Boren Fellowship: Essay 2

Describe your proposed study plan in detail. Boren Fellowships support language and other classroom study, overseas research, overseas academic internships, or any combination of these elements. Explain all significant features of your plan, including institutional or other affiliations, if known.

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My proposed study plan will consist of three components: 1) a brief domestic program, 2) a substantial overseas program, and 3) an academic internship with Tostan, a regional non-governmental organization (NGO), and research project with the West African Research Center. I have been in contact with the parties involved and I am confident in my ability to succeed in all three aspects.

The domestic portion will begin June 8, 2015 in Gainesville, Florida where I will attend two months of intensive language and culture training. This part of the program will be hosted by the Center for African Studies of the University of Florida and the Department of Languages, Literatures, & Culture on behalf of the Institute of International Education (IIE). These classes will conclude on July 31, 2015.

West African culture, traditions and politics will be incorporated into my French and Wolof language training both inside and outside of the classroom, making this a unique part of the fellowship. My instructors will be native-speakers, and the instruction will be performance-based and oriented toward oral communication. Over the eight-week period, the classes will meet five days a week for four hours of classroom instruction and an additional one hour of speaking practice each day.

I will meet with a host family every other weekend to strengthen my communicative capacity in the two target languages. According to Dr. Charles Bwenge, AFLI Program Coordinator, this segment of the program is designed to assist students such as myself in reaching functional proficiency in French while gaining basic survival Wolof. This will better prepare me for my move to Senegal for the second and third portions of my proposed plan of study.

Within days of completing my study in Florida, I will go to Dakar, Senegal and begin my second component. This part of the program will be administered by the American Councils, an international nonprofit that provides educational opportunities to prepare individuals and institutions to operate and succeed in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world. The host institution in Dakar will be the West African Research Center (WARC), an organization that encourages research in West Africa and academic exchange between American and West African scholars.

This portion of my program will run from August 7, 2015 until November 20, 2015 totaling 15 weeks and will continue where the Florida course left off. The American Council’s program includes several parts such as intensive small-group language instruction with individualized lessons five days a week (20 hours a week) in French and Wolof. These individualized lessons will aid in my integration into Senegal and West African life as well as help me to focus on material in which I am less proficient. These lessons will focus on acquainting me with French speech at a variety of levels and settings. For example, “français de la route” is the language used casually between friends in an informal setting as opposed to the style of French that would be used in professional settings. Additionally, as a student of this program, I will be devoting a minimum of four hours a week to speaking with the private language partner provided by the AFLI program.

The program will likewise allow me to gain a greater regional and cultural experience in West Africa and particularly in Senegal. This will be achieved through homestays with local families, peer tutoring, and course work with an emphasis on the culture, history and politics of the region. I will be participating in planned excursions around the country two times each week, and I will have the opportunity to partake in a service-learning project.

As my second component comes to a close at the end of November, I will have approximately five weeks to prepare for the final component of my Boren Fellowship: an academic internship and research project.

Tostan is a non-profit organization working directly with rural communities in West Africa with its headquarters in Dakar. Tostan was founded in 1991 by an American woman who began living and working in Senegal since 1974. Tostan is fascinating to me in part because they work in Senegal and its five bordering countries (Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania and The Gambia). This is an ideal position for me to fine-tune my languages and intercultural competencies that I will be developing throughout my fellowship. Tostan’s method is unique in that it is a rights-based approach and focuses on collective consciousness raising, inclusiveness and long-term community sustainability.

I will begin as a participant in Tostan’s “Africa Volunteer Program” in January 2016 when they hold one of their tri-annual orientations. I will serve the minimum requirement of one year with Tostan. Due to Boren time restrictions, I will only be serving Tostan as a Boren Fellow until August 2016 and spend the remaining five months without affiliation to Boren. Valentina Pomatto, the Volunteer Program Coordinator of Tostan, has explained to me that they are unable to issue me a Letter of Affiliation because I will not be selected until positions for that time frame have been released in Fall 2015. She is confident I will be selected as a volunteer and has been helpful in providing me with what information she can. Seeing that job descriptions for relevant volunteer positions will not be available until Fall 2015, I am only able to describe general details of the work I will be doing.

Tostan’s main component of their projects is their “Community Empowerment Program” which is a non-formal education initiative that covers topics specific for each community. The goal is twofold: 1) promote literacy and numeracy skills as well as 2) empower villagers to run their own development efforts. Tostan has worked in more than 2,600 villages and will be a great platform to launch my research project and delve deeper into languages and Senegalese culture.

