SOCIETY
FRANCE/SENEGAL – Ayouba Sow Founder of the Caridad du Gâtinais association
Ayouba Sow is the Founding President of the Caridad du Gâtinais association which is a community of heroes who have come together to fight poverty in the world and preserve the most important resources: children. It was precisely in the premises of the Caridad du Gâtinais association in Montargis that Ayouba Sow’s team went to meet him.
The goals of the Caridad association…
The Caridad du Gâtinais association aims to fight poverty in the world and to accompany children in their journey to build a better future. Its aim is to provide regular feeding and education programmes for children in need, through humanitarian aid through the distribution of medical supplies to hospitals and orphanages. The other ambition is to consolidate partnerships with local and international charities for greater impact and to be even more effective and stronger in the union of forces and the symbiosis of hearts.
Who is Ayoub Sow…
Ayouba Sow affectionately called Aya is a French of Senegalese origin native of Thiès, a region located 70 kilometers from Dakar. He is the Founding President of the Association Caridad and Head of Operations. Since his hometown of Thiés, Ayouba Sow had begun to invest in social work with an association called “Mouvement des Jeunes Thiessois” where he worked for the development of youth. The creation of the association Caridad du Gâtinais is indeed a continuation of what he was already doing in his hometown.
The “Mouvement des Jeunes Thiessois” has enabled Ayouba Sow to become better known in the Senegalese cultural milieu. He hosted one of the best Hip Hop shows in Dakar entitled «Paris-Dakar Rap Game». It was a television platform that allowed artists to promote their music production and make themselves known. Through its broadcast, Ayouba has contributed a lot to the awakening of consciousness of young Senegalese by sensitizing them on the risks of clandestine emigration. Outside of Senegal, he then had to work with television channels in France.
The achievements of the association Caridad du Gâtinais…
The Caridad du Gâtinais association has carried out many actions in Senegal. Containers loaded with various materials were sent several times to Senegal in Thiès. We can count on the list of donations: medicines, hospital beds, computer equipment, masks and other medical and sanitary equipment intended for the populations. Training has been provided in the field of road prevention. This training helped reduce the number of accidents that occurred on the Aloupe Kagne road at the entrance to the Thiès region.
From Thiès to Montargis: Elected Representatives on a Partnership Visit
Apart from sending material and training to the people of Thiès, the Caridad du Gâtinais association wanted to go further for this year 2023. It facilitated the meeting between the authorities of the city of Montargis and the elected representatives of the city of Thiès, notably the mayor of Montargis and those of the municipalities of agglomeration of the city. Among the Senegalese delegation Birame Souley Diop Deputy-Mayor Thies Nord; Ousmane Diagne Mayor Thiès Est; Mamadou Djitté Mayor Thiès Ouest; Marie Hélène Dione 1st Deputy Thiès Nord; Ndiogou N’Diaye 1st Deputy Thiès. They had come together to Montargis in France for a ten-day stay. The objective of this visit was to find partnerships in the field of health, education and infrastructure development. The other objective was to be able to discover other methods of work and management of French confreres in their respective commune.
The elected representatives of Thiessois visited the hospital in Montargis, which had greatly helped the region of Thiès during the Covid-19 period by providing them with medical equipment and masks through the voice of the Caridad association. The meetings between the Montargoises and Thiessoises authorities were fruitful with many promises of future collaboration. Ony visits took place at the City Hall of Châlette; the Town Hall of Montargis; the Town Hall of Nogent-sur-Vernisson; the President of Agglomération Montargoise; the President and Mayor of Cergy; the director of the CHAM hospital; in Amilly; in the National Assembly with a special meeting with Deputy Chassaigne André, Member of the French Communist Party.
Ayouba Sow’s message…
Through her commitment and her social activism, Ayouba Sow claims to be fundamentally against injustice and social inequalities. He who had marked with his name the challenge of the Yellow Vests in France, is more determined than ever to fight against the social imbalance. He finally launched a message of awareness particular to the young people of Montargois and especially Thiessois. He urged them not to forget where they came from and to contribute to the development and outreach of their community. To the Mayors of Thiès, he renewed his confidence in his desire to make the region of Thiès an economic and tourist pole. He also wished them every success in their project of development of their region.
