You should shave your head (it's covered with hair)

Today, the post we share with you is not a celebratory one. It is not the story of a community's declaration to protect human rights; in fact, it is just the opposite. It is with an equal measure of sadness and resolve to continue our work for human dignity for all that I share Seydou Niang's account. Seydou is a dedicated Tostan team member who has served the organization for the past seven years. While traveling by bus from Paris to London to see his wife, Sarah, Seydou was arrested, thrown in prison, and humiliated, all because the police said he did not look like the man pictured in his passport. "Your head is covered with hair. You should shave your head," they told him when he was finally released.

We have circulated Seydou's story, originally written in French, to our colleagues and partners worldwide. When overwhelming messages of support started arriving to our inboxes and voicemails, we decided that we needed to share Seydou's account in English as well. For me, it perfectly underscores why human rights education is essential in the 21st century, both in Africa and around the world. I think you will agree.

Molly Melching

Executive Director, Tostan

Seydou Niang, Consultant for
Tostan France on the
Jokkondiral Diaspora project

I would like to share a story of injustice with you. I want to share my anger and pain, but I also want to tell this story to show that these things still happen today. I have read stories like this in books and newspapers, but last month I actually went through such an experience myself.

Thursday to Friday night, June 24-25th, Calais, France

I was looking forward to seeing my wife, Sarah, who is eight months pregnant, at our house in London. I got on the Eurolines night-bus in Paris full of joy that we would soon be together again. We got to the French border in Calais at one o’clock in the morning. I was expecting routine questions about my comings and goings between the UK and France, but I was far from imagining what was about to happen to me…

The Moment of My Inspiration: Molly Melching’s Story

The following is an excerpt from a great article posted on the website Take Part, Inspiration to Action. It is one in a series highlighting international change-makers and the moments in which they dedicated their lives to making a difference.

In the fall of 1974, Molly Melching, all of 24 years old, landed in Dakar, Senegal. It was her first trip to the continent, a six-month stint to be spent studying African literature. She had one bag.
 

And no ride.
 

Melching had missed a telegram from Dakar, which arrived at her Illinois home just after she had left for the airport. The program had been cancelled, it read. She shouldn't come. As she sat on the steps outside the airport wondering why nobody was there to greet her, Molly Melching had none of the feelings you might expect of a young, stranded traveler. She wasn't nervous. She wasn't worried.

"I can't explain the feeling," she says now, searching for the words. "It sounds weird, but I felt like I'd come home."So Melching stuck around. It wouldn't be the last time she trusted her instincts.

Thirty-six years later, Melching is the founder and executive director of Tostan, a Senegalese NGO that has impacted millions of lives across West Africa.

- From Take Part, Inspiration to Action  
 

Read more about Tostan on Take Part's website and how the Community Empowerment Program came to be.

Photos from the Road: Tostan Volunteers Visit Regional Offices

Story by Sydney Skov, Tostan Volunteer in Dakar, Senegal

In a brightly lit Tostan building in the lush, southern region of Kolda, Senegal, regional staff and 16 supervisors gathered to welcome us, a convoy of Tostan volunteers based in the big city of Dakar. The Volunteer Coordinator Zoe Williams, her assistant Cassandra Scarpino, and I, the International Communications Assistant, took a whirlwind trip to each region in Senegal in order to meet the staff in the Tostan offices located in the towns of Ourossogui, Ndjoum, Tambacounda, Kolda, Kaolack, and Mbour. Our aim was to present information on the volunteer program and on the strides we have recently made in using social media tools – such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and the blog - to share Tostan’s work with a wider audience. Supervisors, who are themselves Senegalese and who often work in their home regions, spend the majority of their time in villages overseeing the implementation of the Community Empowerment Program (CEP). It was thrilling to meet them and to discuss the happenings at the Tostan International office in Dakar as well as the work being done in communities across Senegal. Below are just a few photos from our journey. 

Tostan volunteers pose with Tostan staff at the regional office in Ourossogui, located in northern Senegal.

Volunteers and staff, including 16 supervisors, gather to discuss the volunteer program at the office in Kolda, located in southern Senegal. 

Photos by Cassandra Scarpino

An Evening with Tostan

Story by Kate Acosta, Tostan Intern, Washington, D.C.

On Thursday July 22, Tostan’s Washington, D.C. office held its first ever event.  Tostan alumni, donors, partners and friends all gathered at the local restaurant Busboys and Poets for a screening of “Walking the Path of Unity,” a  movie that discusses the decision of several Senegalese communities to abandon female genital cutting (FGC) after participating in Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program (CEP).  Local Tostan alumni and supporters attended the event, and received an update on recent Tostan programs and successes from Molly Melching, Tostan’s Executive Director and founder. 

This event marks the first of its kind for Tostan’s Washington, D.C. office, and we were very pleased with its success.  Attendees had many interesting questions, and the evening was filled with thought-provoking discussions.  We look forward to future events that will bring the Tostan community together again!

Photos by Tostan International: Top- Molly Melching addresses the crowd at Busboys and Poets. Bottom- US Director of Operations, Gannon Gillespie, talks with former Tostan volunteers.