continue to fight desertification.

Ensuring access to water, food security, economic opportunities, and a dignified quality of life, will help maintain their presence on their ancestral lands, providing immeasurable environmental and cultural benefits to this region and the world at large.

Our Approach and Plan
Andando approaches every project as equal partners with each community. What we provide in terms of infrastructure and investment is matched and exceeded by the sustained effort put forward by our partners over many years.

This project came about at the request of Senobowal after more than a year of discussions, and investigations in the village, involving all stakeholders, including village leaders, women’s groups, surrounding villages, and the regional hydrological authority.

The total cost of the project is as follows:

• Drilling a new borehole well: $20,800

• Solar pump system and plumbing: $10,700

• Garden infrastructure (Watering basins, fencing, latrine, startup equipment): $13,000

• Technical and material support for the first two years (daily support from a locally trained garden technician, seeds, native trees): $6,000

Total Cost: $50,500

As of the launching of this campaign, Andando has secured $23,135 of dedicated funding for this project, so we only need to raise $27,365 in order to say yes to the people of Senobowal and help them secure a brighter future for themselves and their families.

Your Immediate Action Will Make a Difference
Your donation will directly fund the drilling of a new borehole well, the installation of the solar pump system, and the establishment of the women’s garden. Every dollar brings us closer to our goal, providing a sustainable future for Seno Bowal and more than 5,000 people.

Join us in this urgent mission to transform lives, protect the environment, and preserve vital cultural heritage. Your support will create a ripple effect of positive change, impacting generations to come- because every family deserves the opportunity to build a brighter future filled with hope, opportunity, and abundance.

About Andando:
Andando is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit with decades of experience working in rural Senegal. The word Andando in the local Wolof language means walking together, and this has always been at the heart of our methodology.

For over 15 years, Andando has led programs in water, sanitation, agriculture, education, health, and microfinance in two rural regions of Senegal: Kaolack and Podor. Learn more about our agriculture initiative along with our other community-driven programs at www.andando.org

Donate today and make a life-saving difference!

Planting Hope: A Climate-Resilient Future for Senegal —and the World

For our partners in rural Senegal, climate change is not an abstract threat—it is their daily reality. The heat is more intense, the rains more unpredictable, and the land more vulnerable than ever before. And yet, in the face of these challenges, communities are leading the charge to plant trees as a proactive step toward long-term resilience.

Trees are invaluable community assets against the harshest effects of climate change. They sequester carbon, regenerate degraded soil, provide shade, protect crops, and make communities more livable. Andando’s partners understand this deeply and it is their desire to restore lands and secure a brighter future which is fueling our push to plant more trees than ever before.

One of the most significant achievements this year was the opening of a new tree nursery in Senegal’s northern Podor region—a direct response to the growing demand for trees. This is the only nursery of its kind in the area, providing trees free of charge for reforestation, community beautification, and the continued expansion of Andando’s women’s garden initiative.

Tens of thousands of seedlings are propagated in our two regional tree nurseries and then distributed throughout the region.

Podor sits on the frontlines of desertification, with extreme heat and dry, sandy soil that make tree propagation a challenge. Yet, despite these conditions, community members see the need and potential for tree planting in the area and worked with Andando to make this production facility a reality. With support from Rick Steves’ Climate Smart Commitment and in collaboration with local leadership, Andando drilled a deep borehole well, installed a solar pump system, and built essential infrastructure, including fencing and shade structures. This vital new facility is already proving invaluable—not just for trees but for local residents who now rely on it for clean drinking water during municipal shortages.

A member of the Togane Garden planting a live-fence seedling which will help to create a permanent barrier against livestock and harsh winds.

With fully operational tree nurseries, now in both of our regions, Andando began working this year with our partners to plant tens of thousands of trees in women’s gardens, schools, health clinics, and partner villages, as well as providing trees to hundreds of individuals and farmers, helping to improve livelihoods and quality of life. In schools and health centers, these trees provide shade and create a cooler, more comfortable environment for students and patients. In villages, they beautify homes and public spaces. And on farms and in women’s gardens, they increase yields, secure soil, and form critical live fences and windbreaks that protect crops from livestock and an increasingly unpredictable climate.

Trees planted in gardens, schools, health centers, and public spaces not only create a cooler environment, they also pull C02 from the atmosphere.

This movement isn’t just about restoring landscapes in Senegal though, it is part of a much larger global fight against climate change. Each tree planted serves as a frontline defense, pulling CO₂ from the atmosphere and storing it safely in the ground. Our partners are making meaningful contributions to the global fight against climate change, and perhaps even more importantly, they are doing so on their own terms, ensuring that their lands are restored in ways that not only serve the environment but their family’s needs as well.

We are honored to stand with our partners in this effort and are grateful for the ongoing support that will allow us to expand tree planting and reforestation efforts to even more communities next year. Together, we are creating a more resilient future for Senegal—and the world.

How a School Garden is Transforming STEM Learning in Keur Soce

The construction of Keur Soce High School stands as one of Andando’s greatest achievements. Before this school existed, students faced a difficult choice: move to a distant city to continue their education or see their academic journey end prematurely. Today, nearly 1,000 students per year have the opportunity to continue learning close to home, contributing to Senegal’s national goal of “Access for All” in education.

Madame Marone teaching Geography and French to the freshman and sophomore classes at the new Keur Soce High School.

