The Transformation of a Country ... It's still going on ....

I don't remember that building being there last time ...?

Sometimes when you visit a place many times over the years, you don't really notice the changes.  But coming back to Senegal this time, after twenty years of visits, it was hard not to be impressed by how much different it is now compared to what it used to be.

There are freeways where there were dirt roads.  Everyone has smart phones (or at least cell phones) and their service is better and less expensive than we have in the States.  They have been enjoying the good times of a housing boom for a few years.  They are building a new national airport.  The highway system is as good as any in Africa.  Progress has come to Senegal.

The Village of Keur Soce, Senegal

 
Well, hold on a minute .... have you been to a remote village out in the interior of the country?  Actually, yes, as a matter of fact that's where we are right now.  Things are still pretty rough for most Senegalese.  They could use a little help.  

We have been active here for many years with our Andando Foundation, providing assistance with development projects, which brings us here again to the village of Keur Soce and the surrounding area. 

I will hit on some of the highlights of our trip so far:

 
So we stopped at a "factory" on the five hour drive out to our final destination, to check out the place that makes our fence for the gardens.  You know, like chain link fence, only they make it by hand.  
This picture shows a guy winding the inter-woven wire into a continuous length of chain link.  This will keep the critters out and ring the garden with a perimeter for planting.

This is a well digger, coming up out of a 50 foot hole.  A large part of what we do here involves water.  This country is hot and dry.  But with water and hard work, you can grow food and feed your family and maybe even have enough vegetables to sell and make some income,
This particular well hit water at 50 feet, but the well went dry, so they need to dig it deeper.  Oh, and did I mention they do all of this by hand?  They send a guy down there and he digs as long as he can stand it and then it's someone else's turn. 

Speaking of gardens, The picture above show one of the the gardens in Keur Soce, a very vibrant garden indeed.  In fact we bought some veggies for dinner and breakfast, carrots, guavas, and mint (for tea)

 And lastly, but certainly not leastly (is that a word?) we are in the middle of building a Health Post in the nearby village of Sama Toucouleur, sponsored to a great degree by Hub City Church in Albany, Oregon.  
This is going to make a great difference in the lives of the people in this village. 

We are just getting started.  But we are well aware that this is not Oregon here, it's 100 degrees, hot, dry, and windy.  But really darn interesting.