Ndeur Diop does not appear on Google Maps. The scarce shot of the cars that have preceded on the road are the only clue to get there. Arena, a lot of sand, scattered baobabs, some passer -by to ask for indications, a pair of donkeys, a dense silence and a sun that falls with all its fury at ten in the morning, they dress the landscape of northern Senegal.
Ndeur Diop is numbed under the shadows of the immense mangoes from which appetite fruits hang almost to mature. 700 people inhabit it, according to the official census. But most of them do not live there. They have migrated to Europe in search of a better life. Only women, children and the elderly have stayed. They try to get something out of the millet with which to eat, every day, to the arid land. However, they are remittances, that those who have been sent, which really keeps them alive and encourages the youngest to follow the same route as their elders.
Modu ndiaye and Youssou diop have broken that trend. They are an exception among the men in the village. They have stayed or, more exactly, have returned. They are one of the few inhabitants of Ndeur Diop who had the opportunity to study. They reached the university. In Dakar, the two graduated in modern languages. Ndiaye specialized in French and Spanish, Diop in Arabic. After the studies, the possibilities of finding a job as teachers in a city were tempting. However, they talked to each other and decided that the best thing they could do was put their knowledge at the service of their neighbors. That’s why they returned home.
They are now teachers in the small school who have managed to lift in the village with the help of an NGO. But his work does not stay there. They have constituted an association for the development of their people. “For young people to have reasons to stay and not risk life on the road to Europe,” says Ndiaye. «Here we have a lot of land and it is not difficult to find water. With a little irrigation we could turn this secarral into something very productive, ”says Diop while pointing out the great sand, dotted with Baobabs, which extends to the horizon.
Young people dream of a vergel where vegetables and fruit trees flourish, in addition to cereals. Young people dream of with which their countrymen find work near their homes and stay, like them, in the town. For now, it is women who dream with them and imagine that green future. Children have enough to dream of a real ball that replaces the one that has been manufactured with old rags and strings.
«We only lack a little help to start the irrigation. Just dig a well and place a solar pump. It’s little money, but we haven’t found it yet, ”Licks Ndiaye.
In the upper image, Modou Ndiaye and Youssou Diop. Photography: Chema Caballero
