For 10 years, CREATE! has grown alongside our partner communities in rural Senegal as we implement and refine our sustainability programs. CREATE! is composed of compassionate individuals who share a passionate commitment to working with rural village populations in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere in the world to alleviate the impact of climate change. We spoke with six of our staff members who have been with CREATE for nearly 10 years and played large roles in the growth of the organization. Read their stories from Senegal below:
Learn from Six of Our Staff Members:
Omar Ndiaye Seck (CREATE! Country Director):
“CREATE! has allowed us to grow personally and professionally through respect for the local knowledge. Professionally, we have to be the change we want for ourselves. The rehabilitation of the Back Samba Dior well inspired me. We had already installed the infrastructure and the well did not have enough water for the gardening activities. The CREATE! team had done their best and dug the well again so now there is bountiful water for the activities. It shows that you should never give up, always believe that hard work pays off. I’ve always believed that it could be done and time has proven me right; that’s why I never give up with challenges, we will always overcome them.”
Amadou Diouf (CREATE! Field Coordinator):
“When I was a technician in Ouarkhokh site and I first started working at CREATE! I found the site in a very bad condition and the participants as well as the residents had in mind that some speculations could not be grown in that place. So, I launched two challenges which are: 1. Redesign the site and step up production. 2. Grow the speculations they thought they could not produce in the area. Once I had successfully completed this challenge, I let them know that nothing is impossible and that it is only will power followed by determination.”
Codou Gadji (CREATE! Agricultural Technician):
“I have evolved since I joined CREATE!, I learned to be a humanitarian woman and personally I am happy to help other women who are from the rural communities. What inspired me to work with CREATE! is the fact of helping people in need by giving them the necessary means to be independent. One day one of the participants of a group that I managed was sick and the others decided to buy her prescription with the money from the solidarity fund of their VSLA. This story really inspired me. That is to say that CREATE! has taught them to help each other.”
Mame Souka Diouf (CREATE! Program Administrator):
“Working with CREATE! has given me the opportunity to better consider social issues relating to human life on earth; our relationship with nature and the need to always provide solutions to the challenges of life. In the search for an environmental solution and human development on earth; the impact can only be positive. And over the years of work; the experience gained allows us to have a better conception of the sense of responsibility.”
Abdou Ba (CREATE! Solar Technician & Driver):
“Before I was only a driver but now I’m both driver and solar technician thanks to CREATE!… I have learned the appropriate technology from our founder Barry Wheeler. The first time I install the solar panel was something I will never forget in my life because it that day CREATE! have considered me like a solar technician. That day Mr. Barry was not able to do the installation because he didn’t feel well and they wanted to postpone it and I told them that I could do that and I succeeded.”
Ndeye Fatou Thiam (CREATE! Communications Coordinator):
“For a long time, I wanted to discover the rural communities because their life is different from life in Dakar. Thanks to CREATE! I have the possibility to help people because it is something I wished for since I was young. Before I worked with CREATE! I knew vegetables but I didn’t have any idea of how it grows in the ground. The first time I see it I was very excited and asked many questions to the technicians so it is something I never forget in my life.”