But access is only the first step, the quality of education is equally important. This year, Keur Soce High School’s faculty, in partnership with Andando, took a bold step forward by establishing a STEM teaching garden, designed to give students hands-on learning experiences that deepen their understanding of science, business, and leadership.

Keur Soce Schools Leadership along with Andando field staff determining the best location for the STEM teaching garden (January 2023).

Early construction on the integrated aquaculture basins, part of the STEM Teaching Garden at Keur Soce High School (May 2023).

A perennial challenge for schools around the world is finding practical, real-world teaching resources that connect classroom lessons to the environments where students live and learn. It turns out that a garden is the perfect teaching tool; it allows students to observe natural sciences in action, apply accounting and business principles, and develop leadership skills through managing production and collaborating with classmates. With this vision in mind, Andando secured funding from the International Foundation to make Keur Soce High School Garden a reality.

“Before, students had to rely on lectures and textbooks alone to understand science concepts. Now, they step into the garden and see the process firsthand. They watch as a seed germinates, observe how the soil interacts with roots, and connect theory to reality in a way that makes learning stick.”

— Mr Toure, Math and Science Teacher at Keur Soce High School

Recognizing the challenge of managing a new pilot project, we assigned one of our most skilled horticultural technicians, Seynabou Ndao, to oversee the project. Seynabou holds a degree in Physics and Chemistry from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar and is not only an expert in the field but also a role model for students, especially young women, who may not have considered agriculture as a path to success.

“At first, many students thought agriculture was something for people without other options. But now, they see it differently. They’ve learned how scientific it is, how much potential it holds for business, and how they can build careers in it.”

— Seynabou, Andando Garden Technician

This happy student gives the STEM teaching garden a big thumbs up!

Both faculty and Andando staff wanted to make this garden a cutting-edge resource for students, so we decided to go beyond just a basic school garden and integrate aquaculture production into the design. Fish farming is a growing industry in Senegal, offering significant economic potential for those with the technical skills to succeed. Adding fish production was no easy task, but the effort has paid off—today, Keur Soce High School stands as the only high school in Senegal with an aquaculture training program, giving students a unique advantage and a pathway to opportunity.

Students receive hands-on training to learn the challenging skill of raising fish in the desert. Not only do these lessons cement topics such as science and biology into their learning, but they also provide practical skills, giving these students a unique advantage and pathway to career opportunities.

The new University of Sine Saloum El Hadj Ibrahima Niasse in the regional capital specializes in agriculture, and we are confident that students from Keur Soce will now be better prepared for admission and future careers in this growing field.

Surrounded by sand and dust, the Keur Soce High School STEM Teaching Garden is a lush oasis, full of life. In addition to being a vital teaching resource, the garden also serves as a source of revenue for the school.

From seed to harvest, students learn the life cycle of plants while also benefiting from the nutritious produce they grow in the garden. This student is proudly showing one of many cabbages harvested this day in the teaching garden.

Launching a new school garden with almost 1,000 students participating was a monumental undertaking, but by the end of the first year the results are already incredible. Students and faculty now regularly hold a local farmers market which sells fresh organic produce and fish grown right there on campus. In a demonstration of the incredible productivity of the garden, the school recently hosted a lunch using only ingredients grown and harvested in their own garden.

Farm-to-table: this delicious traditional Senegalese meal features produce and fish grown in the Keur Soce High School STEM Teaching Garden.

Sharing the bounty: students, teachers, and Andando field staff celebrate the first of many successful harvests with a shared meal using only ingredients grown in the school garden.

Farm-to-table at a high school? That would be impressive anywhere in the world—but in a rural Senegalese school where students and faculty face so many challenges, it’s extraordinary.

Profits from sales are being set aside for a committee of faculty, parents, and students to decide how best to reinvest the funds to improve the school while ensuring the garden’s sustainability. However, the school has already made its first investment: a new scholarship program. Students who demonstrate exceptional leadership in the garden will have their school fees fully covered the next year; a powerful reward that recognizes their hard work and invests in their future.

Some of the nearly 1,000 students participating in the STEM Teaching Garden at Keur Soce High School.

With this incredible first year completed, Keur Soce High School Garden is now a permanent fixture of the school, and it will only grow stronger and more productive in the years ahead. Andando is now refining this model with the hope of expanding to other schools in the future, bringing hands-on education and economic opportunities to even more students. We are so proud of everyone involved in this project and what they have achieved for themselves and the educational possibilities in Senegal.

From the Director - February 2025

People often ask us about Andando’s “magic formula”—how do we continue to succeed where so many development projects struggle? I wish I could say it’s pure talent, but in truth, more often it’s diligence. We are constantly listening, learning, and adapting.

The new aquaculture fish farming basins are complete in our Mboyo Walo partner garden. The women here are quickly mastering this difficult new skill.

Take our women’s gardens, for example. To ensure their long-term sustainability, we’ve recently focused on improving financial literacy and savings. Last year alone, these gardens collectively added nearly $8,500 to their savings accounts, bringing the total balance to an impressive $41,000. And that’s on top of individual profits! The addition of fish farming has helped contribute to these results, and we’re thrilled to report that our two newest aquaculture pilot gardens are thriving, with their first harvest just a few months away!

The new pharmacist at the Paymar rural health clinic proudly displaying their full stock of medications and supplies, ready to serve members of their community.

Another example of diligence is our partner health clinic in Paymar, where the community has pooled resources to hire a new nurse and pharmacist to expand services; however, their efforts are hindered by a damaged roof. By continuing to monitor past projects and listen to partners, we can now help to resolve this issue with a new roof and possible expansion of the facility as well.

