Day 8- Mission Update and the Voyage Home

Christine Boissey updates our team on the status of the Senegal Mission Initiative.

Day 8 started with an update on the Senegal Mission from Pastor Joseph Bleck and administrator Christine Boissey.  The church has shown remarkable growth in some areas.  As District Superintendent, Joseph Bleck was able to tell us the current membership of all Senegal United Methodist Churches has grown to 1,044; it has grown steadily from the first 110 members in 1999.  They are currently 23 churches in Senegal served by 9 pastors and 40 lay preachers.

Pastor Mary Balson engaged in part of the discussion.

But this joy is not without some struggle. On our journey we saw significant growth in many ministries; particularly the skill center in Mbour and the agricultural project in Point Sarene.  Unfortunately, the mission in Dakar is not experiencing as much success in this season.  Dakar has not received enough funding to maintain the prison ministry, and the future of its skill center is very much in doubt.  We thank God for the season these ministries have enjoyed, and still believe God is very present in many ways throughout Senegal.

As we closed our meeting time, Pastor Joseph Bleck talked about the importance of being partners in mission together.  "If you are two and one falls down, then you have someone to help you up."

Shopping for treasures to remember our trip!

After the meeting our team in enjoyed some shopping in the markets in Senegal to bring home some keepsakes for friends and family.  But perhaps the most important thing we bring back with us is the story of how God is working in Senegal.  This is perhaps the biggest way that they can be helped.  There are many places in the world that need help and several worthy causes that need money.  The ministry in Senegal is also one of those places.  But God invites us to share in the story of life together.  Thank you for reading this blog this past week and sharing in the life that we saw; food for the hungry, freedom for the oppressed, and bright futures for women.

You can continue to share in the story by inviting someone from our Mission Team to your church, school, library, etc to come and talk about Senegal.  Agricultural missionary David Makobo will visit Wisconsin this summer and will be looking for opportunities to share his ministry.

Day 7- Mbour Skill Center, Ag Project in Point Sarene

A sign outside the Mbour church.

God had much to show our mission team on Day 7.  We began by traveling to Mbour to see the church and women's skill center.

The Mbour Skill Center has been in operation since 1999. Margarite Faye, who supervises the center, told us about the 4 courses that are taught: tie-dye, sewing, embroidery, and crochet.  In past years the center typically welcomed 25-30 women.  It currently is teaching 59, offering courses in the morning in afternoon.  The center just purchased 6 new sewing machines, now having a total of 15.

Women's sewing skill center in Mbour.

Margarite Faye supervises the skill center in Mbour.

The growing need (and response) to the skills program in the community has spurred development projects at the Mbour Church.  We were given a tour by Simon Diatta, who showed us a new construction project that will become an expanded skill center and mission offices.

Simon Diatta tells Bill Gibson about the developing projects at Mbour.

"By the grace of God, today finally the center is here. Construction is started," said Diatta.

The construction project is a larger vision of the MBour church expanding for the future to serve its community.  The sewing skill center continues to grow.  A staff member from Dakar will come to offer culinary training.

Church building in Point Sarene, the first United Methodist church in Senegal.

From Mbour we traveled to Point Sarane to the site of the first United Methodist Church in Senegal.  Lay pastors typically preach on a Sunday morning, but it is part of a charge served by Pastor Jean Pierre.  He serves churches in Mbour, Point Sarane, and Luly.

Pastor Jean Pierre with Bill Gibson.

Our team with some of the village members in Port Sarane.

Point Sarene is also home to an agricultural project spearheaded by United Methodist Missionary David Makobo.  David was away in South Africa, but Simon and Pastor Jean Pierre introduced us to the farmers and provided a tour of the project.

"This project has been a great help to this village," shared Simon as we walked to the gardens.  "We have needed to build irrigation ditches and carry water up the hill to water these gardens.  But the people have learned much, it has helped them much." Currently the garden is growing tomatoes, onions, pepper, and eggplant.

"Everyone in the village is very proud to show you how the projects are going here," said one of the lay preachers.  "We are very happy to see you in the village today."

Peppers growing in the garden.

Pastor Ben Morris from Emmanuel with some egplant from the garden.

