A visual diary of AASOA’s projects in Le Pays de le Teranga…

Senegal, 2024

Photos may take a few moments to load - thanks for your patience

Senegal, 2023

Senegal, 2022

Senegal and The Gambia, 2021

Between the 22nd July and 22nd August, I returned to Senegal after 3 years away. This time in the new role of International Ambassador for the Alliance for Youth Development in Africa (AYDA) Foundation.

I spent the first week shadowing the AYDA volunteers at their centre in St. Louis, where they host daily primary and secondary school lessons, first aid medical support sessions, free meals and other community events. I spent the next second two weeks helping to build a sheltered structure and a toilet in two Darras (Islamic schools/orphanages).

May main goal for this period of the trip was to audit, facilitate communication between the external admin and domestic teams, and finally to take pictures and videos for AYDA’s social media. For this content, I chose to be behind the camera, to rightfully maintain the emphasis on the hard work of the Senegalese teams. This encourages donors, improves transparency, and will hopefully attract future international volunteers to become part of the AYDA family.

For the final week, we visited The Gambia for 3 nights and then stayed with our friends in Mbour, with two day trips into the capital, Dakar.

Senegal, 2018

Between 27th June and 11th July 2018, AASOA travelled to the cities of St. Louis, Mbour and Dakar in Senegal to find the best artwork and apparel that could be shared with the world.

St. Louis

I (Hugh) flew in to Blaise Diagne International Airport in Dakar, before making the 4 hour road trip up to St. Louis. Having lived there for 2.5 months in 2016, we spent the majority of our time there, as there were lots of old friends to see, places to visit and many new artists to meet. It was particularly brilliant to return to my large former host family, and to see the schools I had carried out renovations still flourishing.

St. Louis is an absolutely stunning place to visit. It is right on the coast so it is best known for its fishing, and all day everyday you will see fishermen in their brightly coloured Pirogue canoes going in an out along the coastline. It’s also very picturesque to see many people making their way down to the long beaches to do exercise in the evening when its cooler. Oh, it’s really, really hot there by the way (consistently between 30-35 degrees).

It was there that we found suppliers for all of our apparel, as well as lots of canvases from artists like Aminou and Mussa. During this time the 2018 Football World Cup was also in full swing. It was the first time Senegal had qualified since 2002, so this contributed to the larger than usual buzz and positivity around the city.

We also were able to spend some time with great people of the AYDA (Alliance for Youth Development in Africa) Foundation, to which AASOA is partnered. We donated our two suitcases full of clothes and shoes that our friends in the UK had given us to give to the homeless “Talibe” children, as well as providing some useful lessons and playing some games together.

In the evening of the 5th July 2018, we took a 4.5 hour taxi down to Mbour, where El Hadj’s older brother, Mor Talla, lives and was waiting for us.

Mbour

Although we arrived at 1AM, there was no time to lose. By 8:30AM, having met Mor Talla’s family and been invited into their home, it was time to head off to the largest artisanal market, which is always a good place to start. Although these bigger markets are more targeted at tourists, you will meet lots of interesting people there who have the contacts of the best artists and one can also start to get a feel for the artist styles of the city. In Mbour, the sand roads in the outskirts are calm: very wide and very long, and you would see beaten-up cars and horse and carts roll through with ease, alongside kids playing and various animals roaming (chickens, pigs and goats). However, as you get towards the centre near the markets, the roads become the complete opposite. The streets are very narrow and absolutely heaving with people. Rubbish disposal is also a big issue there, and in some places the street floor consists almost completely of rubbish.

We carried on and after some time spent following leads, we realised quickly that the kings of the art scene in Mbour were the artists Ngange and Felix Silva. Ngange was able to come and meet us in a smaller artisanal village after two phone calls and it was fascinating to hear about his story and watch him do some of his paintings first hand. Felix on the other hand was much trickier to track down, and after some more phone calls, one of his friends was able to meet us, and we got in an old taxi and drove for 40 minutes to what felt like the middle of nowhere, with Felix’s friend directing the driver. We eventually made it to a housing estate that was still very much in development, and we found Felix happily painting away in his studio. It was really interesting to hear his stories, particularly about his travels and going to art school in Moscow.