The leaders of the Haffé women’s garden sitting on the newly constructed watering basin. Soon they will transform this degraded landscape into a verdant oasis to support their families.

Lastly, I’d like to introduce you to our newest garden partners in the village of Haffé, near Keur Socé. This community has faced immense challenges establishing their garden, from flooding that delayed the project to a well that partially collapsed right when production was set to begin. However, through close collaboration with the women, village leaders, and local government, we were able to assist them in overcoming each hurdle, leaving the group of 220 women more determined and empowered than ever to start their garden.

Your diligent support of Andando allows us to continue to do this work the right way and create lasting change.

A New Year of Hope

Dear Andando Supporters,

As we settle into the new year, and all that it brings, we want to say thank you again to everyone who gave to our year-end giving drive, which came hot on the heels of our most successful fall auction EVER! Together these two campaigns raised an incredible $98,427 to strengthen communities across rural Senegal!

The women of Korkadji are rebuilding their garden (and much of their village) after it was devastated by floods last year.

It’s this spirit of global collaboration, building a thriving world together, that fuels our hope for what lies ahead. Every day, I’m inspired by the resilience of our partners in Senegal, like the women of Korkadji, pictured above, whose garden and much of their village was devastated by floods last year. The unwavering commitment of people like you means that Andando can provide increased assistance to Korkadji this year to help them to recover and thrive.

From individual moments of support like this to our large-scale agriculture, education, healthcare and environmental initiatives, together, we are helping our partners to build brighter futures. We are excited to carry this momentum through 2025, and we can’t wait to share the new projects and opportunities on the horizon. Thank you for being an essential part of this journey.

With gratitude,

Garrison Harward
Executive Director

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In 2024 together we:

• Planted over 29,000 trees in partner gardens, schools, health clinics, and villages.

• Supported 39 women’s gardens and 1 school garden, producing over 450,000 pounds of produce and generating $152,000 in profits for over 4,500 participants.

• Extended aquaculture fish farming to two gardens in Podor.

• Constructed or renovated bathrooms at 3 new partner schools.

• 20 partner schools and over 7,000 students now benefit from improved infrastructure and sanitation facilities.

• Provided 300 microloans to farmers and small businesses, with 100% repayment!

• Constructed and equipped a new vital health clinic in the remote village of Mbida in Podor, expanding healthcare access for thousands.

• Supported 15 partner health clinics that provided 14,127 healthcare visits, including 288 babies born in a safe, sanitary environment with qualified health staff.

Branching Out: Tree Planting and Social Resilience

Andando’s Keur Socé Tree Nursery supporting Senegal’s National Tree Day with the contribution of 750 trees!

Thanks to support from the Rick Steves’ Climate Smart Commitment Andando’s two tree nurseries, in Keur Socé and Podor, are now producing tens of thousands of native and fruit trees each year to support partner gardens, schools, health centers, and microloan recipients.

Our team has embraced the challenge of expanding tree planting in partner communities, and their efforts are not going unnoticed. The government’s Water and Forest Guard recently asked Andando to provide trees and logistical support for Senegal’s National Tree Day, and we are now an officially accredited Civil Society Organization with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification!

Tree project coordinator, Francois, with Technician Badiane inside the Keur Socé Tree Nursery. So far this year, our tree program has produced 48,092 trees.

Andando is stepping up in the fight against climate change while keeping the same people-centered approach that has always guided us. The scale of tree planting needed in Senegal alone is daunting. It will take millions upon millions of trees, which must be produced, transported, planted, cared for, and protected to maturity. This monumental undertaking not only requires community buy-in, but in a larger sense for there to be communities present who have the people and means to participate in these efforts.

Thanks to Rick Steves’ Climate Smart Commitment for generously supporting this project!

Andando staff loading tree saplings for a tree planting day in Togane. Our Regional Tree Nurseries provide trees for schools, health centers, gardens, and families.

While Andando is not yet on the scale of millions of trees, this is the lens through which we are approaching our contribution and why we believe so strongly in a holistic approach to community development. Our partners in the northern region of Podor have arguably the greatest need for large-scale tree planting, but we can’t bypass their other needs. For tree planting to succeed communities must be strong, which is why we are working to first ensure that villages of indigenous pastoralists have the water, food security, education, and health resources they need to stay on their ancestral lands.

Andando staff loading tree saplings for a tree planting day in Togane. Our Regional Tree Nurseries provide trees for schools, health centers, gardens, and families.

Strengthening these communities is the first step to environmental restoration enabling indigenous populations to participate as powerful partners in our global fight against climate change.

From the Director - September 2024

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly projects can progress once the preparations are in place and the funding arrives. We have a truly stellar team in Senegal, so it didn’t take long to move from breaking ground to opening the doors of our newest rural health center in the village of Mbida. I had the great pleasure of attending the opening ceremony on July 3rd and shortly thereafter the first baby was born there, a little boy whose healthy birth underlines the importance of this resource and the hope and peace of mind that it brings.

The entire village of Mbida, along with representatives from the regional Health Authority in Podor, turned out to celebrate the Grand Opening of the new health center.

More great news out of the Podor region where we are moving forward with the deep borehole well in our partner village of Senobowal. We announced this project in the article “Water for Aida” and have since raised almost half of our funding goal! This means that we can complete the borehole and solar pump system which will bring clean water to over 5,000 people. We still need more support though to add a women’s garden so please check out our GoFundMe campaign and help to spread the word about this amazing project.