After the visit in Point Sarene we were debriefing our visit with Pastor Joseph Bleck.  He talked about the importance of mercy and justice in order to reach people in Senegal.  "Evangelism is very hard in Senegal.  Its very hard to build trust; people don't know Christianity." (Senegal is 95% Muslim)

Pastor Bleck continued: "Senegal is different than other countries in Africa.  You can go to Congo and just starting preaching and convert people.  Our evangelism is through our projects, showing people who Jesus. Then we can preach the Gospel."

The gardens outside Point Sarene.

Day 6- Goree Island and Anti Poverty Initiative

Bonjour! Today our Wisconsin to Senegal IVIM team toured Goree Island, and island just off the west coast of Senegal. Different countries staked claim to the island, beginning with Portugal in the 1650's.  They gave way to the Dutch, who then lost it to the British.  It fell into the hands of the French for the 18th and 19th centuries.

Goree Island from the approaching ferry.

The possession of the island by all of these countries made Goree very active in the slave trade to Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.  Senegal's Ministry of Culture restored a "Slave House," as part of the history and a memorial to those that suffered through slavery.  We saw the house as part of our tour, the only one remaining on the island.  Our guide informed us that at one time the island supported 28 similar facilities.

Our tour guide, Ali, studied English and History at Dakar University.

Goree Island offered our team history, beautiful views, and amazing work of local artists!

An artist makes a painitng with sand from Senegal and surrounding countries. His studio was on the top of Goree Island.

Following our visit to Goree we caught up with Sebastian Ujereh.  A native of Nigeria, Sebastian is a retired UMC missionary who now spearheads the Anti-Poverty Initiative."By its name that's really what it is," Sebastian said.  "Help women out of poverty.

The basis of the program is recognizing gaps that exist and working in cooperation.  Sebastian talked about how the financial sector closes off many from accessing services. "We have a financial sector . . banks, investments.  But many people here at the lower end can't even start a bank account. They have no collateral."  In Senegal this is especially true for women, whom the program is designed for.

API takes place in a group format; an investment of capital is needed from each group member to start a project together.  In a sense, they are building collateral with each other.  API has several steps to gauge the "risk" of a group and its projects, vetting the groups attendance and leadership.  It can be up to 12 weeks before Anti Poverty initiative has begun to infuse capital into a project, after a culture of shared assets and responsibility has been established.

Sebastian Ujereh tells us about the MicroCredit project.

The Anti Poverty Initiative has for 4 main tenets, or "programs" as Sebastian called them.  Establishing credit, training opportunities for business, Financial Independence, and health.  He especially emphasized the importance of the health program- "Many of these women are the breadwinners, they cook and take care of the children.  The health program is not about having enough medicine, its teaching prevention.  Teaching about things like blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure."

During our visit we heard the testimony of one of the women who has been in a group of 15 women since 2013.  "I have learned so much. So much to improve myself. I am very grateful to my group and this program."

You can learn more about Anti Poverty Initiative and read their newsletter here- http://antipovertyinitiative.org/

Day 5- SOS Dialogue Visit and Bandia Wildlife Preserve

Our team from Wisconsin pictured with the students of SOS Dialogue.

On the 5th day of our visit, our mission team visited Thies, (prounounced Chez) the second largest city in Senegal.  It it is the home to SOS Dialogue,  a skill center for women.

We were greeted by Martha Gomis, who has been running SOS for over 20 years.  SOS Dialogue was supported as a mission project by the UMW (United Methodist Women) from 1997-2017.

Yvonne Woodrow from First Church Neenah listens on our SOS Dialogue Visit.

Martha gave us a tour of the classroom spaces and introduced us to her students. Fifteen are enrolled in the two-year sewing program, which also teaches French, English, and Mathematics.  A three-year program is also offered in restaurant training, which enrolls 20 students.  Gomis told us both programs are designed to help craft a future for these young women.

"In the restaurant program the girls learn cooking, nutrition, and embroidery. They learn finances, their rights, and their duties.  Everything they need to run a business.  Many of my students have opened their own sewing shop or business, or gone back to school.  But we want to make sure they take something with them they can use.  We have a malnutrition issue in our country; we also want to change the way they eat at home."

