Report

Senegal: solidarity to help students return home safely

In Dakar, after several days of violence, the campus of the Cheikh Anta Diop faculty in Dakar closed on Friday, June 2, and students had to evacuate the premises. Many find themselves without their purse and with nowhere to go. Solidarity is organized and volunteers help them to return home to the provinces.

Audio 01:23

In Dakar, students wait for buses provided by volunteers to leave to return home © Juliette Dubois / RFI

Text by: RFI Follow

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Dakar, Juliette Dubois

The phone screwed to his ear, Mamadou Diakhaté runs in all directions. Clusters of students with suitcases come to him to be directed: "Do you want to go on the bus to Kolda or St. Louis?" Since the beginning of the demonstrations, Mamadou Diakhaté has been offering free transport solutions so that students can return home: "We pay for the bus and above all, we allow them to return safely.

Fundraising

Private carriers have raised prices. Chartering a bus can go up to 900,000 CFA francs or nearly 1,400 euros. Mamadou and his friends raised the funds via social media. "We collected entirely on the Internet. We have ten years of experience in what we are doing now. We have donors who are there and participate all the time. When they saw the call for solidarity, many people jumped at the chance," he said.

Seydina Samb is a science and technology student. He was looking for a way to return to his family, in Mbour, but did not have the money to pay for the bus: "The Internet is cut off and some money transfer sectors no longer work. So we can no longer receive money."

The road will be much longer for Hamidou Kebe who leaves for Matam, more than 500 km from Dakar: "At the moment, we are afraid because the situation is critical. We have to go back. That's better. There is no transport to Matam. We came to ask the volunteers for help.

Mamadou and his friends have already allowed about twenty buses to leave thanks to donations.

>> READ ALSO: Tension in Senegal: at least 15 dead, in two days, according to a new official assessment

Newsletter Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Read on on the same topics:

• Senegal
• Education
• Transport