Senegal 2022 Garden

Five hours by plane separate two completely opposite realities, two parallel worlds each with its own particularities and characteristics.
Reading this journal of the project to launch a community garden, carried out in November 2022, transports us, without moving, into an oasis of solidarity and optimism. It reveals nuances and customs of a culture very different from our stressful Western routine, while we discover, with hope and excitement, the actions aimed at substantially improving the quality of life for many families.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Barcelona - Sanghé - Senegal

At last, the big day has arrived, the day we had marked on the calendar months ago to start our new project. It seemed so far away when we planned it with such enthusiasm, and bought our tickets. Our current, frantic and unstoppable daily life absorbs us so much, that it’s still hard to believe it's real. But as we sit on the plane, quietly gazing at the landscape peeking shyly and elusively from beneath the vast sea of clouds, we slowly begin to immerse ourselves in the exotic rhythm of Africa.

At 2:35 p.m., on time—despite the Vueling cabin crew strike—we took off from El Prat airport. We have five hours to leave behind, our polluted and noisy city of Barcelona, and dive into the peace and quiet of the village of Sanghé, in Senegal. While the desert landscape hypnotizes us, we mentally review the details of the project ahead. In two weeks, we’ll return to our routines, and by then, the women benefiting from the project must be able to manage it on their own, without our presence.

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Organizing the agenda

The fog hides the timid sunrise, although it soon disappears, giving way to the scorching sun that will accompany us throughout the day, pushing the thermometer to levels not exactly ideal for beginning the hard work of preparing the area designated for our gardens.

We take advantage of the brief respite offered by the fans in the volunteer house where we are staying to organize the schedule for the coming days and finalize tasks with the project’s beneficiaries. As we wait for the sun to slowly descend, we notice that the rains of recent months—so essential for the land—have triggered a wild growth of grass. It looks like we’re going to sweat more than expected to prepare the soil for planting...

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Preparing the soil

The heat does not let up, but that doesn’t stop us from finally starting the essential groundwork. Yesterday, we arranged for some young men from the village to help us, and it was a great decision, as they brought much more suitable tools to help us achieve our first objective: getting rid of the annoying grass that covers everything.

The excitement of seeing the final result gives us wings to move forward quickly, but even so—and despite the evident experience of the locals—the area is so large that it will take us several days.

Also, today is an important day. At 2:30 p.m., we will be picked up and taken to the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Dakar. At five, a recognition ceremony is scheduled to honor the tireless work of Sister Hortensia, awarding her the Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. It is a simple and emotional event that rewards the immense, daily, altruistic, and selfless effort of this small woman who mesmerizes everyone who meets her, awakening a deep sense of admiration.

Awarding the Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic

Friday, November 18, 2022

Getting to know the flora and fauna

We woke up still under the spell of last night's beautiful evening. Sister Hortensia doesn’t need recognition to continue her relentless personal fight against inequality and injustice, but while she was chatting animatedly with the guests, there was a special sparkle in her eyes as she spoke about the great projects of her life—those projects that have significantly improved the lives of Senegalese people, now in Sanghé, but also in other areas of the country, during the more than 50 years she has lived here.

Her daily life is hectic. She manages a private school in Sanghé with 280 children aged between 6 and 12, which last year ranked third in the entire country for best academic results. She handles the school’s income and expense accounting, convinces parents to enroll all of their children—boys and girls alike—finds sponsors for families who can't afford the small tuition fee, buys food so that twice a week the children can eat at school and be properly nourished, and hosts and organizes the stays of all kinds of volunteers—from healthcare workers who do medical check-ups for all the children, to those who want to help with any of the many projects she always has in mind.

And that’s why we are here: to start a new project aimed at empowering the women of the village by setting up a garden to improve the nutrition of the schoolchildren and the beneficiary families.

