CREATE! Executive Director Barry Wheeler met with community leaders and beneficiaries in Walo, Gagnick Mack, and Darou Diadji.
CREATE! Executive Director Barry Wheeler is currently visiting our partner communities in rural Senegal. Last week, Barry met with traditional leaders and beneficiaries in our three new communities – Walo, Gagnick Mack, and Darou Diadji. The cooperative group in Walo is thrilled with their new solar water pumping installation and the women are very motivated as they progress with their agricultural training.
The newly rehabilitated wells in Gagnick Mack and Darou Diadji are now complete and solar installations, water networks, basins, garden fencing, vegetable seedlings, and tree nurseries will follow shortly!
Barry has also been training our field staff in anticipation of the upcoming installation of a small-scale solar hot water system at the village health post in Gagnick Mack. The community is very excited about this opportunity and gave Barry and the CREATE! team a warm reception with exuberant dancing and applause. A village leader in Gagnick Mack said, “CREATE! will never be forgotten in Senegal, from here to eternity.”
CREATE! field technicians are working with cooperative members to prepare the new garden sites for planting.
During Barry Wheeler’s trip, he will also be visiting traditional village leaders and civil administrative authorities, including representatives of the Senegalese Departments of Water and Forestry, Agriculture, and local prefectures, to discuss CREATE! current activities and future plans. Our Country Representative, Omar Ndiaye Seck, also periodically checks in with government authorities to maintain a strong bond and garner local, regional, and national support for CREATE!
CREATE!’s staff maintains close relationships with traditional village leaders and local government officials.