Tabara Sy

Tabara Sy /
Tostan /
Dakar, Senegal

This has been the most enlightening summer that I’ve experienced yet, because of working in the human rights field in my community. Being that my last four to five weeks of working at Tostan was remote, I was able to reflect back on the different aspects of society like capital, food, shelter and health that contribute to what human rights should look like.

During the second half of my internship, I was focused on collecting the footage from our field trip to Fouta and making visuals via the Tostan website and social media sites to show our audience what that looks like.

Although the main focus during the trip was female genital cutting and early child marriage the videos and write-ups I worked one demonstrate how this is all part of a bigger issue at hand, which is accessibility and availability as Andrew Clapham lays out in Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction. 

Without solid and proper education, it is almost impossible for the vulnerable people like young girls in this case to know their rights and defend themselves when their rights are at threat. In addition, being able to go to school gives them room to be more than housewives and actually see what the world looks like outside of their forced marriages and their husband’s control. 

My last project at Tostan was to create a video about the founder, Molly Melching. This was special to me because this experience allowed me to see and understand the birth of the NGO, the philosophies and inspiration from the source herself.

In some moments I did question how the founder, a white American woman, came to West Africa and birthed an NGO whose goal is to liberate the people to a certain degree. I question this, because this all did stem from the colonialism and damage done by the West in efforts to take control. However, seeing that these Community Empowerment Programs (CEP) are run by natives of the village and giving a platform to those who may not otherwise have it, was special to me. 

My biggest highlight was interacting with these leaders first-hand and experiencing myself the work that goes behind all of it. Of course, there is so much work to be done but the emphasis on community spotlighting with Tostan is what makes all the difference. 

 

Tabara Sy /
Tostan /
Dakar, Senegal /

As a Senegalese woman living in America, I have seen, witnessed, and been the victim of a large spectrum of human rights violations. Coming to NYU as a freshman, I decided to focus my study on social and cultural analysis throughout the African diaspora, encompassing the intersectionalities of politics, economics, education, socialization, etc. 

Since my youth, I constantly noticed and was intrigued by the young orphaned children filling the streets of Dakar, Senegal. In exchange for a place to stay in Quranic schools (daaras), where they are supervised by a Quranic teacher, these children, called talibés, are required to collect money, grains, food, sugar, etc., to bring back to the teacher. If they do not reach their quota, they are subjected to brutal beatings and other more extreme abuse by the Quranic leaders. 

While I was born in the United States, I grew up living between both New York and Dakar. As an insider and outsider to Senegalese culture, the daily lives of those young boys never sat right with me. I understand that because it is so common and unfortunately part of the life in Dakar, not enough people take a stance against it or go out of their way to help talibés.

In my work with the non-governmental organization, Tostan Dignity For All, I plan to both bring more awareness and pose more solutions to this issue. One of the biggest projects that Tostan has taken on is their Community Empowerment Program (CEP), their way of bringing together communities with the help of local facilitators in several villages throughout Senegal. This summer, I will help organize these community-based programs and push important discussions to the forefront.

Change starts with locals themselves and their ability to form and transform communities. I can’t wait to witness and participate in that change this summer with Tostan!