Donkey Rally to Fight Malnutrition in Kolda!

So a little over a week ago, myself and many other volunteers in the Kolda region ended a week long project to create awareness about malnutrition and educate people about the benefits of moringa (aka: Neebedai).  I mentioned the project in an earlier blog post including the promotional video for the project :) I hope you all checked it out!

The project officially kicked off on March 9th, 2011 in my town of Kounkane.  The original volunteer who started planning the project was med evacuated before he could participate in it, so that left my site mate, Geoff in charge :) Unfortunately for me, on the day the donkey race started I was battling sickness due to parasites and amoebas, so I was unable to leave with the donkey riders and bikers that accompanied them.  I later joined the volunteers working with this project towards the end of the rally. Lucky for me I recovered in time to help out with a few of the sensibilizations, primarily the ones we did starting in Bagadagi and ending in Kolda ( I helped hold the sign :)).  

Basically, the project consisted of four donkey riders: Geoff, Mike, Curtis, and Cara (later in the rally, it was Charlene)  They switched between a mixture of riding the donkeys and walking the donkeys, because lets face it, riding a donkey all day would be extremely painful. 



The donkey riders!

The entire rally lasted 7 days. The donkey riders walked from Kounkane to Kolda, which is over 100K! Props to them! Especially because it's getting hotter and hotter every day! There were many other volunteers that helped out, who rode our bikes ahead of the donkey riders to help set up the sensibilizations (meetings held in the community to educate people) in the cities, towns, and villages we hit on our way to Kolda. 



Me, Cara, Wilma, and Mike watching the sensibilization

The sensibilizations were great! There were lots of people who showed up too! :) The meetings consisted of quizzing the audience on basic nutrition of the local foods.  Geoff and our Senegalese friends, like Mamadou, who helped out with the meetings were great!  The audience really interacted in answering questions, and those who responded were given moringa seeds! The audience learned what foods they eat on a regular basis contain the basic nutrients our bodies need, like protein, carbs, vitamins, etc. and of course the detriments of eating too many things with high fat content (oil, butter, etc). 



Geoff and Mamadou running the sensibilization

Finally, the audience was educated on a locally grown and widely available plant: Moringa.  They learned about all the nutrients this one plant contains and the importance of incorporating it into their diet to help fight against malnutrition, which is unfortunately something that is prevalent in many villages in our region and all over Senegal. 

Me and Charlene holding up the sign about Moringa during one of the sensibilizations



I feel like the donkey rally was very successful! It was great to see the audience interact and learn about Moringa and its many benefits! A great big thank you, Merci beaucoup, and Jaraama buy to all those who supported this effort and those who contributed monetarily :) It means the world to us when we know we have people out there who support our projects! Thank you!

Please feel free to check out the link below to learn more about this miracle plant! :)

http://www.moringa.com/

Big Thanks to Curtis! ---I borrowed many of your photos from fb! Jaraama :)