Faith saturates life here in Senegal. Prayer calls issue from local mosques and hum through the city morning and night. The names of the holy centers and religious brotherhoods decorate taxis and buses. Graffiti images of Senegal’s most famous Sufi Saint, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, adorn walls and signs everywhere you look.
The “Xeex Sibbiru” campaign is celebrating its first Ramadan (the month-long season of fasting and prayer that celebrates when the first few verses of the Qur’an were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad) by visiting the major Muslim Brotherhoods, or Confreries, to get their blessing and engage them in the malaria education campaign.
It has been a truly once in a life-time experience… and we hope a life-saving one for the people who will learn about malaria as a result. Below are pictures of Youssou, Bouba, and me visiting the most revered Khalifes and Marabouts in Senegal, all of whom pledged to activate their extensive national networks to get the word out about malaria:
Yoff (Layenes)
Youssou presents a bed net to El Hadji Abdoulaye Thiaw Laye, the Khalife General of the Layenes
