Senegal has opened its borders for travel once again! One of our founders, Fiona, was able to make our first country visit since the start of the pandemic. (International travel is currently permitted so long as the traveler produced a negative Covid-19 test.)
Visiting the school in Agnam (in the Podor region), a potential site for future development.
As soon as the regional lock down on travel was lifted, our team sprung into action. Three of four new gardens have been completed since June, one more is halfway done, two classroom projects and a health post have been started, all while maintaining the ongoing work. Fiona says, “Our staff are superstars!”
Visiting with the midwives and medical staff of the health post in Biddy.
In addition to spending some quality time with our team, Fiona also toured some new sites for future development in both the Podor and Keur Soce regions. Both regions were lush and green from the recent rains.
Members of the Keur Ngor community using sandbags to protect their garden from run off and flooding caused by excessive rains.
Some parts of Senegal have received as much as 8 inches of rain overnight which resulted in some localized flooding. Fortunately, our areas were not significantly impacted and communities have used sandbags to protect gardens and other areas from flooding.
Inside an elementary school classroom under construction in Donaye Tarédj.
The most unexpected thing that happened during the trip was a surprise visit from the President of Senegal, Macky Sall. The Mayor of Keur Soce was informed that the President would be stopping by Keur Soce on his way to see a government-financed rice project just outside of town. Mayor Malick Ndiegane said he could choose four people to meet the President and two should be from Andando!
We had the honor of meeting President Macky Sall in his recent visit to a government-financed rice project near our base in Keur Soce. One of our founders, Fiona, is pictured here with President Sall.
Boubou Sy (Andando Country Director) and Fiona represented Andando. President Sall asked about what we did, how often we were in Senegal, how long we had been there, etc. He spoke with us for quite some time and we were able to congratulated him on his government’s steps toward development. It was a huge honor to meet the President, a very successful trip.
Fiona and some of our staff demonstrating the variety of trees we are growing as part of our reforestation project.
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