The Basics

Dates and requirements
ACI and the Baobab Center
Travel and Orientation
Health
Academics

 

Dates and Requirements

The Senegal program takes place every spring semester. Generally, the program begins at approximately the same time as the Lewis and Clark semester (mid-January). Because there is no spring break in Senegal, the program generally ends approximately one week earlier than the Lewis and Clark semester. Students often take advantage of this extra time to travel in West Africa. Students also occasionally take advantage of the stop most return flights make in Western Europe to travel there for part of the summer.

Basic prerequisites for the program are junior standing at the time of departure, French language study through FR 202, and an overall 3.0 GPA in French. French Studies majors must complete through FR 321 before leaving for Senegal. In addition, all students must successfully complete an interview for the program. Although FR 202 is the minimum requirement for program eligibility for General Culture participants (non-majors), we strongly recommend that ALL students take FR 301 before leaving for Senegal. We have found that the more French skills a student has upon arriving in Senegal, the more successful their experience there. As you prepare for study abroad in Senegal, please make French language study through at least FR 301 a central component of your plans.

In addition to these academic requirements, it is also expected that program participants attend all pre-departure orientation meetings and respond promptly to all communication, email or otherwise, from the Office of Overseas and Off Campus Programs and French studies' faculty. Failure to do so could result in exclusion from the program.

The semester in Senegal satisfies the study abroad requirement of the French studies and Foreign Languages majors, as well as the International Studies requirement of Lewis and Clark College.

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ACI and the Baobab Center

Africa Consultants International (ACI) was founded in Dakar in 1984 by Lillian Baer and Gary Engelberg, two former Peace Corps Volunteers, in an effort to apply and broaden their experience in the learning and development activities in which they had been involved since the mid 1960's. From an initial staff of five working in one four-room house, ACI has grown to employ over 40 people, working in three houses converted to provide classrooms, training space and offices in the SICAP Baobabs section of Dakar. Now well into its fourteenth year, ACI continues to strengthen and diversify its training and communications efforts in language instruction, cross-cultural exchange, health-related activities, publication of socio-cultural and post-literacy materials, as well as video production for development.

THE BAOBAB TRAINING AND RESOURCE CENTER

The Baobab Center is a language school where French and Wolof classes dominate, but where other West African languages as well as English are also taught to students of diverse origin. The clientele of the Baobab Center includes American college students on foreign study, the Japanese Volunteer Service (JICA), missionary groups, individual graduate students and researchers, Fulbright and Rotary scholars, development agents, Senegalese students, and members of the diplomatic corps. With a variety of different participants each year, the Center has become a forum for informal exchange among people from various cultures and walks of life.

HEALTH RELATED ACTIVITIES

Our ACI Health Program, located in the ACI Annex, has focused on HIV/AIDS awareness-raising, advocacy and training activities over the past eight years. A dedicated staff of ten have produced learning materials, created an active documentation center and trained close to 1500 representatives of NGOs, religious and political decision makers and opinion leaders using a highly effective HIV and Development training model. Recently, activities have expanded into the field of reproductive health, which includes not only HIV/AIDS, but STDs, adolescent reproductive health, and family planning as well. Related activities in the field of Health include translations, desk-top publishing, conference design and facilitation to help make crucial information available to all key actors in the health field.

ACI SUPPORT FOR FOREIGN STUDY PROGRAMS

For over twenty years, the staff of ACI has worked closely with Foreign Study programs hosted by American colleges and universities, which can range in length from one week to nine months. Some of the colleges we work with include Kalamazoo, Beloit, Mt. Holyoke, Colorado, Lewis and Clark, St. Lawrence and Wells. We also work with Georgetown University, Lawrence University, and the universities of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, to name just a few.

ACI offers students on foreign study a variety of activities and support services, including language instruction in French and Wolof, cultural orientation and activities, family homestays or group house living arrangements, travel excursions, and co-ordination of courses with local university professors. The ACI program strives to complement the university or internship experience and to make the time spent in Senegal as rich and rewarding as possible.

