“Global Citizen Year fellow learns that poor farmers need support” – originally posted on the ONE Campaigns blog here: LINK

Every year, Global Citizen Year chooses a group of young Americans to spend nine months working as apprentices in rural communities all over the world. Mat Davis, a 2009-2010 fellow, talks about his experience working on a farm in Senegal.

Agriculture is a love of mine. I have been gardening on plots of land in inner city Indianapolis for five years.

It’s this love that led to me become a founding fellow for Global Citizen Year . The program helps young Americans gain a global perspective and develop skills to help address the global issues we’ll face in the future. Each fellow has an apprenticeship. Mine was agriculture.

I worked on a small scale farm for Pate Diop in Gorom, Senegal. I saw just how hard it is to grow enough food for one’s family and for the global market. And I saw just how hard these farmers have to work, overcoming technological disadvantages to do their work.

With Pate and his four sons, I watered 500 tomato plants, 300 pepper plants and whatever other plants he needed to make ends meet. The watering cans we used were made from a plastic gas container that was cut in half. A branch was nailed to either side. They weren’t pretty gardening cans from Sears, but they worked. We worked from 7 AM to 10 AM and then took a donkey-drawn cart back to Pate’s house to escape the hot sun. When we pulled up into the front yard, the women in Pate’s family would be waiting to carry the produce off the markets in huge baskets on the top of their heads. One small box would be kept for the family.

But I often felt frustrated at the markets. There were tables lined up and down the street with women selling vegetables and fish, but all the tables and all the food looked exactly the same. Working hard every day to see the people in my community left with only a small box of food and a market where they couldn’t compete was difficult for me. These were things I had heard and read about, but to gain the different perspectives and to actually live the story was powerful.

My experience on Pate’s farm helped me realize that even with a lot of hard work, farmers often fall short—they’re not able to grow enough food or it’s not at the right price to compete. So in the end, food security is really about giving farmers like Pate the capacity to cultivate more from his land and more for the community.

- Mat Davis, Global Citizen Year fellow

I work on a on a small-scale farm in Gorom 2. The owner of the farm is named Pate Diop. He was a policemen for 32 years and began cultivating his father’s farm in. Pate has a huge family. Polygamy exists in Senegal, so Pate supports two wives and I don’t know how many kids all by what gets produced at the farm. There is no other form of income. There is an African tradition of family farming, and one day Pate wants his entire family to work on the farm. Pate told me he saw a lot of things while he was a policemen and he wants in particular young people in his family to use agriculture to stay out of trouble. He wants to use his family land as a community center of sorts.

I have been using urban gardening for young people in my community in the same way for the last four years, so when he said that it really resonated with me. Pate always talks about his hopes and dreams and goals and sometimes I forget he is 57. Not everyday do you meet people that age talk about their hope and dream. Let alone someone who is 57 and working in the developing world. That is one thing that I really admire about Pate.

That’s why I have no problem waking up every Wednesday and Thursday morning (sometimes everyday of the week) at 7am while even the sun is still asleep to go watering 500 tomatoes 200 peppers, onions, mint, and bissap (indigenous fruit) all by hand. The equipment we use to water are constructed from: the tops and bottom of plastic gasoline containers to hold water and a stick in the middle nailed to the container to carry it. Each one filled with water weight about under 7 kilos which is around 15 pounds. After two weeks my shoulders got huge! I work with pate’s family and we’ve all become close. Daouda, Moussa, Manjaay: without this them I wouldn’t have perfected my plant watering skills. A lot of things run through my head while I lug around 30 pounds water over and over. I think a lot about development. I think about how much more we could grow if pate had the an irrigation system instead of gas containers. And how agriculture is the base for development in not only Senegal but most of Africa. Read more >

I have many names here in Senegal. Pap Bamba in Dakar, Tala Ngom in Bambilor, but in my village they call me Machu Leye, or my host mama calls me Ibou Sall. I live in the village of Gorom 2, which is apart of the community rural of Sangalkam. Gorom isn’t very big but there are a lot of people and I literally know everyone. I take walks everyday after lunch. I love the village lifestyle; it’s communal here. There is always waxtaan (dialogue or discussion) happening somewhere. In African culture oral tradition dialogue is the means by which people receive information. There is heavy emphasis communication. I talk a lot so I fit right in. I talk to young people, old people babies, everybody, because everybody has a different perspective on life in Gorom. I cant walk down the street without being engaged in 10 min, salutation. In the states it would be agony but I don’t mind here. I have learned to move at the speed of Senegal and I like it.

I try to visit my friends everyday, and one time I was watching T.V. at someone’s house and I saw a basketball clip. I was so excited because I remembered that there is a basketball court in gorom. So the same day I went over and started playing. Then the next day I played again but with my friend Bour, and we kept playing; before I knew it there were people coming from other villages wanting to playing. It felt good to be in control of something in a place where I’m so far out of my comfort zone.

Gorom loves the fact that I am African American. Before I got here I was curious about how people would perceive me. I didn’t know if they were going to view my as American and not even acknowledge the fact that I look like them or be just as curious as I was about them. Turns out that I been adopted by Senegal. Everywhere I have gone here I have been welcomed with open arms, hearts and ears. Read more >

I recently went to a naming ceremony for my next door neighbor’s newborn. The ceremony in Wolof is called Ngente. There was an extreme amount of rice an even more people. I had never seen so many plastic chairs in my life. All the men were huddled to one side talking about something. But like most things in Wolof it seemed intense. I have been here for a while now so people know. Once everybody heard I was there I quickly became the center  of attention. I was bombarded by questions about life in the US. I kept up in French pretty well but kind of fumbled in Wolof but it was ok.

While we were talking and laughing the women were gathering around some turn tables under a tent made from an old promotional banner for Cadillac. When I was about to leave the States I would spend countless hours watching Sabar drumming and dancing online and be blown away by the artistry. But I knew sabar online couldn’t do sabar justice. Soon the music started and the women one by one started dancing. Sabar has a rich tradition in Senegal with women in particular. It is a means by which they express their sexuality. And I was told that men who can dance sabar, dance sabar but those who can’t don’t. Read more >

My brother Aliou Leye is my mentor in Sangalkam. I feel lucky to have him looking out for me in the village. He works for the rural village of Sangalkam youth association.  In 2002 he started an organization called the Foyer des Jeunes. He started it in order to help students get into university, mentor them while through university, and then come up a detailed future plan for a career. When Aliou first started it consisted of over 10 students and now it involves 700 student which all the in community. Everyone in the village calls him “president.” Read more >