PETER AMANUEL ART PROJECT DAKAR-SENEGAL

The Republic of Senegal is a country in West Africa. Senegal is bordered by the North African country of Mauritania in the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast, and Guinea-Bissau to the south-southwest. Senegal’s economical and political capital is Dakar. The name “Senegal” comes from the Wolof “Sunuu Gaal,” which means “Our Boat”. However, due to limited resources and low demand for secular education in areas where Islamic education is more prevalent, the law is not fully enforced. The Ministry of Labor has indicated that the public school system is unable to cope with the number of children that must enroll each year. As a result, many school-age children seek education and training through more informal means. A large number apprentice themselves to practical training. One government official estimated there are 100,000 children apprenticed in Dakar.

It is base on these arguments that together with my Group of volunteer we decided to start a professional training program on art for the benefit of less priviledge children of Parcelles assainies in Dakar Senegal, the training program was concentrated mostly on the practical knowledge on the artistic areas such as painting, sewing, singing, decorating and hair beauty.

We selected 25 children for this session of training, 20 girls and 5 boys within the age of 6 to 15 years. This was a great experience indeed and we are very grateful to PBF and hope to organize more similar program in the future if we receive support.
JD