ACI believes that...
because of the powerful position that the richer countries occupy in the world, it is essential that as many young people as possible from developed countries have first-hand experience with the realities of development in Third World countries early on in their careers. Training provided by such organizations as Peace Corps, Crossroads Africa, and various foreign study programs (Fulbright, Georgetown, Kalamazoo, Beloit, Lewis and Clark, Rotary, Wisconsin, Mt. Holyoke, Minnesota, etc.) continues to kindle interest in Third World issues and to influence career decisions among students finishing their academic work. This type of experience can contribute to producing professional people who are more attuned to the realities of the Third World and who will be better qualified to contribute to defining and shaping the role that the developed world plays in helping to resolve Third World problems. Ultimately, this will contribute to a more equitable, stable and peaceful world.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

From the students who use its services, ACI expects:

• commitment to investing in the learning process and producing quality work

• respect of mutually agreed upon schedules and punctuality at the Center

• concerted effort to learn Wolof and/or French including learning the basic Wolof lessons and dialogues by heart and speaking both languages as much as possible outside of class

• appropriate behavior and appearance in public

• working towards group harmony and the creation of a mutual support network within the group

• sharing feelings and insights openly and honestly, and in a non-threatening way with the other members of the group and with the staff of ACI.

 

SERVICES PROVIDED FOR ACI STUDENTS IN SENEGAL

1. Sorties: During the first week that the students spend in Dakar, ACI provides a Neighborhood and a Downtown orientation which include accompanied sorties.

2. Medical Orientation: A local health resource person explains how to stay healthy in Senegal, responds to any health questions or concerns students may have, and advises students on where to go and what to do in case medical care is needed.

3. Security Session: Officials from the local police and US Embassy brief students on security issues in Senegal and measures to take in the event of emergency.

4. Gender and Family Session: This session was created in response to a request by former students for more information concerning women's issues in Senegal and family etiquette.

5. Cross-Cultural Orientation: During the first two to three weeks in country, ACI organizes a one day cross-cultural orientation session which introduces participants to the practices of Senegalese society and the cultural values they are based on.

6. Expanded Orientation Activities©: The EOA's involve a series of exercises which are structured to provide students with the opportunity to explore local resources in areas that may be useful to them in their studies, independent projects and in their adaptation to living in Senegal.

7. Wolof Language Instruction: Our usual procedure for foreign students who plan to spend an academic year in Dakar is to organize three weeks of intensive coursework from 15 - 25 hours per week for the first 75 hours of the 100-hour program, and the final 25 hours spread out over the following two to three months.

8. French Language Instruction: Depending on the students’ level in French, additional instruction may also be organized at ACI. The course can focus on conversation and/or grammar or on specific needs, such as assistance in writing skills or correcting course papers, etc.

9. Initial Logistics Assistance & Backstopping: Academic institutions can make specific requests for logistic support for incoming students. This can involve organization of housing, meeting students upon arrival, setting up itineraries or arranging special activities, visits and appointments, and ensuring on-going communications with the stateside institution. For academic institutions that do not maintain an office or staff person in Dakar, ACI can help to identify academic advisors, university personnel, training institutions and schools, resources in the NGO community, or assist in locating internships.

10. On-Going Learning: As students begin to feel more comfortable in their physical and cultural surroundings, they identify needs for specific information and contacts. ACI can respond to these needs through the organization of lectures, visits, and meetings with representatives of development organizations to provide students with contacts in fields that interest them.

11. Counseling: ACI staff can provide counselling to students in personal and study-related matters as they cope with their adaptation to a new culture and their changing academic and professional plans.

12. Evaluation and Preparation for Re-entry: This activity was designed to give students the time to look back over their academic year abroad, draw lessons from it, and prepare for their return to their own country and culture.

See photos of ACI Staff

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Travel and Orientation

All travel to and from Senegal is arranged by the Lewis and Clark College Office of Overseas and Off Campus Programs (Albany 206) in consultation with the participants. If you would like to make your own travel arrangements, you need to inform the Office of this as early as possible. You will also need a visa for your semester in Senegal. The OOOCP will assist you in applying for your visa.

A member of the LC French studies faculty will coordinate and lead pre-departure orientation in the spring and fall semesters preceding departure. Please remember that all orientation activities are essential and therefore obligatory; any absence is grounds for exclusion from the program.

ACI provides orientation services for all arriving students. These include:

1. Physical orientation: 12 hours of accompanied or unaccompanied sorties held during the first 2 or 3 weeks to familiarize students with their neighborhood and their city (landmarks, markets, post, telephone, bank, transportation, restaurants and all services necessary to satisfy basic comfort and security needs);

2. Cross-cultural orientation: One-day session (6-8 hours) introducing students to Senegalese customs and cultural values to ease personal integration (comparison of basic American and Senegalese values, group research and discussions, role play and traditional Senegalese meal etiquette).