Our partners in Senobowal met with Andando recently in the shade of their health center to finalize details for the borehole and garden.

In the first expansion of our pilot Aquaculture project, we recently broke ground on two new sets of fish basins in our Mboyo Walo and Mbantou Croissement partner gardens. Both gardens worked hard to join the project and we can’t wait to see the joy it will bring when they harvest their first fish right out of their own garden. We hope to expand this project in the coming years so more of our partners can gain access to improved nutrition and income.

Construction is nearly complete on our new aquaculture basins with fish set to arrive in October!

Andando is growing all the time, but we are still nimble and responsive to funding. Your support makes a difference and allows us to move projects like these forward to make an immediate difference in the lives of rural families in Senegal.

Water for Aida

“It takes a village” might be a phrase which originated in Africa, but it’s become an accepted sentiment in our modern society: no matter where you call home, everyone depends on a vast ecosystem of support for all aspects of our lives. Personal effort makes a difference, but when one or more societal infrastructures are lacking it’s all too easy for any amount of effort to fail to lift people out of poverty.

Aida Mbaye has served as the midwife in her village of Seno Bowal for over 25 years.

This is exactly what the village of Seno Bowal is facing. You may recall that last year we constructed a vitally needed health post here which was an immediate success… that is until their water tower broke down. A health post without clean running water isn’t much help. Thankfully they were able to find a temporary solution, but their water situation remains perilous.

For nearly a year residents of Seno Bowal had to rely on water brought in by donkey cart from a well six miles away.

“Here we are in a dry area, a very dry area. We do not have enough water. It’s very dry. We are not close to the river, we are not close to anything. We are depending on the rainy season.
”

— Aida, Midwife at Seno Bowal

Lack of water prevents Aida from serving her community, but an even bigger problem is that the community cannot survive without water. Water is life!

Mother and daughter walking outside the village of Seno Bowal.

Bodiel Fall (left), representative of the village chief, first alerted Andando to the issue and helped to develop our planned intervention.

Seno Bowal is the water source for 10 villages and over 5,000 people, along with an additional 30,000 livestock! It is a vital regional resource, but unfortunately, they have struggled with insufficient water and breakdowns for years.

The good news is that the problem is solvable! The constant breakdowns stem from piecemeal temporary fixes which never addressed the root cause of the problem: an undersized well which simply can’t meet the demand.

Seno Bowal’s water tower, which has the potential to provide water for 10 villages and over 5,000 people!

We need your help to get water for Aida and her community.

We can drill a new deep borehole well which will solve this problem once and for all! Once the water problem is solved, we can then install a market garden which will not only provide year-round food for all 2,200 residents of Seno Bowal, but also help them remain on their ancestral lands.

Photo Caption: Members of Seno Bowal who will benefit from a new well and market garden that will allow them to remain on their ancestral lands.

How can we help?

We need to raise $50,000 to fix the water problem and install a new market garden. Will you walk alongside Aida so she can continue to provide quality medical care to her village and not have to worry if the water will turn on?

From the Director - April 2024

Greetings from Senegal! I am currently here working with the our team to finalize our projects for 2024, so stay tuned to hear about all the exciting new partnerships that your support is making possible.

Thiam, Andando’s Podor Programs Manager, meeting with the village of Mbida to formalize our partnership to build a new health post.

In the meantime, we have some incredible news out of Podor where we have broken ground on our 15th health post in the remote village of Mdiba! This project has been in the works for a long time, and thanks to your incredible support during our year-end giving campaign, along with the continued generosity of Hub City Church, we were able to say yes to this community! We gave them the good news over the phone, but the conversation didn’t get very far as everyone started cheering and celebrating.

This currently barren land will be the site of another life-changing health post. What is now dusty and dry will become a bright, cheerful, and safe place for expectant mothers to give birth with the support of experienced midwives.

Andando’s newest partner garden in Wouro Kelle is off to an incredible start harvesting over 5,000 lbs. of produce already in their very first season! Their dedication and hard work is proof of how much our partners value this opportunity and why we must keep pushing into more remote and underserved areas where few if any other NGO’s are operating.

Fatou Sékke shows off her harvest for the day. Over 5,000 pounds of produce has already been harvested by the women of Wouro Kelle in their very first season!

“We are really happy with this garden. We grow so many vegetables and all organic. We notice now our health is improving.”

— Fatou Ibra Sékke

Lastly, thanks to the help of Rick Steves Climate Smart Commitment, our tree nurseries in both Podor and Keur Soce are starting to produce tens of thousands of native tree seedlings to support our gardens and regional reforestation efforts. Climate change is hitting Senegal hard, and our partner communities have asked us to help them to regreen the Sahel. We could not be happier to be able to support them in this ambitious goal.

All of Andando’s partner communities are coming together this year with the goal of planting 100,000 trees!

Thank you for everything that you are doing to help our partner communities to thrive.

Aquaculture: A Game Changer for Market Gardens

The members of our pilot gardens have mastered the aquaculture process, from fish breeding all the way through to harvest.

After two years of diligent work on our pilot aquaculture project, our team and partners agree: it is an absolute game changer for market gardens! We went into this project with high hopes but a healthy dose of skepticism. Would we be able to sustain perpetual production, could we develop sustainable supply chains for fish feed, and what would the impact be on the gardens’ precious water resources?

