We had a few questions for Molly
Melching:
You went as an exchange student to
Senegal, what is it about Senegal
that has made you stay for the past
40 years?
I fell in love with the Senegalese
people and way of life pretty much as
soon as I arrived in 1974. I felt it was
a place where people truly care
about other people in a way I had
never experienced before – there
was such a warm and welcoming
spirit! I volunteered to work with
children while I was studying at the
University of Dakar and was
concerned by the lack of books and
materials for kids, so I opened a
cultural center in a very populated
area of Dakar – the Medina.
I soon realized that using traditional
African stories, songs, poetry and
theater were wonderful ways to
teach literacy and get across
important health information. After
six years, I moved our center to a
small village about an hour away
from Dakar - Saam Njaay.
No one in this community had ever
attended school yet everyone,
particularly the women, wanted so
desperately to learn. So our team
started by teaching people in their
own language - Wolof - things they
wanted to know - about health,
hygiene, the environment, reading
and writing. They were so excited
and I realized this was something
needed throughout the country, not
just in one village.
The main reason I have stayed in
Senegal for 40 years is the people,
like those I met at the children’s
center, or in Saam Njaay or in the
thousands of villages we have
reached with the Tostan program
since 1991.
The women and adolescents are so
proud of and grateful for all they
have accomplished in such a short
amount of time. When you feel like
you are making a real difference in
the lives of people, you don’t even
think about leaving – just about how
you can continue to do more!
Hillary Clinton said you saw a
practice that you refused to believe
couldn’t be changed. Please could
confirm what that practice was.
What gave you the courage to
believe that you could make a
change especially as you were in a
foreign society?
The practice Hillary Clinton is
referring to is the deeply entrenched
tradition of female genital cutting
(FGC). This was a very taboo subject
in Senegal and other African
countries where we work. At first, I
was worried about Tostan bringing
up such a sensitive issue in our
classes, but during our research for a
women’s health module, we learned
that this was an incredibly important
JASMINE'S PLACE
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