As always, she is attentive to everything and especially caring toward the volunteers. She organized some excursions with a local guide for us to better understand the culture of this spectacular country, particularly its wildlife and flora. So today, as we got closer than we ever had before to elegant giraffes, imposing hippos, calm buffalos, zebras, impalas, antelopes, ostriches, crocodiles, and monkeys… we lost sight of the rest of the world, fully enjoying a truly unique experience.

Saturday, November 19, 2022

Discovering this fascinating country

We began the weekend very early. At exactly 7:00 a.m., we were picked up to continue exploring this fascinating country. We headed to Saint-Louis, the former French colonial capital, located on a small island at the mouth of the Senegal River, on the border with Mauritania.

It took us over four hours to cover the 200 kilometers separating us from our destination. When we finally arrived, our local guide, Samba, was waiting for us with his horse-drawn carriage to tour the picturesque historic center, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After many photos and videos and an interesting explanation, we ended our visit at a restaurant serving traditional Senegalese food. Then we got back in the car and headed to the Lompoul Desert, about 90 kilometers south.

The road was good and there was barely any traffic, but we had to stay alert for cows, goats, donkeys, and monkeys that constantly appeared beside us and crossed the road with complete calm, unfazed. Fortunately, Jacques, in addition to being an excellent guide, is also a skilled driver, which made the long hours of travel more bearable.

Just after five o'clock, we arrived at the village where a 4x4 truck was waiting to take us to the camp where we would spend the night. We took advantage of the sunset to walk on the dunes and take some fun photos while watching the beautiful sunset.

Afterward, we took a shower to wash off the fine sand stuck to our bodies, enjoyed a welcome cocktail (bissap juice—a traditional Senegalese drink made by infusing dried hibiscus flowers), a delicious dinner (a fairly spicy soup, couscous, vegetables, chicken, and cake), some time by the bonfire dancing to the rhythm of drums under the vast starry sky, and finally, a well-earned rest after a long and intense day.

Sunday, November 20, 2022

Enjoying the desert

We wake up before the stars disappear and the sunlight returns, completely erasing the impressive landscape of twinkling lights and shooting stars that had accompanied the sliver of a shy crescent moon. Not every day can we enjoy the peace and quietly of the desert, and even though it's really just a few dunes surrounded by quite a few eucalyptus trees, for our first experience in such a different environment, it feels like more than enough—we fully enjoy the experience in this hypnotic place.

After breakfast, we take one last walk on the sand, still bundled up because the nighttime temperature drops considerably—long sleeves and jackets are needed. Then we head back to the village, where our car is waiting to take us home. We decide to stop first at the craft market in Thiès to visit and do some shopping.

The road once again becomes our landscape for several hours, and the car thermometer climbs up to 35°C (95°F). We’re running late, so before visiting the market, we recharge at a restaurant that turned out to be Ivorian, where we taste their traditional dish: cassava couscous with fish, chopped onion, and tomato. Back home, we take a long walk around the area before going to visit Sister Hortensia to plan out the next few days.

Monday, November 21, 2022

Progressing at a good pace

The memories of the past three days give us energy to face the project with optimism and joy. One plot of land is already cleared of grass, and the other is progressing well. Initially, we considered piling up all the grass and burning it to use the ashes as fertilizer, but in the end, a neighbor asked for the grass to feed his animals. So, in the afternoon, he comes to collect the grass we pulled up in the morning.

During the hottest hours, we prune the fruit trees in the garden—mostly mangoes and especially limes—and when the heat eases a bit, we go to Sister Hortensia’s house with the intention of pruning her many citrus trees: oranges, mandarins, limes… But just before we arrive, we come across a group of children who, a bit shy at first, start talking to us. They have a ball, so we ask if they want to play, and with great excitement, they say yes. We take off our shoes and spend hours playing an improvised match, with more and more kids joining in along the path, where occasionally a motorbike or a donkey-drawn cart passes by.

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Speeding up the work

Today marks one week since our arrival in Senegal, and we're right in the middle of our volunteer trip. It’s a good moment to assess the progress of the project, which is going well, though we realize we need to speed up the work if we want the garden to be fully functional before we leave.