Martha address the students during our visit.

The rest of our afternoon was touring a Wildlife reserve in Bandia.  We saw many animals indigenous to Senegal, but many that were brought from South Africa.  We were given a guided tour through the reserve but were remarkably close to the animals.  God's creatures were right there among us!

Pastor Ben Morris from Emmanuel Church has a giraffe right over his shoulder!

This monkey near the restaurant found a treat to snack on!

Tomorrow will include a visit to Goree island and a MicroCredit Center. Thank you for following our adventures!

Day 4- Nutrition Center

Nancy Hermanson from Appleton First Church opened our day with devotions.

The schedule for Day 4 was a bit shuffled.  So it was a change (but a welcome one) that we toured Rose du Lac, the Pink Lake.  Beyond its color Rose du Lac is known as a bountiful source of salt.  Workers row out into the lake and gather salt simply scooping it into plastic containers and eventually their boats.  The lake is replenished with salt (and salt water) from the ocean during rainy season, from August to September.

"Rose du Lac:" The Pink Lake

A mound of salt near Rose du Lac

Most of our team looking at the camera near Rose du Lac!

From Rose du Lac, we went to the village of Mbassis to experience a feeding center, an Advance Project from the United Methodist Church.  A group from the United Methodist Mission in Dakar typically comes on Saturday to help feed 42 children.  We did not get to see 42 children on this Tuesday, as some were in the nearby public school. The primary purpose is of course to provide food to a needy population.  But the mission staff stated that teaching nutritional value was also part of their goals.  "We want to bring them meat, milk, rice, beans and fish," one staff member said.  "But they also have some of those things. So it is teaching them to eat beans, vegetables, use some of the things they have."

Pastor Tony Fuller greets the village and Pastor Etienne.

Pastor Etienne is the pastor for 6 local churches around the villages. Etienne expressed that the feeding ministry is many children first had any contact with the church, and it furthered their relationship.  Many children that have been raised in the feeding program became lay preachers in one of the nearby United Methodist Churches.

Pastor Etienne welcomes the children of the village.

Pastor Etienne talked about the importance of the program to the community:  "Everything you are sending, everything is food for these children.  The program is not perfect.  We try to make it better everyday.  But it is all for the children."

Bill Gibson makes a new friend in Mbassis

There are two other feeding centers like this one in Mbassis.  You can learn more about the project and give to it online here- https://www.umcmission.org/Give-to-Mission/Search-for-Projects/Projects/14525A

Day 3- Prison Visit

Bill Gibson offers the morning devotion before breakfast on Monday

The third day of our IVIM team's trip to Senegal was built around the visit to a women's prison in Dakar.  In past years the United Methodist Church has been in connection with the prison by making visits, bringing food and care items.  Funding issues has made these visits less frequent.  You can support this ministry of the UMC by giving here- https://www.umcmission.org/Give-to-Mission/Search-for-Projects/Projects/14524A

But you can still very much see the hands and feet of Christ at work in the prison itself.  We were not allowed to take photos inside, heard and saw amazing stories of rehabilitation and resurrection.

Culturally women in Senegal are not given much opportunity.  Education and job training are hard enough to come by in Senegal; women are not given a fair shake in what little there is to share.  Out of desperation many turn to prostitution.  Our visit today revealed the most common crime among inmates was for Drug Trafficking, a minimum sentence of 10 years.  The prison we visited today housed 124, with 41 guards on shift at a time. Some of the inmates kept very young children with them; children can be housed within the prison until age 3.  It was very unlike any other prison we had seen before; for the most part inmates walked freely to common areas. One large room with mattresses on the floor would hold a dozen inmates or more.  The relationships between the guards and prisons was very cordial. 

We were graciously greeted by Prison Warden Amy Manga, who shared that she visited prisons in several other countries as a learning exercise, including the United States.  There were many differences for her.

"The big issue in the United States prisons is isolation and stress.  You can see here we have many beds in one room. Not much privacy.  But not much isolation," Manga said. "The community is present for each other.'

Manga continued "The guards, we are among the prisoners everyday. We don't fear them. We want a future for them."