3. Medical orientation: How to stay healthy in Senegal, and where to go in case of need.

ACI also provides logistical assistance to students as they arrive and settle in Senegal. This includes:

--Meeting students upon arrival
--Helping with students' physical and cultural needs throughout their stay in Senegal
--Ensuring on-going communications (fax, mail, e-mail) with stateside institution. NO private telephone line available, but students can use public phones with purchased phone cards
--Refering students to professional medical counseling if necessary
--3-day initial cultural orientation session in special setting
--Arranging students' housing with local families
--Arranging special activities, lectures, meetings, and area visits
--Setting up itineraries, providing contacts with local specialists
--Supervising several 3 to 4 day excursions (Saint Louis area, Sine Saloom)
--Setting up students' Wolof village stay
--Providing the end-of-program "Evaluation and Preparation for Re-entry" seminar
--Collaborating closely with the on-site Lewis and Clark academic advisor to design students' course work according to students' research interests and academic needs

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Health

All foreign travel involves exposure to new foods, people, and environments, and can therefore present new health challenges. We will discuss these challenges and strategies for meeting them, both during pre-departure and arrival orientation. However, students and their parents should rest assured at the onset that excellent medical care is available in Senegal should it be needed.

Before you leave for Senegal, you will need to educate yourself on the immunizations you may want to get in preparation for your trip. Your orientation director, the LC Health Center staff, and your own personal physician can help you with this process. The Senegalese government requires only the yellow-fever vaccination; however, students often decide to obtain other immunizations as well, such as hepatitis and malaria prophylaxis.

It will also be important to use caution with regards to food and drink in Senegal. All students will be provided with filtered water by their host families, and it is recommended that students only drink filtered water and drinks they know to have been prepared with filtered water (drinks from a sealed container, for example). Unwashed fruits and vegetables, or fruits without a peel, should not be eaten. We will discuss these and other strategies for food-management during orientation.

It is also a good idea to bring enough of any prescription drugs you may need to last for your entire stay abroad. Although quality pharmaceuticals are readily available in Senegal, products can have different names and costs, and it is often easier to come prepared with all that you need in order to avoid any potential confusion.

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Academics

The academic program varies slightly from year to year. Your specific academic program will be discussed in your pre-departure orientation sessions. All coursework is conducted in French by university professors (except for the Wolof and French language courses, which are conducted by highly-trained ACI staff). Following is the general schema of our academic program.

* FL 101: Wolof Language

Intensive Wolof language classes (50 hrs). Emphasis is placed on speaking and comprehension skills, orientation to Africa and cross-cultural information and training are integrated into the program. For these intensive courses, ACI uses a team approach that can involve many instructors, exposing students to a variety of accents and teaching styles.

* IS 240: Area Study: Senegal

--Expanded Orientation Activities (EOA): Series of organized or individual visits to familiarize students with some of Dakar's major organizations working in the fields of culture, development, women's issues and environment. The purpose of these visits is to provide students early in their stay with a number of resources which may be useful in identifying an internship, preparing an independent project or preparing a research paper. Students keep a journal and share information with the group.

--Visits & Excursions: Saint-Louis, Sine Saloum, Village Visit

--French Language Instruction: Journal and Report Writing. Formal instruction in advanced French language to help students with communication skills journal keeping, reports and research papers. (1 1/2 hour per week for 12 weeks). Average of one-page creative writing exercise (corrected then revised) per week plus textbook assignments to fit individual needs.

* IS 241: Special Topics: Contemporary Senegalese Society

--L'Héritage Colonial (10 hrs)
The course will focus on the colonial past of Senegal and West Africa and its continued manifestations in today's society (the slave trade, the colonial era and decolonization). A visit to Gorée Island, the historic colonial commune and slave trade post located in Dakar's natural harbor, will be part of the course.

--Arts et Société Sénégalaise (10 hrs)
This course will study traditional and contemporary Senegalese art. It will explore the link between art, music and dance and the social and environmental context, and their role in society. This course includes visits to local artists “studios,” hands-on-workshops, music and dance lessons as well as a visit to the National Art History Museum.

--La Littérature Senegalaise: "La Nouvelle" (15 hrs)
In-depth study of Cheikh C. Sow's, Cycle de sécheresse (Hâtier-Monde Noir Poche, Paris, 1983). Focus on oral tradition, gender issues, caste system, education and cultural beliefs). This seminar based on readings and discussion is complemented by weekly Tutorat to improve students’ communication skills.

* IS 242: History of Islam (45 hrs)

This course presents the history of Islam in Senegal from the 10th through the 20th centuries. It focuses primarily on the beginnings of Islam in the Senegambia region, the slave trade and islamization, the colonial conquest and Islamic resistance army of the 19th century. The course also touches on Islam under colonial rule, the era of Sufi brotherhoods and Islamic reform associations

Note: Community internships and/or auditing University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) courses are available to French Studies and Foreign Language majors. They must be arranged on an individual basis. Majors are encouraged to consult with ACI staff about auditing at least one UCAD course.

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