Jangele ma - Teach me

As part of my studies in Dakar this semester I have an internship in Pikine - a low income suburb just outside of Dakar.  Each Friday I work with the organization Village Pilote; a non-profit organization. The director is French but the majority of the staff is Senegalese. Their goal is to place boys that have been living on the streets of Dakar back with their families. Many of the boys have run away from home to escape poverty, broken families or abuse and come not only from all regions of Senegal but also Guinea, Mali, and The Gambia. I work at one of two refuges where the boys up to age ~14 live if they choose to leave their lives on the street. So far I've attended one (long) weekly meeting concerning everything that goes on week to week. Otherwise I'm spending time with the boys at le maraichage; a large plot of land by a swamp where people grow vegetables. The refuge has a small plot and they visit every day to take care of the plants. Afterwords they play rugby, do laundry, shower and have lunch together. While I've worked with kids a lot in the past this is a whole new experience. Language barrier of course, also I'm a toubab (white person) and that probably means I won't be around very long. My last visit was exciting because more of the boys were happy to see and came to greet me. I had longer conversations of broken wolof and french with them and they brought books to me so we could look at the pictures and talk about them. The youngest boy, about 4 yrs old, came up to me with a book and said "Jangele ma" which means teach me. It really touched me because he's too young to be living at the refuge, he's lost and they have tried to find his parents through the tv and radio but no results. He needs a family.
There's so many kids on the street, the longer I'm here the harder it is to see them on the street. This problem needs to be solved on so many levels, Village Pilote works here in Dakar while other programs address issues in the villages. I try to think about my role and how I can contribute to such a large problem, not just kids on the street but health issues -- something I saw during my rural visit. I'm definitely still interested in public health and learning how to design effective programs. I'm currently working on a proposal to study in Senegal during the summer - focus on the health system here in Senegal and another area of focus - women and health - power relations and effect on health/access to health care, effect of cultural globalization on health care, or the effects and reactions to Christian missionaries (as many set up health systems). This proposal is due April 1st so I'm back to work. If you have any comments let me know! And if you want to check out Village Pilote the website is villagepilote.org and I beleive theres an option to switch the language to English.