Carefully tracking the number, weight, and health of the fish enables participants to maximize growth and use fish feed most efficiently.

Watching our partners master the process and slowly answer these questions over the past two years has been incredible. The hard data shows the success in numbers; each of our pilot gardens have increased their yields and profits dramatically, all with zero net increase in water use. More importantly though, the participant testimonials show the real impacts:

“Our children and everyone in the house eats fish from the project now. We get money from the fish, and we use the water to irrigate our crops which helps them to grow. We really see the effect in the garden.”

— Koumba Daga, Irasso Garden participant

“We don’t trust the fish from the market. It comes from the ocean, and we don’t know how old it is. Now we have our own fish right here. We can go now and have it right away and cook it immediately. We thank god for this.”

— Racky Ndiaye, Lamarame Garden participant

Keur Soce High School joined the project as well this year with two fish basins in their new STEM teaching garden, and due to their quick success and all the benefits we’ve seen, Andando is now seeking to integrate fish farming into all of our gardens over the next several years.

Students learning hands-on aquaculture skills at the new STEM teaching garden at Keur Soce High School.

Thanks to a generous grant from The Tomberg Family Philanthropies, we are taking our first steps in this direction by extending the project to two gardens in our Podor region this year. With your support, we can expand even further and help our partners to gain greater food security, nutrition, and financial stability.

A member of the Keur Wack garden shows off her lettuce seedlings. All of our pilot gardens have increased their production of fast growing high value crops.

Andando's Podor Tree Nursery is open for business!

We are thrilled to report that our tree nursery in Podor is now complete! This project is the result of years of planning and coordination with local villages, community leaders, and government agencies who all want to use trees to help fight climate change. Podor is located on Senegal’s northern border with Mauritania, in an ecological transition zone south of the Sahara Desert known as the Sahel. It is a harshly beautiful landscape which is home to nearly 500,000 people who now find themselves on the front lines of climate change. As rainfall patterns change and the oppressive hot season intensifies, reforestation of native trees is one of the most effective tools to hold soil on the land and prevent desertification.

The indigenous communities of the region remember when Podor used to have millions more trees which supported both people and livestock. Andando’s partner communities came together to ask us to help them to “re-green” Podor and this tree nursery is the first step in achieving that ambitious goal. None of this would have been possible without the support of the Rick Steves’ Climate Smart Commitment who awarded Andando a grant to build the infrastructure. We also want to thank the village Chief of Donaye Taredji, Mr. Nazzir, for facilitating the community land donation, along with our amazing field staff who worked so hard to shepherd this project through to completion.

Andando’s partner community of Togane has struggled to start trees locally due to the harsh conditions of the deforested landscape.

Andando received $30,000 from Rick Steves’ Climate Smart Commitment for this project!

The nursery is about half an acre in size with a perimeter chain-link fence, three watering basins and 10 shade structures. We plan to produce roughly 50,000 tree seedlings here each year, which requires a lot of water, so we drilled a 150’ deep borehole well on the property and installed the same solar pump system that we use in our gardens. We are thrilled with how everything turned out, and can’t wait to see this space filled with new tree seedlings!

So what happens now? Completing infrastructure is a great first step, but the end goal isn’t to build things, or even to start seedlings; in order to make a meaningful impact we need to successfully establish hundreds of thousands of native trees in the coming years. Andando cannot and should not do this on our own, so this past December we held meetings with village chiefs and women’s garden leaders from around the region to develop a community driven collaborative reforestation plan which meets the economic, ecological, and cultural goals of all stakeholders in the area. We also engaged in this same process in Keur Soce so that our first tree nursery can ramp up production and make a bigger impact in our partner communities there as well.

Community involvement at all levels of project planning, implementation, and evaluation is essential to Andando’s approach.

The only way that we can achieve our climate goals is by aligning them with the needs and desires of the people living in affected areas.

It has been a long road to get to this point, and we are still only at the beginning, but the possibilities are incredible. The challenges of combatting climate change can feel endless, but today we have one more tool to help us in this fight, and one more big reason for hope.

Slowly but surely the village of Togane is planting trees to help establish their regenerative permaculture garden. This year thanks to the new tree nursery they will plant at least an additional 500 native trees creating a self-sustaining oasis that improves nutrition, household income, and quality of life.

From the Director - January 2024

As we move into another new year, I want to personally thank you for your support. I wish that everyone could see the incredible impacts of our work and hear the gratitude directly from our partner communities, but take a second to read these words and take them in for yourself because YOU helped to make this possible:

“As a midwife I can bear witness, all the new babies born in the village are now at least 7-9 pounds. Malnutrition has left this village; nobody is underfed now. We thank the lord, we thank everyone for this.”

— Mboyo Walo garden member

There are too many wonderful updates and stories to share, so here are just a few highlights since our last update.  Mbadhiou Peulh Primary School opened its doors this fall with three beautifully renovated classrooms and brand-new bathroom facilities.  The teachers there told us that this is the first year that classes were able to start on time with a spot for every student who wanted to enroll.

At Mbadhiou Peulh Primary school, students enjoy the renovated classrooms with enough space for everyone.

At Keur Soce High School our first-ever school garden started their first gardening campaign, which will soon support a school canteen to provide healthy meals to students from remote villages who otherwise wouldn’t have anything to eat during the school day.

Students at Keur Soce High School are improving their food security and learning practical science lessons in their new school garden.

