Colorado Senegal, 10 years later.

Good actions continue years after tragedy.

Colorado residents recently visited the West African village of Diorbivol on the 10-year anniversary of Oumar Dia’s death and perpetuated a tradition of solidarity between the communities.

Dia, a Senegalese immigrant, was murdered by a self-proclaimed skinhead in Denver. He died on the night of November 17, 1997, while waiting for his bus to get home, after a long day at work.

The trip was co-sponsored by the African Heritage Celebration and the Denver Senegal Humanitarian Foundation; two Colorado based not for-profit organizations that promote education and friendship between Africans and Americans.

Myriah and Anthony LaChance, Eric and Kevin Miller and Theresa Neuroth of DSHF and I arrived at the village on the night of Nov. 3rd, after a 9-hour ride from Dakar, Senegal’s capital. The village had a big welcome ceremony to honor its guests. Elders, men, women and children all came out to celebrate the visit.

During the four day stay the group held meetings to assess the village needs and distributed school supplies to the 5th and 6th graders of the local elementary school. We also distributed hats in conjunction with the Eagle Scout project of Michael Linville, a Littleton Boy Scout. We toured the fields where villagers grow various crops, visited the site of a planned middle school building, and viewed major water well, storage tank and distribution project that is underway in conjunction with a United Nations sponsored humanitarian aid program.

We learned that the projects to build the middle school and water facility are currently the most important undertakings in the village. The school project, just initiated by the villagers, aims at curbing the drop out rate among students who make it to the 7th grade. The difficulty to continue education beyond the 6th grade resides in the fact that Diorbivol only has classrooms for 1st through 6th grades, and most parents can’t afford to send their children to others villages for further education. The water project will help establish a relatively clean water source to the village, which relies primarily on a couple of existing small wells and the highly-polluted Senegal River.

We left the village on the morning of Thursday Nov. 7 after a short but very successful interchange regarding future ways that DSHF and AHC can provide humanitarian support to the people of Diorbivol.

Since 1999 Denver-based organizations such as Project Cure and International medical relief have sent equipment, supplies and groups of health care professionals to assist in Senegal. More than 70 Americans have visited Senegal and have been impacted by the experience of their stays. These visits always provide opportunities for the Coloradans and Senegalese to celebrate life through work, food, music, dance and song.

Mohamadou Lamine Cisse

Colorado Senegal, 10 years later.

Denver Group Donates School Supplies in Senegal.

From October 20th to November 7th the African Heritage Celebration distributed school supplies to 180 students in Senegal. Six graders in three schools received the gifts that will help them prepare for the exams they face at the end of the academic year 2007- 2008.

The donations were composed of Literature and Math books, notebooks, pens, pencils, compasses, squares, erasers, etc…; all that is required for the classe. The supplies were purchased in Senegal and amounted to $30.88 per student.

AHC targeted the 6th grade because of its importance in the student’s academic journey. Succeeding at the exams will grant passage to the 7th grade, which correspond to the beginning of the secondary school in Senegal.

AHC believes that education is a way to help improve one’s living conditions.
AHC visited schools in the communities of Bargny, Keur Samba and Diorbivol, Senegal. Ceremonies of presentation were held in the presence of parents, teachers, students and local authorities.

The students were proud to receive the gifts that will add to their motivation. The parents and the school principals expressed thanks and gratitude to AHC for the important gifts, which surely made a difference in the children’s education but also eased a financial burden on those who would otherwise have to pay for the supplies. So they thanked all who helped the fundraising effort.

The African Heritage Celebration a Colorado based not-for-profit organization which promotes education and friendship between Africans and Americans raised the funds during its annual dinner on June 9th 2007, in Denver.

AHC plans to provide supplies for more students next school year.

Mohamadou Lamine Cisse