At this time, I will be an affiliated researcher at the West African Research Center. My WARC-approved research project will focus on women’s participation in formal and non-formal government and their role as decision makers. More than ever before, Senegalese women are being elected to municipal and national government positions due to the gender parity law. The purpose of this research will be to improve US national security by evaluating how women’s participation in formal and non-formal government has an impact on Senegal’s stable democracy and moderate Islamic practices. I will be able to develop my project in more detail as my time in Senegal passes and I make more connections in the community. This research will also serve as my Capstone Project for the Reflective Practice Phase of my current masters program. At SIT Graduate Institute, I am working towards a degree in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management and my proposed plan of study as a Boren Fellow will be the final component of my degree. My research advisor and current professor, Kanthie Athukorala, has endorsed my research proposal and will be working with me as my research advisor.

Boren Fellowship: Essay 1

In one integrated essay, give equal attention to each point:

1.     Explain the significance of your proposed country, region, and language to US national security.

2.     Describe how the country, language, and proposed study plan you selected will help you achieve your career goals, including your plans to fulfill the federal service requirement. 

3.   Describe how the skills you will gain during your Boren program of study, including linguistic and cultural competencies will help you help you fulfill the federal service requirement

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The significance of learning French and Wolof in Senegal to US national security is multifaceted. While the world is dealing with circumstances fueled by extremist religious and militant organizations, the Senegalese have mastered a constitutional democracy and pluralistic society that demonstrates political stability and an absence of extremist groups. This begs the question, what is so exceptional about Senegal? What can be done to ensure continued stability and how can these methods be reproduced in other countries suffering from political instability, non-democratic governments and/or Islamic extremism? A Boren Fellowship in conjunction with the African Flagship Language Initiative will allow me to broaden and strengthen my linguistic competencies and build upon my cultural awareness and sensitivity. In addition to language classes, I will also have an academic internship with a regional NGO (Tostan) and a research project focusing on women’s impact on Senegal’s political stability. These components will lead me to a better understanding of the people of Senegal and West Africa and the problems they face. In turn, my understanding will help my government to apply or replicate Senegal’s successes elsewhere, which will pave the way for heightened US national security and global stability.

In addition to Senegal’s relevance to US national security, I’ve chosen Wolof and French in Senegal because of my long-term interest in the country and region. I have been focused on a career in Sub- Saharan Africa for over 10 years and began French in 2009 precisely because many countries in West and Central Africa are Francophone.

According to the CIA World Factbook, nearly 95% of Senegal’s population practices Islam, and all of its bordering countries are predominantly Muslim. The US has a complicated history with extremist jihadist groups, many of whom have been deemed Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the US Department of State. Al-Qaeda affiliated groups have been emerging in the region, predominantly in Mali and Nigeria. It is intriguing to me that despite Senegal’s proximity to these and other extremes groups, the Senegalese have maintained moderate practices of Islam and a stable, democratic government.

The presence of a constitutional democracy and pluralistic society in Senegal also warrants recognition. The continent of Africa has suffered a host of dictators and overall rampant corruption since independence. Remarkably, Senegal is the only West African country that has never experienced a coup. This is why I believe the US must make strides to understand what is happening in Senegal, as it is unique for its stability.

Since I began higher education, nearly all of my research has concentrated on Sub-Saharan Africa and women. I am currently conducting an independent study with my research advisor focusing on gender and development in preparation for my Boren research project. This research project has already been approved by the West African Research Center in Senegal where I will first taking linguistic classes and then working as an affiliated researcher. As part of this project, I will be assessing women’s participation in formal and non-formal government and how it has an impact on Senegal’s democracy and moderate Islam. Through my academic internship with Tostan, I will be able to make connections throughout the country as the organization focuses on the empowerment of women and girls throughout the region. In light of Senegal’s new gender parity law, women as components to Senegal’s strong democracy and moderate Islamic practices are worthy of deeper examination.

Senegalese women provide an opportunity for researchers such as myself to deliver the US effective counterterrorism measures that could be implemented domestically and around the world. This regional and global stability in light of my research will amplify US national security. Through the discovery of Senegal’s methods from my work, US national security can be magnified and the US government will be better enabled to counteract terrorism and promote democracy in West Africa and around the world.

By having the opportunity to live, learn and interact in Senegal, I will build and gain necessary skills that will directly contribute to my career in the federal government as well US national security. Overall, my career goal is to serve. Since I have lived, worked and studied in West Africa on two different occasions, I feel a personal attachment to and passion for the region. For more than 10 years I have been working toward a career that increases global stability and social justice worldwide; there is no better place to accomplish this than serving with the American government. Proficiency in French and Wolof will give me the ability to effectively communicate while my internship and research project will give me in-depth, first- hand experience evaluating women’s impact on stability in Senegal. These intimate understandings are rare, and when I am an employee of the federal government I will be able to aid my country in its stride for national security.

