Help us to reduce poverty and violence in Senegal, Africa

Details

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  Description

  We are an agroecological farm based in Niaguis, 12 km from Ziguinchor. The objective is to grow what we eat and to eat what we grow with the aim of making money in order to foster local development.
  
  Bourama created this project with his friends ; we are six young Senegalese men working at the farm. Our purpose is to further develop the farm in such a way to create local employment especially for women and young people, to reduce poverty and illegal immigration, which are significant issues within our community. The project has already inspired other people in the village who have followed Bourama’s example and created their own farm to make a living.
  
  Bourama has a master’s degree in international cooperation and local development. After his studies in Ziguinchor, he decided to come back to his village and start with the project. Bit by bit, the farm was developed. In the future, the project will be expanded to also support local schools and to create awareness of the environment. Step by step we want to make a real change ! It is also foreseen to help the population to learn from the farm by hosting public training sessions.
  
  We are currently cultivating 1 ha ; another 3 hectares belong to the farm and need to be developed. At the farm, we have fruit trees and a veggie garden. There are already chickens at our farm. As a next step, we want to raise cattle and start the production of honey. At certain times, we are processing our harvest to transfer it into jam, juice, dry fruit, vegan meat),... (still in process) with a solar dryer and the procession unit from a family member.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Art Projects

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Help around the house

  Hospitality/Tourism

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Niaguis is a village of multicultural ethnic groups with different practices. People in the village as well as the guys working on the farm have been welcoming people from all around the world since 2011. We are used to share our culture. If you want to experience cultural exchange and be part of the community, you can go by yourself to the village during your free time. We live in the middle of the forest, 45 minutes by walk or 10 minutes by moto taxi (Jakarta) from Niaguis. Ina, the mother of Bourama, lives there. Dependings on the period, we go to visit friends or family, celebrate local events such as weddings, baptism, cultural and religious meetings, … Niaguis is a small village, you are easily integrated in the community.

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  Help

  Each day, your help is needed for the basic jobs at the farm : this includes the tasks around agriculture (watering, planting, sowing, crop maintenance), feeding the animals, composting, cleaning the solar panels, filling the pools, etc. Depending on the season, we also transform mangoes, harvest cashew, make juice from the cashew apple and build more infrastructures on the farm. These tasks usually take only 2-3 hours per day.
  
  An important part of this project is to bring in your creativity: we are always looking for new ideas and small projects from you! The rest of the day you have thus time to work on those ideas independently : Examples include taking pictures for the website, managing the social media account, making a documentary, constructing a solar oven, painting or decoration, initiating the collection of required materials or fundraising for schools, building a subsoil fridge... Be creative - you can bring in your talent !
  
  Update for this periode, we do not have a lot of work so we are looking for people who are very creative and independent.
  
  We are also always looking for additional partnerships to further develop our project (other associations to work with and create a network, fundraising opportunities, exchange knowledge).

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Portuguese: Fluent
  Wolof: Fluent

  This host offers a language exchange
  Bourama studied foreign languages. We are very interested in languages and sharing. At the farm you can hear wolof, diola, manding, pular, english, french, spanish, portuguese !
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  Accommodation

  We live in a small Senegalese house built in 2021 on the farm. The farm is in the middle of the forest and surrounded by fields and nature. No neighbour, just peace and silence. Day after day we are building new infrastructures to make it more and more comfortable. Currently, we have 2 showers and a squat toilets. Our electricity comes from our solar panel system. For the moment we don't have a battery to store the energy so we don't have enough light at night.
  
  We built a second house in 2023 on the farm.
  
  There are 2 rooms for welcoming our volunteers. Each room has 2 mattresses and mosquito nets. You will share the room and you will live as we do.
  
  We usually share breakfast, lunch and dinner all together. We eat mostly rice and fish, sometime veggies from our garden. We love to make you discover local dishes as Thieboudienne, Mafé... However, we are not used to cook great variety of meals so you're welcome to cook a special dish from your country ! Also, feel free to buy extra-food as you can / want. For example fruits, more vegetable, butter, local honey or pasta. There's a small market in Niaguis, you can go by yourself or just ask the guys to buy what you need. Also, Ziguinchor with bigger supermarkets is not far away.

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  What else ...

  The Casamance river is not far. You can easily go there from Niaguis to swim. You can also take a 7 places or moto taxi (Jakarta) to go to Ziguinchor where you can discover the local markets (marché Boucotte et marché artisanal). We are happy to advice you for travelling around Casamance! Or even organize tours for you (one of the guys also works as a tourist guide).
  
  If you want to get involved with children at the school (during your free time), we can discuss about it. However, this is only possible if you stay for a longer period of time.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  You get electricity and you can buy 4G connection sharing from smartphones. We have already had digital nomads here. (4 Go is about 2000 F XOF, 3 euros).

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  Space for parking camper vans

  You can park here.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We have dogs at the farm.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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