8th International Youth Summer School on Peace 2014

Naffie Sissoho represented TYW and shares her experience

When I hear of Cassamance in Senegal, I picture it as Banjul, small with few people living it in. I never pictured Ziguinchor to be a developed city with good roads, steady lights and civilized people because of the war that had been going on there for the past years.

At first, I was scared to spend ten days in an unstable settlement which was full of rebels (at least according to how the media shows it to me). Secondly, because of the new disease that has recently broken in Western Africa: "Ebola". Hearing that it was first discovered in Guinea Conakry had me panicking because I thought Conakry and Cassamance shared the same border like Amdahlie and Karang. It was later brought to my knowledge that Cassamance share the same border with Bissau and not Conakry, which was a great relief.

The water there however tasted like Quatem to a malaria patient. It was so bad that having the taste to your tongue whilst performing ablution was enough to get you to throw your intestines out. So we ended up depending on bottled water for the greater part of our stay. As the Olofs would say:  "ku amut yai nampa mam."

The experience and the adventure derived from it was just remarkable. I do not regret been part of the 8th International Youth Summer School 2014 with Peace Ambassadors- The Gambia. We had classes on thematic areas like Gender Based Violence which I attended, Entrepreneurship, Peace and Conflict and Terrorism and Money Laundering. Each participant was certified at the end of the camp.

We had carnivals with other youth organizations in the city as well as field trips with the opportunity of meeting the Governor of Ziguinchor.

I end this short narration of my trip with immense thanks to Think Young Women for the wonderful opportunity they gave me. I love adventures and they gave me a great one to remember.