Our Story
Background
Narrated by David Fabra: “Due to strange circumstances, one day I became part of an NGO working in Senegal”.
“The president of this NGO, a doctor, was a friend of my wife’s, and he tried to get her to sign up as a volunteer nurse, but she did not succeed, and almost as a joke, my wife told him to take me with him. What do you know how to do? She asks me, to which I answer that I am an administrator and I can keep the accounts of the NGO and besides, French is like my second mother tongue. She takes me with her as a translator.
My first entry in Senegal, April 2013, I will never forget, landing and suffering the first slap of heat at night, adventures to settle in a small hotel in front of the beach in Nbour, morning walk to the fish market, indescribable olfactory sensations, ride back in a cart with a donkey, and already trip to the camp, near Dialakoto, in the province of Tambacounda,
I remember that when I arrived, the doctors were busy, because there was an elderly person who they said had a heart attack. During the hustle and bustle, three girls from the village invited me to have tea, something I will remember for the rest of my life, since they initiated me to this pleasure. Dinner time came, and the wife of the village chief invited me to share their dinner, rice with something, I do not remember, they gave me a spoon, they ate with their hands, soon they passed me a small pitcher with water, (I thought, here you get diarrhea and five days no one will take it away), With my French the little ones understood me and made me a translator with the women during the dinner, at the end, the medical staff appeared, they had recovered the sick person and we could settle in the camp, and I realized the marvel of the starry sky that you can enjoy there.
I was told that the NGO had managed to get the children into school as a condition of staying in their village.
Another big surprise that I had and that impacted me a lot, was that the day after a celebration where they gave out lollipops, I had stayed with a couple of her, and as I was always surrounded by kids, I gave the lollipop to the two older ones. To my surprise, they took out the wrapper, which ended up on the floor, and very naturally sucked the candy and passed it to the other kids who were there, sharing the gift. It reminded me of what I usually saw in my environment, pure selfishness without malice, but selfishness, over there, was to share the little they had with those who were with them.
I know the director/teacher and the other teacher at the school, very nice people. In our talks, he tells me that the girls are the ones who attend class the least, for several reasons, one that they are in charge of a thousand tasks in the village, from taking care of the babies to fetching water from the well or collecting firewood to make food, washing clothes and all the chores of any house.
"I was reminded of what I usually saw in my environment, pure selfishness without malice, but selfishness, over there, was sharing what little they had with those who were with them."
There were three girls, who looked like they could study more, and I decided to help them get to university if their abilities allowed it. The following year when I joined another expedition, I was very disappointed. The three girls were married, the oldest was not even thirteen years old, but someone came, talked to the father, they reached an agreement, paid the dowry and married her, regardless of the age difference, because one of the three was older, over sixty.
My frustration was enormous, monumental disgust, but it was my wife who reassured me, “you can’t change the customs of a country, you have to educate little by little to achieve some change”.
Circumstances of life lead me to decide to go my own way in Senegal, leaving the NGO and starting a series of initiatives that come to my mind to help this, my new family.
When I told my friends about my trips to Senegal, and seeing me so excited, I awoke in them the desire to participate in my projects and to make everything very transparent I decided, together with my friends, to create an NGO and channel the aid in it.
And after much discussion we decided the following:
To create an NGO which we will call MERCE CORRA ONG.
MERCE, for my wife, who always encouraged me in my dreams of these projects that are gradually taking shape and we already have our first student in Tambacounda in the first year of nursing. And we did not put his name in Spanish, because there, that name is a very popular and sought after car, and we have nothing to do with that brand of car (maybe someday we ask them matter, the ambulance that we have sent to Dialacoto is a Mercedes Vito).
CORRA, because it is the surname of my dear friend, brother and my partner and the responsible of our branch registered with the government of Senegal. In addition, his father, who is an Imam, the second in importance in that country, is also very proud of our projects, as they are the basis for an improvement in the quality of life of young people and a grip to discourage undertake the journey of the boat, which already carry too many missing.