Dakar

A graphic with three photos. Left to right: Wheat harvest, Tibisay Zea and a man harvesting wheat in Senegal.

VIDEO EXPLAINER: How the war in Ukraine is affecting wheat exports and food culture in Senegal

Ukraine

In this video, The World’s Tibisay Zea explains how the war in Ukraine is shaking up a big part of Senegal’s food culture.

bread and flour

Is it time for Senegal to end its romance with the French baguette?

Food
a group of students sitting barefoot on the ground as they go through burned documents

Young Senegalese feel the impact of the country’s political crisis

Youth
Several people are shown running and crouching down in a dirt road.

EXPLAINER: Why Senegal protesters are clashing with police

Protest
A woman in a white robe carries some lab material inside lab in Senegal.

Researchers in Senegal are developing a coronavirus test kit to be used across Africa

COVID-19
A man meditates at the beach amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Dakar, Senegal, March 26, 2020.

In Senegal, COVID-19 safety measures conflict with cultural traditions

The country has the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 cases in sub-Saharan Africa, and prevention measures have been in place for several weeks now.

Yoff beach

Senegalese women turn to exporting fish in spite of local shortages

Economics

In Senegal, an estimated 40,000 women work as fish processors. But a trifecta of problems — overfishing by foreign fleets, illegal fishing and climate change — is making fish scarce in the region and hitting processors the hardest. In an attempt to make ends meet, fishermen are selling what they are able to catch to fresh fish traders and export factories, who’ll pay more for a batch than the processors, leaving the women high and dry.

Students learn Arabic script at a Quranic school on the outskirts of Senegal's capital Dakar, May 7, 2008.

Senegal tried to crack down on schools forcing children to beg. But thousands of kids are still in the streets.

Justice

Somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 children are forced to beg on the streets of Senegal. The money they collect goes to their Quranic instructors in exchange for teaching, food and housing. Rights activists say it’s a form of modern slavery. But some in Senegal say it’s just tradition.

Lesbians in Senegal are left out of the gay rights movement organized around HIV prevention and treatment. And they're also left out of the women's movement: "Some women's groups ... don't want to have anything to do with gay women," says Ndeye Kebe.

Lesbians in Senegal just want a place where they can be themselves

Culture

Gay sex in Senegal is illegal, but there is the beginnings of a gay rights movement there. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include gay women.

Senegal's Orchestra Baobab on stage

The return of Senegal’s Orchestra Baobab

Music

It’s been 10 years since Orchestra Baobab’s last album. However, one of their key members didn’t take part on their new release because he wanted to continue to practice law.