After an internship fell through with an NGO in the public health sector, focused on health outreach and education, this summer I started another
type of volunteer internship with the director of the NGO, Africa Consultants
International. The NGO is attached to the cultural learning center I studied abroad at in 2010. I made contact with the director of the program and we were able to add me to a project he has been slowly working on for years and recently received a grant to finish it. His long-dreamed-of-project is an advocacy book.
I have been doing research on homosexuality and the effects of discrimination on HIV/Aids in Senegal. The project was to create an advocacy book for MSM (men having sex with men) that provides information on homosexuality in general as well as homosexuality in Senegal. In Senegal, it is illegal under the constitution to be homosexual and there is a death penalty. Not only with that, there is an intensive fundamentalist movement continuing to influence discrimination, spark violence, hatred, or at least negative thoughts and disagreement against homosexuals. A part of the fundamentalist movement here is a stance against globalization and westernization, deeming that the foreign cultures are attempting to vulgarize, corrupt, and demonize populations, especially Islamic populations due to the political unrest in the Middle East which ultimately negatively affects every Islamic population or largely Islamic country. It is interesting to study and see negative global effects, especially considering the Islamic culture here is different than the Islamic culture represented in the media or represented in the Middle East... the concepts of violence, marginalization of women, and radical idoms are non-existent or at least rare here among the Islamic Senegalese. For example, if there are circumstances of marginalizing women or extreme differences in gender roles, it really stems from African traditions, not Islamic traditions. It is often that I hear people speaking about how the Middle East is destroying the image or meaning or concepts of their religion which ultimately affects Senegal's (or their) global relationships. Needless to say, tolerance for homosexuality in Senegal is non existent which creates problems in the health care system as sex education and basic health care are not provided nor available to homosexuals. Though the public health is affected by the homosexual discrimination, there are many other consequences that arise from the breaking of privacy and civil rights constitutional laws by means of public stonings, beatings, non-legal arrests, family shunning, police brutality etc.
I am a believer in equal rights; Muslim, Christian, Catholic, Buddhist, American, Senegalese, Mexican, Indian, Mongolian, Chinese, homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual – you are human. Human means having civil rights. It’s simple. One humanity with equal rights. The advocacy book is an opportunity for me to support a difficult, slow moving, long term goal of creating equal rights is a largely conservative society. Along with researching articles, both academic and medial, I have been editing articles, creating tables of contents, creating images for the book, and providing feedback to the director who as I mentioned before, is the original creator of the project. The book consists of information on homosexuality but is also largely excerpts from articles, speeches, research documents, and dissertations from powerful, well-known, or strong leaders, the majority of them being African. There are also facts of MSM in Senegal, testimonies from MSM in Senegal, photos of workshops with MSM, and a plea from MSM in Senegal. The idea behind the project is a simply respect for people's private lives and for equal civil rights. We have essentially finished the book and will be publishing it in late October with the hopes of distributing it in early September to different universities, hospitals, political offices, health posts, NGO’s, media providers etc. here in Senegal.
The book is in French and we are hoping to further publish it if it is as educationally and mentally powerful as we are thinking. Perhaps other large NGO’s will want to use the book or help us in our movement. We are pretty sure it is going to be a huge event as it is not just ACI (the NGO that I am working with) supporting the project but another NGO, FHI-Family Health International (the NGO where my internship fell through) that is the grant provider. Also, FHI is technically funded by USAID which plans to use the document and whom has already spoken with The Human Rights Watch as well as a Dutch NGO in the public health sector. So the document is intended to be used by all of these large, influential organizations and spread throughout at least north west Africa. Our document has the potential of being a movement starter or at least being a major player in a future civil rights movement. Wow. Excuse me, that was a mouthful! That is what my internship is/was about.
Well, I wrote entirely more than I had planned. I shall let you be!
Cheers,
Lacey
I have been doing research on homosexuality and the effects of discrimination on HIV/Aids in Senegal. The project was to create an advocacy book for MSM (men having sex with men) that provides information on homosexuality in general as well as homosexuality in Senegal. In Senegal, it is illegal under the constitution to be homosexual and there is a death penalty. Not only with that, there is an intensive fundamentalist movement continuing to influence discrimination, spark violence, hatred, or at least negative thoughts and disagreement against homosexuals. A part of the fundamentalist movement here is a stance against globalization and westernization, deeming that the foreign cultures are attempting to vulgarize, corrupt, and demonize populations, especially Islamic populations due to the political unrest in the Middle East which ultimately negatively affects every Islamic population or largely Islamic country. It is interesting to study and see negative global effects, especially considering the Islamic culture here is different than the Islamic culture represented in the media or represented in the Middle East... the concepts of violence, marginalization of women, and radical idoms are non-existent or at least rare here among the Islamic Senegalese. For example, if there are circumstances of marginalizing women or extreme differences in gender roles, it really stems from African traditions, not Islamic traditions. It is often that I hear people speaking about how the Middle East is destroying the image or meaning or concepts of their religion which ultimately affects Senegal's (or their) global relationships. Needless to say, tolerance for homosexuality in Senegal is non existent which creates problems in the health care system as sex education and basic health care are not provided nor available to homosexuals. Though the public health is affected by the homosexual discrimination, there are many other consequences that arise from the breaking of privacy and civil rights constitutional laws by means of public stonings, beatings, non-legal arrests, family shunning, police brutality etc.
I am a believer in equal rights; Muslim, Christian, Catholic, Buddhist, American, Senegalese, Mexican, Indian, Mongolian, Chinese, homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual – you are human. Human means having civil rights. It’s simple. One humanity with equal rights. The advocacy book is an opportunity for me to support a difficult, slow moving, long term goal of creating equal rights is a largely conservative society. Along with researching articles, both academic and medial, I have been editing articles, creating tables of contents, creating images for the book, and providing feedback to the director who as I mentioned before, is the original creator of the project. The book consists of information on homosexuality but is also largely excerpts from articles, speeches, research documents, and dissertations from powerful, well-known, or strong leaders, the majority of them being African. There are also facts of MSM in Senegal, testimonies from MSM in Senegal, photos of workshops with MSM, and a plea from MSM in Senegal. The idea behind the project is a simply respect for people's private lives and for equal civil rights. We have essentially finished the book and will be publishing it in late October with the hopes of distributing it in early September to different universities, hospitals, political offices, health posts, NGO’s, media providers etc. here in Senegal.
The book is in French and we are hoping to further publish it if it is as educationally and mentally powerful as we are thinking. Perhaps other large NGO’s will want to use the book or help us in our movement. We are pretty sure it is going to be a huge event as it is not just ACI (the NGO that I am working with) supporting the project but another NGO, FHI-Family Health International (the NGO where my internship fell through) that is the grant provider. Also, FHI is technically funded by USAID which plans to use the document and whom has already spoken with The Human Rights Watch as well as a Dutch NGO in the public health sector. So the document is intended to be used by all of these large, influential organizations and spread throughout at least north west Africa. Our document has the potential of being a movement starter or at least being a major player in a future civil rights movement. Wow. Excuse me, that was a mouthful! That is what my internship is/was about.
Well, I wrote entirely more than I had planned. I shall let you be!
Cheers,
Lacey
Very proud of you.
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