Mbour stretches all the way to the coast of Senegal, which is one of the most popular tourism spots in the country, so we decided to head there for a day to see what all the talk was about. It was a side to the country that I had never seen before in Senegal - absolute luxury. Big hotels, neon signs and fancy restaurants with menus in English! The beach was absolutely beautiful although completely crowded and there were many salesmen carrying lots of small trinkets and souvenirs. However, it dawned on us quickly that this was not going to be the spot to find the authentic and top-notch Senegalese art that we were after, so after grabbing some lunch - my friends tried their first ever pizzas (they didn’t really like them) - we headed off after just a couple of hours.

Towards the end of my time in Senegal, I decided to commission two art pieces from Lay, the crazy-talented interior decorator who was a friend of a friend. Although they were definitely over-budget for what I had allowed myself to spend on paintings, as you may have seen, they were totally worth it. I was completely mesmerised and couldn’t help but sit there for hours with a front row seat to his living painting. His unique style of painting over multiple canvases is definitely very unusual in Senegal but it really works.

Things really came down to the wire on my last day when we were waiting for him to finish his second piece before heading off to the airport in a few hours. Fortunately, he kept a cool head under the pressure, and we were able to get them wrapped up and packed. From there, it was a great sense of accomplishment, having achieved what I had set out to do. I couldn’t quite believe my luck that everything managed to come together despite a few setbacks and last-minute changes of plan. I still had to finish well, and make it back to the UK with my 4 huge suitcases, stuffed with everything I had purchased - over 100 canvases and over 60 items of clothing - but fortunately I had no issues making it to Paris and then London with all of my amazing finds with me!

Dakar

Mid-way through my stay in Mbour, we did a day trip to the capital city to see the brilliant Soumbédioune artisanal village. I had visited it in 2016 and picked up some great paintings before, so knew I had to go back to discover the new range of canvases on show!

What made this process 100% better was that one of guys there recognised me from my last visit - his name is Nda, and he is actually the man in the picture on this website’s homepage, standing next to the large canvas. He remembered we had had a great long conversation back in 2016 whilst my friends were bartering for another art piece and so El Hadj and I sat down with him for some Senegalese tea, whilst we explained our goal to acquire lots of new canvases.

With his help, we went around all the huts, met all the artists, talked about their art and negotiated prices. We arrived at the market at 9AM and did not stop to rest or eat until the sun started to set at 7PM. It was a such a fun and successful day, but definitely the most exhausting!

Senegal, 2016

In 2016, I decided to spend 2.5 months working with Projects Abroad, an organisation that had many operations going on in St. Louis. My role was in construction and renovation - and I worked on 3 schools, a youth centre and a micro-finance office. I decided to do this for a number of reasons:

• To use my time and energy for those less fortunate

• To do meaningful, long-lasting renovation and repair work to important buildings (schools, a youth development centre and a micro-finance office)

• To purse my passion for all things African

• Learn about Senegalese culture by staying in one place with a host family and building relationships

• To have time to reflect

Never did I think that it would lead to me building such close relationships with the community there, so much so that I would eventually start this social-enterprise and be able to go back! At points it was pretty tough, mostly due to the relentless heat, long hours and a lack of shade; however, the experience overall was easily a 10/10. The other international volunteers there including Maxi from Germany, Claire from USA and Michael from Austria were a great support network and also became great friends of mine.

Yet I must give most of the credit to El Hadj when considering why the trip has impacted me so much to El Hadj. We worked together, week in, week out, for the duration of my placement there. Although I missed one day of work due to heat-stroke during a particularly harsh heatwave, he never missed a day, and furthermore always made sure I was on-time and motivated to work my hardest. Then, it was often the case that after a long day of painting or cement work, he would then go off and start doing renovation work for other schools/families that were also in need. Meanwhile I would be crashed out on my bed after a cold shower and a heap of rice. Did I mention that he is also a husband, father and provider for much of his extended family as well? Simply put, he is an absolute machine with a heart of gold.

For the majority of the time, it was just the two of us working side-by-side. We had Koji from Japan with us for two weeks at the start and then Luca from Italy for 2 weeks later on. As a result, we developed a very strong friendship built on hard-work, respect and a good sense of humour. He embodies the Senegalese custom of “Teranga” meaning hospitality and peace, and to this day we have kept in very close contact and I can’t wait to be back with him and his family again.