Due to our steadfast commitment to improving access to quality education for over a decade, Andando was recently recognized with an award from Senegal’s National Minister of Education!

Andando representatives (left to right: Thiam, Fiona, Boubou, and Kevin) accepting an award from Senegal’s National Minister of Education for our significant contributions in the education sector for more than a decade.

This past fall Andando was also named as a finalist for the .ORG Impact Awards in Washington DC, out of nearly 1,000 candidates from 70 countries. We are so proud of what we have been able to accomplish together with you and our partner communities and are glad that more people are starting to take notice.

Garrison and Crystal represented Andando at the .ORG Impact Awards held in Washington DC. Andando was a finalize out of over 1,000 nonprofits from 70 different countries!

Thank you again for all you have done to support the people of Senegal and we can’t wait to make an even bigger impact in 2024!

Public Interest Registry Names Andando as 2023 .ORG Impact Awards Finalists, Padma Lakshmi to Host

Public Interest Registry (PIR), the people behind .ORG, named the finalists for the 5th annual .ORG Impact Awards and announced that Padma Lakshmi—activist, author, and host/producer of Hulu’s Taste the Nation—will host the awards ceremony where the winners will be revealed on November 16 in Washington, D.C. The program recognizes and rewards outstanding mission-driven individuals and organizations from around the world for their positive contributions to society.

Andando is named as a finalist in the Community Building category for their outstanding work in Senegal aiding rural communities to break intergenerational cycles of poverty and create lasting positive change especially for women and girls. This is the first time that Andando’s achievements are being recognized at the global level which is both an honor and a great opportunity for a larger audience to engage with their work.

Andando’s women’s gardens, health posts, schools, and microloans work together to help communities to lift themselves out of poverty.

Andando’s holistic, community centered approach to poverty reduction has affected over 50,000 people in some of the most remote and underserved villages in Senegal.  Partnerships last a minimum of 5 years and can include interventions in food security, healthcare, school infrastructure and microfinance, all depending on the needs and desires of each community. To date Andando has constructed and supports 40 women’s cooperative gardens, 65 classrooms, 45 latrines and has distributed over 2,000 microloans.

“We are honored to welcome our 2023 .ORG Impact Award Finalists into our growing community of changemakers, who inspire us to make the world a better place. We created the awards to celebrate those within the .ORG Community who work tirelessly to uplift their communities—and this year’s finalists represent hope for a brighter future” said Jon Nevett, President, and CEO of Public Interest Registry.

From food justice to health advocacy, Lakshmi is a passionate and outspoken advocate in the mission-driven community

“We also are thrilled to have Padma Lakshmi join us to celebrate the immense impact of the OIA finalists, winners, and .ORG community at our awards ceremony. A changemaker herself with an inspiring advocacy background, Padma will bring new energy and celebration to this year’s awards.”

Andando’s Executive Director Garrison Harward along with Development Director Crystal Kelley will travel to the .ORG Impact Awards celebration where the winners will be announced. 35 finalists, out of nearly 1,000 candidates, will attend the ceremony where the .ORG of the year winner will receive a donation of $50,000 with the other category winners each receiving $10,000.  

“It’s an honor to be a finalist for such a prestigious global award. If we are lucky enough to win our category or even .ORG of the Year 100% of the funds will go directly into life changing projects for a new rural community in Senegal. Beyond that though we hope that more people will see what we are doing and want to get involved. The impacts we’re achieving are truly incredible.”

- Garrison Harward, Executive Director

Public Interest Registry (PIR) is a nonprofit that operates the .ORG top-level domain—one of the world’s largest generic top-level domains with more than 10.8 million domain names registered worldwide. .ORG is open to everyone, providing a global platform for organizations, associations, clubs, businesses and individuals to bring their ideas to life. PIR has been a champion for a free and open Internet for two decades with a clear mission to be an exemplary domain name registry, provide a trusted digital identity and help educate those who dedicate themselves to improving our world. PIR was founded by the Internet Society (internetsociety.org) in 2002 and is based in Reston, Virginia, USA. Visit www.TheNew.org for more information.

From the Director - October 2023

·       A potential new partner school in the neighboring commune of Ndiedieng, next to Keur Soce.

40 gardens, 14 health posts, 65 classrooms, 45 latrines, and over 2,000 microloans to date.  These numbers are impressive but what is the real limit of what we can do together?  How many more people can we reach?  How can we grow without losing the personal touch and care that has made Andando so uniquely successful?  What is next for Andando? These are questions that I ask myself constantly and with the completion of our 40th garden this feels like an important moment to step back, take stock, and share our vision for the future.  

Some of the amazing Podor team standing in front of our newly completed tree nursery, which will drastically increase the rate at which we can build new gardens.

It is nothing short of miraculous what Andando has been able to achieve over the past 15 years, but there is still so much more work to do. We’ve been in the incubator together, so to speak, building a community of supporters and developing our methods and partnerships.  What we do works, and we have a moral imperative now to reach as many communities in need as we can.

The incredible Keur Soce team after a strategic planning training this past August.

To this end we are investing in our local staff, who have always been key to our success, building their capacity and giving them the tools and training to tackle larger projects in the future.  We are working with regional government leaders to assess our current impacts and develop long-term plans to address the remaining needs in Keur Soce and Podor. And we are looking for Andando’s next region, or regions, to expand into, where our unique and dedicated approach can impact even more remote and neglected communities.  

Podor Tree Program Manager Alassane Ba (Gorgui), taking our new office computer for a test drive.

