African Heritage Celebration 2019 Report.

Two thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight students received each a textbook, notebook, pen and slate at 14 Elementary schools African heritage celebration during its 2019 campaign to support education of children in Senegal. African Heritage celebration visited the schools located throughout the country to meet with the students, teachers and parents.

African Heritage Celebration Kicked off its campaign at “le Group Scolaire” El Hadji Mamour Diop in the city of Rufisque, with a ceremony presided by Megueye Gueye, head inspector in charge of Education and Training in the department and in the presence of Ms Yacine Fall, inspector of Elementary Education, alongside parents and teachers. On November 14, African Heritage Celebration moved onto the city of Diourbel where Mr. Cheikhou T. Sylla, the district inspector led the distribution at both Cheikh Ibra Fall and Serigne Mbaye Sarr primary schools; distribution that provided to 1,233 children the supplies required for a good academic year. Principal Alassane Diouf of Secka Gueye primary school, who also serves as Bargny-Sendou’s Elementary Schools Directors Collective accompanied AHC to seven public institutions, where parents, teachers and students expressed their sincere gratitude for the humanitarian actions. The next stop was Keur Samba Ka, a small community, with 300 people, nestled in the savanna of the Nioro , in the southern region of the country. The AHC delegation arrived there after a 5-hour drive. Honorable Alassane Ka, the recently elected village chief welcomed AHC group, which stayed for two days and provided supplies to students from 1st grade to 6th grade.

The tiny town of Minam, right outside Bargny, along the Atlantic Ocean coastline, and Mamadou Diagne primary school of Ouakam, located on the outskirt of the capital Dakar, were the last public schools to welcome AHC during this year campaign to support Education. Based in Denver, Colorado, African Heritage Celebration is a nonprofit organization supported by generous volunteers. AHC intervenes in Senegal since 2007. Its humanitarian actions have reached more than 56,000 children across the country. Many of those students are now in pursuit of higher education degree or/and in training to become the country’s next generation of leaders.

More than 150 Americans have participated in AHC’s trips to Africa that take place usually in late fall, when the academic year has started. When African heritage celebration’s volunteers visit, they engage simultaneously in humanitarian actions and life enriching experiences. The joyous expressions in the faces of thousands of children; the joy of knowing that the precious tools of education they’ve just received, can help improve their lives, is contagious and deeply impacts the volunteers who are interacting with the them.

After the schools visits, foreigners spend days living with families in the host villages and communities, sharing foods, drinks and stories. Villagers often hold festivities to honor and entertain their guests and through drums, songs and dances, visitors and locals engage one another in discoveries of different ways of life. The cultural and social interactions that take place during the stay in communities provide spaces in which Americans as well as Senegalese learn to understand and appreciate a common Humanity. The foreigners return home, enriched by the exposure to hospitable cultures and traditions, and many look for opportunity to relive the life-transforming experiences. Mohamadou Cisse Ahcchildren.com