As a professional, I have demonstrated the ability to build solid relationships domestically and abroad enabling me to not only represent my country in a respectable manner but also bring back cultural expertise of particular regions. This duality gives me the means to act as a liaison bridging cultural and political gaps between my country and others. While abroad for the Boren, I will have the opportunity to build relationships with the Senegalese through language classes, a long-term internship, a research project and day-to-day activates in the city.

I am interested in working for several different government departments and agencies but primarily USAID where I believe that my expertise and zeal would best be utilized. When I am ready to fulfill my federal service requirement and begin my career with the US government, I will have earned my Masters of Arts in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management with a specialization in Monitoring and Evaluation. I will have spent nearly five years living, working and or/studying in 17 African nations and possess expertise on a very important and unpopular region of the world, West Africa. Additionally, my work with Tostan will give me concrete experience in monitoring and evaluation, project planning, implementation and management. This sort of experience will be invaluable to USAID making me a great fit for a Project or Program Manager/Coordinator as well as an M&E Specialist in West Africa.

USAID is active in the majority of the countries in the West Africa region including Senegal, which would make me a prime candidate for several positions. USAID’s work and employees inherently have a role in US national security as it aims to end extreme poverty, a major contributor to instability around the world.

A Boren fellowship will prepare me with the necessary skills to be an effective employee of the US government and better able to serve my country and her interests both at home and abroad.

51 Things that a 25-Year-Old Single WOMAN Really Wants For Christmas

I was a bit frustrated after reading and article called, "51 Things that a 25-Year-Old Single Girl Really Wants For Christmas". I saw this and thought, "YAY! This is for me!" But was tremendously disappointed in what the list was comprised of. I saw tons of comments pouring in from from women (even some men!) around the world complaining about the list... so I decided to make an attempt in correcting the list to better reflect what it is that we, 25-Year-Old Single WOMEN (not girls!) really do want for Christmas. Some of these things we may already have, but its always good to remind ourselves how important they are.

1. Solitude. Self-care is critical.

2. Everything on our Amazon book wish list!

3. Temporary commitments (ie: dog or cat, but only when you want it - not all the time).

4. For people to stop asking the same dreaded questions: "Why don't you have a boyfriend" "Are you ever going to settle down?" "Don't you want children?"

5. A French press (or some sort of coffee device).

6. Wine. Enough said.

7. An end to street harassment.

8. To be acknowledged and appreciated for our thoughts instead of our looks.

9. And end to slut shamming and victim blaming.

10. A pay raise.

11. For the American Government to stop supplying weapons and funding to Israel.

12. An "around the world" plane ticket.

13. Diving certificate.

14. A weekend, week, or month at a Yoga retreat.

15. The truth.

16. The ability to let go of relationships that no longer serve us.

17. Recognition of Palestine as an independent Nation-State.

18. Form more relationships with women that are not toxic, bitchy or competitive.

19. A subscription to the Economist or Time.

20. Student loan debt (or any debt for that matter) - GONE!

21. More wool socks (if you live in the Northern states) - More swim suits (if you live in the Southern states)

22. A professional massage.

23. #22 whenever we want.

24. Permanent removal of all unwanted hair.
*And if you want that hair, and end to shamming natural hair!

25. To cultivate a male-friendship (or two) that is not based on the possibility of him 'getting laid'.

26. Feel safe walking home alone regardless of the neighborhood, time of day, or clothes we are wearing.

27. Compassion.

28. Quitting the job we hate or getting a promotion in the job we love!

29. Completely deserved holiday bonus.

30. Periods without cramps. Forever.
*And if you don't get a period, that's cool too!

31. A group of friends whom value us for who we are and what we think.

32. The same group of friends (see 31) also makes us want to be better people.

33. Opportunity to further our education FOR FREE.

34. A warm beach within a 10min walk.

35. A snowy hill to go sledding and make snow angles within a 10min walk.

36. Dismantling of the socially constricted gender roles and expectations. In America but also Worldwide.

37. A carpet that vacuums itself.

38. Respect.

39. Infinity scarves in every size, shape, color, patter, fabric.

40. To stop seeing things as failures and instead morph them into learning opportunities.

41. A $100 Etsy gift certificate.

42. More time to volunteer.

43. Laundry that irons and folds itself.

44. Motivation and tools needed to learn a new language.

45. More conversations with family members.

46. A birth control made for MEN.

47. Appreciation.

48. A bigger more copious vocabulary.

49. Gratitude.

50. A visit from an old friend.

51. __________________ Your turn to fill in the blank! Let me know what you think the list is missing!