We are poised and ready to expand and there has never been a better, or a more needed time to support Andando.  Whether through the auction, monthly contributions, volunteering, or spreading the word, your support is not just another drop in the bucket, it directly impacts what we do every day and how big our vision for the future can be.

“Jéréjëf!” – Thank You!

- Garrison Harward, Executive Director

Celebrating Andando's 40th Garden!

·Women from the Wouro Kelle gather under the shade of the single tree in plot to dance and celebrate the start of the garden. Even out here smart phones are at the ready to record the festivities.

The village of Wouro Kelle in Podor is located in the vast flood plain of the Senegal River, known locally as the Walo. With rich soils and abundant water this land is ideal for rice cultivation, but unfortunately the same yearly floods that the village relies on for farming also causes it to be isolated for much of the year.  A little more than 700 people live here with the closest market town being about 10 miles away. Though the people of Wouro Kelle work hard to provide for their families, circumstances are stacked against them and there is simply not enough access to fresh fruits and vegetables to provide adequate nutrition, especially for young children.

This barren plot will soon be a lush permaculture garden providing a permanent source of nutrition and income for the whole village.

Photos show the barren roads leading to Wouro Kelle, scouting the site with local officials, and the village preparing the land for the installation of the garden.

Gardening is not new to the village, but it is seasonal.  As flood waters recede the heavy clay soil holds enough water to grow a single crop of sweet potatoes and pumpkins on the banks of the river before the hot season arrives and dries out the land.  Without access to irrigation or fences to keep out free-range livestock it’s nearly impossible to continue gardening activities year-round.  This is where Andando comes in. After months of meetings, planning, and construction Wouro Kelle is now joining Andando as our 40th women’s garden! Garden President Fatimata Sekk had this to say to our generous donors:

“We thank the lord we thank everyone who helped to create this condition. Where you come from is far, if you were not determined you would not reach here. We have wanted to have a garden for a long, long time… Now we are so determined to have it succeed. Everyone let’s stand up and lets work… We pray for our garden to be among the best in this area. We are so happy, there is no limit for our happiness.”

— Fatimata Sekk, Wouro Kelle Garden President

Garden President Fatimata Sekk verifies that all infrastructure is completed and functioning properly.  This garden draws water from the river, which turns brown with silt after it rains.

We are so happy as well to be partnering with such a deserving community and look forward to seeing the transformations that their work will bring to their families and community in the coming years.

With the fence, basins, and solar pump system complete the women of Wouro Kelle are ready to start their first ever dry season gardening campaign.

Update from the Field

I have just returned from Senegal and there is far too much good news to wait for the next newsletter!  We were fortunate to have good weather during the trip, not a guarantee in the rainy season, so we were able to see most of the new projects that we’re working on and how they’re coming together.  This is just a quick overview so stay tuned for more in-depth information soon on all of these amazing projects!

Garrison and Gorgui standing with our new deep borehole well in the desert.

In the Keur Soce area work is nearly complete on our first ever school garden at Keur Soce High School.  The fence, basins, and storehouse are done, leaving only the water connection to our nearby Thiako garden whose members are generously contributing their water to the school.  We are so excited that this will be the first high school in all of Senegal with an integrated aquaculture training program!  Work should be completed here by the end of the month, and we will share more pictures when classes start in October and garden activities begin.

The completed garden storehouse stands in front of the beautiful Keur Soce High School classrooms.

A fish basin inside Keur Soce High School Garden with Mandaw, Garden Program Manager.

Watering basins will be connected to the aquaculture system so that nutrient rich fish water can be used to water crops in the garden.

Renovations begin at Mbadhiou Peulh Primary School.

Also in Keur Soce we got to see the beginning of renovations of three classrooms at Mbadhiou Peulh Primary School.  The local municipal government is constructing two new classrooms here this year but didn’t have the means to upgrade the existing classroom building which has a leaking roof and cracked walls. So at the request of the village Andando stepped in to renovate the current classrooms so that all students will have a safe and proper learning environment for years to come.  We will also be adding a new block of latrines hare as well this fall!

Students from Mbadhiou Peulh Primary School in one of the classrooms that is now being renovated.

Adjacent to the existing classrooms is a temporary classroom where some students have to study in difficult conditions.

Due to the collaboration between the community and Andando all students will now study in proper safe and secure classrooms.

Madame Sekk, the head nurse of the regional hospital, facilitates a community meetings in the village of Bida in preparation to start construction on a new health post there.

In Podor we finished the selection process for our next health post which will be built in the rural community of Bida.  This village is dedicated to community health with several healthcare workers already operating a seasonal clinic here out of temporary structures which must be rebuilt each year.  We are proud to be working with such dedicated partners and can’t wait to see the impact that a proper health post will have on their ability to care for their community. We will share more about the incredible story of this village when we start construction here in November.

A boy from Togane stands with the papaya tree he helped plant this spring.

We are also nearly finished with construction on our new tree nursery and agroforestry center in Podor.  Our borehole well drilling was a complete success, and we now have a high output water source with a solar well pump system which will enable us to produce a minimum of 50,000 beneficial native trees here each year.  With these tree we will be able to speed up the implementation of new gardens and provide trees to all of our schools, health posts, and partner communities to bolster their food security, improve quality of life, and help them to restore the ecology of their lands. 