Founded 20 years after the ban on veiling in schools, Averroes, the first Muslim high school under contract in France, is threatened, with a favourable opinion on the termination of its contract with the State having been delivered Monday.
A consultative committee chaired by the Prefect of the North voted on Monday in favor of the termination of the association contract linking the State this Muslim school located in Lille, the big city of northern France, told AFP two sources close to the file, this Monday, November 27, 2023.
Under the terms of this contract, signed in 2008, the teachers of the school are paid by the National Education and the extracurricular staff by the Region. The last word now goes to the prefect, who must make his decision on the future of this contract “in the coming days”, said one of the two sources.
Since 2019, the local authorities have refused to pay the subsidy provided under this contract with the State, accusing Averroès of a Qatari donation of 950,000 euros in 2014.
In filigree is also pointed out the historical link of Averroes with the Muslims of France (ex-UOIF), organization stemming from the Egyptian movement of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The idea of creating a Muslim high school dates back to 1994, when 19 girls were excluded from a Lille public high school for refusing to remove their veil to go to school, despite a circular prohibiting “ostentatious religious signs”.
The Lycée Averroès opened in September 2003 with about fifteen students in the premises of the mosque of the working-class district of Lille-Sud, with the support of the UOIF.
With more than 800 students, including 400 under contract, Averroes remains by far the largest of the six Muslim institutions under contract in France. Only high school is recognized, not college.
Emergency services are trying to identify the number of victims caused by the passage of Storm Daniel, Sunday, September 10, 2023 on the east coast of the country. Torrential rains and the collapse of two dams led to the partial destruction of the city of Derna, which has a population of 100,000. The international community is organizing to provide emergency assistance.
Neighborhoods engulfed under water, dams that have broken, mudslides that take away buildings. The situation is dramatic in Libya, after the floods caused by storm Daniel last Sunday in the east of the country.
Libyan relief services under the Tripoli government, recognized by the international community, released a final human toll mid-day. According to their spokesman, Oussama Ali, the storm left at least 2,300 dead and 7,000 injured in the city of Derna alone, clearly the hardest hit.
The government of the East, rival to that of Tripoli, puts forward an even heavier record: it says that more than 5,200 people died in Derna. The Minister of Health even says he expects twice as many victims. The final toll remains very uncertain. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies remains cautious on the numbers, but recognizes a «huge» death toll that can be counted in thousands. There are an estimated 10,000 missing. There are also 65 other deaths in other cities in eastern Libya.
A IFRC official talks about humanitarian needs that far exceed the capabilities of the Federation, and even the government.
Studies commissioned by the organizing committee of the great Magal of Touba indicate that 5,875,536 people responded to the call of Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba on Monday, September 4, 2023. The figure is the conclusion of investigations conducted by a team of experts led by Moubarack Lô, economist. In comparison with 2015, the difference is enormous even if, in its time, 4,119,551 pilgrims were counted in the religious city.
Ahmadou Bamba died in 1927 in Diourbel. But his legacy is perpetuated since then by his sons: Serigne Mouhamadou Moustapha Mbacké (1927-1945), El Hadj Falilou Mbacké (1945-1968), Serigne Abdoul Lahat Mbacké (1968-1989), Serigne Abdou Khadr Mbacké (1989-1990), Serigne Saliou Mbacké (1990-2007).
The disappearance in 2007 of Serigne Saliou Mbacké opened the accession of grandsons to the Khalifat: Serigne Mouhamadou Bara Mbacké (2007-2010), Serigne Sidy Moctar Mbacké (2010-2018).
Serigne Mountakha Bassirou Mbacké is the General Caliph of the Mourides since 2018.
The Magal, a Wolof term meaning to pay tribute, celebrate, magnify, is commemorated in memory of this exile which marks the beginning of a sum of hardships borne in conscience by the sheikh, following a pact contracted with his creator.
Each year, tens of thousands of pilgrims take the city of Touba by storm to gather and pray on the occasion of the Magal, which is also a moment of conviviality and hospitality through the ‘Berndae’, these hearty meals served to pilgrims.
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