The boys who have been helping these past days can’t come today—they have responsibilities in the school garden they manage—so we continue pruning the fruit trees in the house. We also have visitors today: four Belgian women who have come to learn about Sister Hortensia’s projects and will have lunch with us.

Jeanne, our cook, is going to prepare the typical fish yassa, and we become her kitchen assistants to help and learn firsthand how this local dish is made. It can be prepared with fish or chicken and is served with the ever-present rice—though a much smaller variety than we’re used to—and a sauce made of lots of caramelized onions, spices, mustard, and lemon.

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Podando limoneros

While the boys finally finish weeding, we head to Sister Hortensia’s house to continue with our specialty: pruning lemon trees. We start with a huge tree, its branches touching the ground and many large, dry ones in the middle. At first, we’re cautious, trying not to cut branches with fruit, using pruning shears that work well for stems up to finger-width, larger shears, and a machete. But as we make progress and can reach the inner parts, we gain confidence and, with the help of our saw, focus on shaping a better canopy—one that allows sunlight and air to penetrate and improve the harvest.

In the process, many lemons fall—more than three large buckets. We’ll need to figure out what to do with them besides lemonade or the concentrated juice they use for cooking. After lunch, we continue with the trees in our own house, taking great care to avoid the sharp thorns that inevitably remind you of their presence if you get careless.

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Improving the land

Yesterday, we completed the first phase of preparing both garden areas. The next step is to improve the soil, which is very sandy and seems to lack nutrients. Ideally, we would make our own compost from plant waste and dry leaves, but for now, that’s not happening. It might be a good idea to include building a composter in the project to generate quality compost for fertilizing the garden once it's up and running.

Since this ideal option isn’t currently available, we’ll have to buy a cartload of manure to mix with the soil. Sister Hortensia has decided to assign one of the garden plots to the two boys who cleared the weeds, since they requested it and she knows they’ll take good care of it. The other plot will go to the women’s association from the Khamboudhia neighborhood (where the house is located), on the condition that they maintain it well, work the land properly, and produce a good harvest—enough for their own consumption and for the volunteer house.

A meeting with the president of the association has been scheduled, but it won’t take place until Saturday, as the whole village is currently busy with post-harvest tasks, mainly separating millet from the grain.

In the meantime, since we can’t move forward with the garden, we continue pruning, and now we've added tree planting as well. Today we planted a fig tree, and tomorrow we’ll plant an avocado tree.

Friday, November 25, 2022

Cooking local products

The day starts off cloudy, just like yesterday, and although it’s still hot, it’s more bearable, and the nights are cooler. The pruning work in the garden progresses in intervals, alongside other planting and maintenance tasks around the garden. With Jeanne, our cook, we’ve planned the best location for a small vegetable garden, and tomorrow we’ll start working in the area where we planted the fig tree yesterday. It’s not mango season now, but it is papaya season, and although they’re delicious, we can’t keep up and they’re starting to overripen. So we tried making a papaya cake—which turned out delicious—and a bit of jam, which was also spectacular.

Today we’re having lunch at the congregation house with Sister Hortensia and the other three Senegalese sisters, and afterward we help computerize the school’s accounting while having a relaxed conversation about current and future projects. Sister Hortensia’s greatest dream at the moment is to build a day center for the elderly in the village. She’s had the idea for years and already has the budget and location, but she needs to find the necessary funding. Manos Unidas, with whom she has an excellent relationship (they built the school and are currently building a computer lab and a classroom to start a second class line next year), would love to support the project but it falls outside their areas of action, so they can’t. However, the construction of two teacher houses—her other major aspiration—does fall within Manos Unidas' guidelines, and is scheduled to begin once the current school expansion project is completed, as they can’t fund two projects simultaneously. And so, between dreams, hopes, and aspirations, the afternoon slips away. Tomorrow, we’ll continue working hard to bring them to life.