Photo Descriptions: 1) Clean fresh water flows from our new well in the Podor Tree Nursery. 2) Fruit tree seedlings in the Keur Soce Tree Nursery, which has started over 15,000 trees this year! 3) Podor Tree Nursery complete with basins, storehouse, water reservoir, solar panels, and restrooms. 4) A woman from Togane stands proudly with her Moringa trees. This is the first time that this village has ever had access to this miraculous and nutritious tree.

The children of Wouro Kelle verifying the water system. This garden draws water from the local river which turns brown from runoff during the rainy season.

Last but certainly not least we visited the community of Wouro Kelle to see the completion of Andando’s 40th garden!!  We are privileged to have this dedicated and deserving community join Andando at such a wonderful milestone and we can’t wait to share their story with you. Stay tuned for the next newsletter where we will profile Wouro Kelle and tell you more about the impact that this garden will have there. We would never have gotten to this point, or be able to reach such remote villages as this, without the steadfast support of our dedicated community of donors and volunteers over the past 15 years. Our hats off to you!

The women of Wourou Kelle celebrate the completion of their new garden.

It’s hard to believe but it’s already “Auction Season” for Andando, and if any of these projects resonated with you, please consider contributing in some way to help make the auction a success! We always have many more projects up for consideration than we can accomplish each year, and the success of the auction is the deciding factor on much of our yearly programing.  Whether you can help by volunteering, donating auction items, spreading the word to new potential donors, or attending and bidding on some of our amazing auction items, we appreciate your support so that we can continue this vital work in Senegal. 

Please consider contributing through our annual auction fundraiser. Whether you can help by volunteering, donating auction items, spreading the word to new potential donors, or attending and bidding on some of our amazing auction items, we appreciate your support so that we can continue this vital work in Senegal.  More info at www.andando.org/events.

From the Director - July 2023

We are on a roll! It feels appropriate that with the lush growth of another rainy season, so many projects are coming to fruition for Andando. 

The inauguration of Seno Bowal Health Post, Andando’s 14th overall.

Our Seno Bowal health post, Andando’s 14th overall, was officially inaugurated on May 10th, and the first baby was born there less than a month later! This post was entirely funded by generous donations from Hub City Church, and we are so proud to be partnering with them to create life saving access to maternal healthcare in rural communities. 

Midwives and nurses standing outside the newly renovated health post in Thiemene Taba.

We are thrilled to report that the repairs of our first health post, Thiamene Taba, are complete as well! Altrusa International of Albany helped us to realize this rapid response to the damage that occurred here during the last rainy season, ensuring that this post will continue to serve the area for years to come.

Drilling the borehole in Podor for the new native tree nursery.

In Podor we successfully drilled our first borehole well in the desert last month, which is a crucial milestone towards building our new native tree nursery and agroforestry center.  This location will soon produce 50,000 beneficial trees each year thanks to a grant from Rick Steve’s Europe!

Workers frame up the rebar for the concrete aquaculture basin in the Keur Soce High School STEM garden. Construction is nearly complete on our first-ever school garden at Keur Soce High School, which will be the first high school in all of Senegal with an integrated aquaculture training program.

Back in Keur Soce work is nearly finished on our first ever school garden at Andando’s Keur Soce High School, which will be the first high school in all of Senegal with an integrated aquaculture training program.  We are still seeking funding to hopefully build a laboratory, classroom, library, and computer lab to continue to support this amazing school.

Breaking ground at Andando’s 40th(!!) garden located in the extremely isolated community of Wouro Kelle.

And last but not least, in the community of Wouro Kelle we just broke ground on Andando’s 40th garden!  Wow!! We never could have gotten to this point without the generous support of so many amazing people who partner with us year after year to help the people of Senegal. On behalf of all of our staff and partner communities,

From the Director - April 2023

It’s always exciting to report the new things that Andando is doing, new projects, new partner communities, bigger impact numbers, etc. I want to take the opportunity today though to give you a little insight into what happens after the fanfare ends.

Celebrating our successes with the garden leadership from our Podor Region gardens.

We talk a lot about walking with the people of Senegal for the long haul and we mean it. Our programs are concentrated together both to maximize their impact and to make sure that we know about the challenges our partners face and can help them to find solutions. This is why after 15 years of doing this work 100% of Andando’s gardens, schools, and health posts are still operational. Our impact numbers are impressive but I’m equally proud that as we’re growing, we aren’t leaving any of our communities behind.

Keur Ngor Marone - our first-ever garden is still thriving!

To this end, after listening to the needs of our gardens, we are providing additional support this year to help modernize all infrastructure to our current designs. Over the years we’ve learned a lot about best practices for our projects, and sometimes that means that we need to go back and update older work so that it can stand the test of time.

Something as small as upgrading old valves helps prolong the life of infrastructure and conserve vital water resources.

This goes for all of our sectors, and we are also working this year to renovate one of our oldest health posts, Thiamene Taba. This post is heavily utilized, seeing over 2,000 patients last year alone, but their roof has started to leak making it difficult to provide quality care.

Visiting one of our very first health posts, Thiamene Taba, constructed over 10 years ago.

Thanks to the help of Altrusa International of Albany we are replacing their roof with a new stronger metal sheeting that is part of our standard design now.

By establishing and maintaining strong relationships, we work with the local communities to ensure projects are successful for the long-haul. Fatou Thiam is the midwife at Thiamene Taba, and first alerted us to the needed repairs.

We want all of our projects to last for many years to come so that they can create truly lasting change in our partner communities. Your continued support allows us to do this while still growing to reach more people in need.