English Conversations

Our project in Senegal consists of one-on-one conversational English practice using the Bible as the basis for reading and conversation. The program is a non-threatening and friendship-based approach to helping people practice their English skills. Each lesson is approximately one hour long. To begin with, we had an information meeting. This meeting was advertised in the newspaper and by word of mouth, and many people came! They were amazed that they could get free English lessons and get to know someone from the U.S. at the same time! Most of the ones who came were young men in their 20's. Many are university students. A few are Catholic and most are Muslim.
We begin our lessons at 9:00 every morning and finish at 8:00 every evening during the week. That makes for very long days! But what rewarding days they are! Where else do you get to spend an hour a day talking to people about important things in life! We quickly have become good friends! And their English is improving!
Some come every single day, and others come several times a week; it just depends on their schedules.
I wish that I could write more about the individuals, because their lives are fascinating and because they are real people with real hopes and dreams. However, in this medium, I do not feel that it is wise to write such personal things without permission. I hope that you will understand that the important thing about the whole project is the people, and that is the part that I am limited in writing about. (Please write to me personally or talk with Ron or I for more information.) I will, however, post a few photos of some of the people: