My Senegalese Placement Experience Away From Senegal

Starting 2020, I thought to myself “this will be the year that I push my boundaries and get out of my comfort zone”. “This is the year I get to do my placement in Senegal and travel all over Africa,” is what I said to myself. To me this was (still is) an immense goal of mine as it meant many things to me. It meant personal and professional growth, gaining new skills, learning Wolof, gaining a new perspective of aid, contributing my knowledge and much more. Little did I know, the whole world entered a pandemic – everything stopped. Well, it felt like had everything stopped.

Now that I am halfway done my placement. I look back and yes, I would have loved to go to Senegal. It is still a goal of mine. However, what I have done so far in my placement I had not imagined and I am glad how things have turnout.

Part of my placement is to do research and implement a program about Digital Marketing to Senegalese youth. The first few weeks were difficult as I was getting adjusted to the Senegalese way of working and their dialect. I am not going to lie; I did have some doubts. Doubts as in I was worried of what the Senegal Youth would think of the program I had prepared. I was worried they would think “here comes another Westerner to tell us what to do.” That was not the case at all. Senegalese people are the nicest people I had ever met. The Zoom calls did not hide their friendliness and niceness. The youth understood the position that I was in, as I was very open with them from jump. Overtime, things became easier. My French was improving, I understood my position even more, I began to understand the Senegalese dialect. The youth helped with some French slang and my Wolof (they laughed a lot) and I would teach some English. They also asked many questions regarding the topic of the day. Thus, I began building a relationship with the youth.

I had not imagined at all what this journey would be like. I am grateful and happy how things have turned out. I have developed new skills, and discovered many things about myself and other people around the world. This placement opportunity has been the most challenging yet the most memorable. I have made connections and learned so much.

I have now 5 months more to go and I cannot wait to see what the rest of my placement holds. I am very excited for the rest of my journey with CECI & Senegal.

Isabella