Breaking Barriers in Dakar...

We pushed through the darkness under an illuminating moon and light turbulence. Clouds were lit up, white over the vast expanse of the Atlantic that I could never see. The purser announced our landing in a thick Afrikaans accent and that the plane would be heading on to Johannesburg only departing Dakar passengers would be allowed off. We dropped toward a great arm of glistening lights, a constellation of stars in a space of sea. The new Old World for me. The furthest western point of Africa and Senegal...

The days have rolled quickly, one into another. Time is flying by. Every hour is filled with a new surprise. More smiles, more laughter and more ways I could not have imagined to break through the language and cultural barriers. Barriers that seemed to evaporate upon arrival. I did not feel acutely the “stranger in a strange land” syndrome I have traveling in the past.

On the roof, five stories up on top of the community school run by my host Mamadu and his organization C-A-F-T, primary school kids were laughing, clapping, singing, smiling... Engaged in play with their teachers who were being trained by Elisabeth who speaks French coming from Quebec Canada, and Agyat who comes from India – and like myself does not speak the local language of French and certainly not Wolof. There were also several other adults belonging to several other NGOs and even anartist and poet among those that Elisabeth and Agyat were training to bring Play For Peace into their communities in the greater Dakar region...

Elisabeth brings with her over 6 years of experience with Play for Peace - mostly in Guatemala and Agyat for 13 years with Play For Peace in India. To see them work is a powerful experience. They are relaxed and continually engaged and attuned to not only the moment but the outcomes and how they are heading there. To see their process unfold is illuminating - the evening before as they loosely plan the day together, checking in throughout the day, tweaking, removing barriers by working to engage all the participants and help them feel comfortable and focused – working through the Play For Peace methodology that Everybody is invited and everybody wins. Mamadu, the host here in Senegal was very forward thinking and non-competitive by inviting a number of different NGOs here to participate, not just his teachers...

My self imposed barrier, my talisman of protection, I assumed would be my camera. A way to be involved but safely on the outside looking in, the observer and future sharer but thankfully that was not to be. In a skype interview to the Executive Director, Agyat mentioned that, “Bennett is connecting and communicating with his camera with the children. All he has to do is have it out and they are all around him.” It was true, there were some that would run away if it was brought to eye level but it was always with laughter and a kind of game of tag... Waving at me to take the picture of them and then running away weaving deftly through a laughing knot of other children. Some were brave and asked to see the image on the screen and they would laugh at themselves and their friends.

The training and the play sessions are mostly one and the same. Reinforcing the games by playing them again - the working theory that through repetition and through inclusion, non-competitiveness and caring the games bring everyone together in a very positive and joyful way. There is magic that happens when a large group of children are smiling, laughing, playing...

The French teacher, an older man in traditional robes of the Muslim faith, came up to the roof and was all smiles when he saw the kids in two groups, circled up and actively playing a game. He spoke very few words in English but needed no words to express how happy he was. He put his arm around me. “I am French teacher. No understand English.” He pointed to the children and proceeded to search through his limited English vocabulary to express himself. “This is wonderful. I very happy you are here. Peace very good, very important. Thank you.”

Yesterday beneath drizzly skies, as the call to prayer rang out across Thiaroye and Dakar, the trainers Agyat and Elisabeth shared some of the philosophy of experiential education and how to effectively run play sessions with the 17 Senegalize. When Agyat would speak and Elisabeth would translate and add to the conversation. They seemed to seamlessly communicated. Sometimes Wolof was spoken by the trainees as they shared questions or observations amongst themselfs, occasionally a few words English idioms that they knew would be shouted in affirmation. At one point Agyat made a point that, “If you go and play in many different areas with children this is not Play For Peace – that is just play. The model is based on consistent continual contact. For any experience to become a complete learning it has to have frequency.”

The whole idea Agyat later told me is to empower. “But we keep the power with us if we make all the decisions. Through experiential education the participants take responsibility for their actions and the consequences of what happens. Normally in the classroom this never happens and as a child you don't have any power in this environment.”