Our tour of the prison included what that future might look like: learning a trade. We saw the work of many women in a sewing area, making sheets and tablecloths.  An area was dedicated to 

"That is really what I am fighting for, is to give the women something to have when they leave here."

"Deprived of Liberty, but not of Dignity."

Day 2- Worship in Kaolack

Day 2 of our IVIM team's visit to Senegal was a Sunday, so we needed a place to worship! Our team traveled to the village of Kaolack for a day of worship and hospitality.

Sanctuary of the Kaolack Church

Pastor AJacke welcomed us to worship today.

Pastor Ajacke welcomed us to the United Methodist Church in Kaolack, where he serves many hats.  He led the worship service and directed the choir.  Part of the church's ministry in Senegal is trying to start a variety of agricultural projects.  Pastor Ajacke has been successful raising pigs, and gave our team a tour of his efforts.

Pastor Ajacke gives us a tour of the pigs he is raisin

Pastor Ben Morris from Emmanuel-Appleton was invited to preach in Kaolack this morning.

Following worship the team was invited for lunch on the roof of the church. This is where Ajacke and his family hosts larger meals and celebrations following worship.  They brought up chairs so we were able to enjoy a wonderful meal in the shade.

Tony Fuller and Ben Morris join Pastor Joseph Bleck in a jam session before dinner at the mission in Dakar

Day 1 in Senegal- Arrival and Gathering

Our Senegal IVIM team arrived safely!  We will welcomed at the airpot in Dakar by Pastor Joseph Bleck and transported to the United Methodist Mission for breakfast and fellowship.

Pastor Tony Fuller from Neenah First Church enters the Mission in Dakar.

"Tanagra means 'hospitality.'  "Senegal is a nation of hospitality, and this is at the center," said Pastor Bleck, pointing at the table. 





Following the meal our team was weary from travel and required some of that hospitality to recover!  After a short break we joined Pastor Bleck around the table again for a late lunch of Yassa (rice) with beef, and salad. 

From the mission we began a bus tour of the city, which included a stop at the African Renaissance  Monument; the below statue was erected in 2010.  Inside the statue was a museum to African History and a elevator to the top.



The statue looks over the city of Dakar and offers stunning views of the city and gorgeous sunsets!



We leave early tomorrow to worship with one of the UMC Churches. Follow us tomorrow along our journey!

First post- Packing and Purpose of Trip

Thank you for joining our journey from Wisconsin to Senegal 2019! This blog will chronicle and update you on our trip.

Our team departs January 11th flying out of Chicago with a connecting flight in Washington D.C. and then on to Dakar.  Team members include: Nancy Hermanson from Appleton First Church, Tony and Yvonnne Fuller from Neenah First Church, Bill Gibson, Gwen Gibson, and Ben Morris from Emmanuel (Appleton), and Mary Balson from Campbellsport First.

The work of the church in Senegal is based very much on Christ’s directives of mercy and justice.  Feeding centers in rural areas provide well balanced meals to those in need. Skill centers are offered for to promote literacy and clothes making skills for young women.  Missionary David Makobo N’Shikala is an agriculturalist teaching farmers how to grow food in poor soil. (Learn more about David here) https://www.umcmission.org/Explore-Our-Work/Missionaries-in-Service/Missionary-Profiles/n-shikala-makobo-david 

 The NorthEast District of Wisconsin Conference has been financially supportive towards the ministry in Senegal for several years.  The churches in Circuit 10 in particular have shared in responsibility of a partnership with Senegal, and have gathered seven years in a row for a golf outing to raise funds and awareness 

But the work that God calls us into together is much more than financial.  The purpose of this 2019 VIM (Volunteer in Mission) trip is for relationship building and strengthening purposes.  Our team will be visiting, listening, and traveling. We will be with the people of Senegal, walking together, eating together, and worshiping God together.  The purpose of our trip is to build connections to see how God continues to call us into ministry together.

If you are reading our blog it means that you have a connection to our team, to one of our churches, or somehow to Senegal.  We thank you for your support of our trip and all that God is doing through.  Please be in prayer for our team as we prepare to embark!