‘Sargal Xaleyi’: World Vision Senegal, serving the children of Senegal for 30 years

30 years of work in Senegal is something worth celebrating. So World Vision Senegal came together with the group Daara J Family in order to say A BIG THANKYOU to all its partners who have been so supportive all this time, and making a positive contribution to improving the lives of millions of children in Senegal. It was also a chance to put across the message of strategic objective to ‘improve the lives of more than 8 million of the most vulnerable children by 2021’.

World Vision’s objectives for the concert

• Celebrate partnership for child well-being over 30 Years;
• Share with the audience some of the key impacts of World Vision’s work;
• Say A BIG THANKYOU to all partners who have been supporting us for more than 30 years and making such a positive contribution to the improvement of the lives of millions of children;
• Appeal to people to get involved in the spirit of child well-being, and to support World Vision Senegal in their objective to improve the lives of more than 8 million children by 2021.

World Vision’s targeted areas of intervention

World Vision is targeting vulnerable sectors of society as one of its main priorities. This is why it’s making major interventions in the remotest areas: Saraya, Tomboronkoto, Nétéboulou, Missira... World Vision is active in eight regions of Senegal, namely Fatick, Diourbel, Kaffrine, Tambacounda, Kolda, Kedougou, Ziguinchor and Dakar.

“This exploration work is something that we are cooperating on with local partners, meaning the local authorities,” says Diégane Ndiaye, World Vision Senegal’s Director of Operations. “Many of our programmes are now in the mature phase. Currently we are focussing on regions in the South. But in our new strategy we are planning to stretch our tentacles towards Matam and Sedhiou. We have organised this concert to get the word out at street level about what we are doing”, he said.

World Vision Senegal and  Daara-J Family - a real collaboration

“Activities marking this 30-year anniversary were underway throoughout the month of May and June,” signalled Diégane Ndiaye, World Vision Senegal’s Director of Operations.

Diégane Ndiaye, World Vision Senegal’s Director of Operations

Who better for him to call on for the event than World Vision’s partner of 25 years, Daara J Family? In the words of group member Ndongo D: “World Vision – Daara J Family, one and the same family for the well-being and happiness of children.”

“We wanted to take the message to the people to remind them that children are our future. World Vision have been great companions of ours in this mission for a long time and together we have organised loads of shows like this. We wanted to take the chance to show some faith and hope at street level – just where the problems for kids start,” commented the rapper.

The message of the concert

World Vision took advantage of the concert in order to show how the organisation has been active in improving the daily life of children and vulnerable sectors of society. Among the headline statistics are: World Vision has been behind the drilling of  800 boreholes in Senegal, the building of 345 classrooms, 374 health huts and health centres, spending in total some 153,650 million CFA. 1,253,000 children were impacted by this in 2016. 

In his opinion, the message of the concert is gratitude. “It’s to say thanks to our partners who have supported us for 30 years: the State, funders, community partners, technical services, other development agencies. But also our way of asking them to continue the adventure and bring along new partners, so we can improve the lives of the eight million children by 2021,” said the Director.

Ndongo D added that “The message was also to take kids off the street. We are very vocal about that through our music. Everyone was there and stood up to be counted. It was a great event for the kids. We hope to see them growing up to build up Senegal, alongside responsible parents,” he said. 

Daara J Family in perfect harmony with the audience at the Place de l’Obélisque on April 29th, 2017.

World Vision’s announcement of the show unleashed a tide of fans, and after three years without playing in Dakar, Daara J Family were ready to get them overheated at the Place de la Nation. Ndongo D took the stage and opened with the statement that “parents must educate themselves first before thinking about teaching their kids”.

For three solid hours Daara J Family rallied a breathless audience to their cause, every visit to their rich back-catalogue ratcheting up the excitement. The band was on such form that some of the seated guests were driven to abandon the four legs in favour of the two and sway in submission to the sublime grooves. The concert was a roaring success and one long warm embrace between Daara J Family and their legions of fans.

Photos Credits: Mouhamed DIOP