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Bringing women together

The sun continues playing hide and seek behind the clouds, and although it looks like it might rain, it’s nearly impossible before mid-July. Today, since there’s no school and Sister Hortensia is more relaxed, we take the opportunity to dive into the school’s accounting, and hours pass among numbers and formulas almost without noticing.

At five o’clock, we finally have our meeting with the women. They arrive on time, receptive and happy about the opportunity they’ve been given. They’d like to plant eggplants (which grow very well in the area), onions (essential in Senegalese cuisine), lettuce, peppers, papayas... They choose a plot, and we schedule to meet again on Monday afternoon to continue preparing the soil.

It seems our volunteer project is taking shape and, although slowly, it’s progressing steadily toward the desired outcome. From our European mindset, we might have liked things to move faster, but we’ve managed to adapt to the local pace of life, using downtime to support the many other ongoing projects in Sanghé. As we watch the beautiful sunset from the house terrace, we’re filled with a strong sense that the day simply doesn’t have enough hours to do everything we’d like.

Sunday, November 27, 2022

Participating in the customs

It’s Sunday, and the local Catholics put on their best clothes to attend the 9 a.m. Mass. The church fills with color from the beautiful traditional dresses worn by the women and girls. It reminds me of the Masses in my father’s village in Salamanca, with the church split: women on the left, men on the right, and the front pews reserved for girls and boys. A large choir to the right of the altar injects joy into the long liturgy, which stretches until 10:30.

The congregation house is right across from the church. We only have a few days left and much work to do, so we continue transferring all the school’s accounting from the ledger into Excel. We focus on recurring monthly expenses: electricity (they’re switching to prepaid meters—when the balance runs out, it must be recharged to keep the lights on), internet (also prepaid), fuel and repair costs for the school buses (which are always overloaded and traveling unpaved roads), and monthly supplies like paper, maintenance and cleaning materials. The most significant expense is the salaries for teachers and school staff.

There are also occasional expenses, like buying seeds and tools for the school garden or desks and chairs. Without a doubt, the biggest investment this year was the construction of a well that supplies high-quality drinking water for the students and irrigation. Initially, they planned to drill 80 meters, but they didn’t reach water and ran out of saved funds. It was Divine Providence, as Sister Hortensia likes to say, that brought the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, to visit her projects at that very moment. Seeing the situation, she financed the additional 95 meters needed and the installation of solar panels to extract the water.

Monday, November 28, 2022

Planting the avocado

We’re entering the final stretch of our trip, making the most of the little time left. Early in the morning, we plant the avocado tree, using the pipe method to irrigate deeply and make better use of water. After breakfast, we go to the school to open and organize packages received from the last container sent from Europe—lots of books, some toys, clothes, shoes...

Before lunch, we receive a visit from a university professor who wants to support the garden project. He’ll return next week with tools and seeds and will organize training for the women. Little by little, and with everyone’s efforts, we’ll manage to turn these unused plots into a lush oasis of life and hope.

Tomorrow, some inspectors will visit the school and stay for lunch, so at three o’clock we head to Thiès to buy vegetables, fruit, and drinks for the meal. We can’t linger, because at five we have an appointment with the women. They come accompanied by a few men and many children, all filled with enthusiasm and joy to take on this new challenge of growth and prosperity.

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Following the course

I write the final lines of this emotional diary aboard the plane bringing us back home. Just fifteen days separate us from the beginning of this unique adventure, one that will be etched in our memories forever. Two weeks in which our lives paused, opening the door to new and intense experiences that have deeply enriched us.

Tomorrow, when the cold dawn awakens us, we’ll remember with nostalgia the landscapes, the immense trees, the goats, donkeys, and horses grazing everywhere, the birds tapping against the windowpanes at sunrise, the flurry of small white butterflies—but most of all, the people, especially the children, who gifted us their brightest smiles.

Thanks to Marisol—who’s working with me on developing the website for the NGO Red Azul and had the brilliant idea of keeping this diary—I’ve tried to capture the evolution of this fascinating project, which we leave well underway, with the firm hope that it will reach its full potential.