Ashinaga Sénégal Study Camp Opening Ceremony held in Dakar

On November 9^th, Ashinaga Sénégal organized the opening ceremony for their activities for the 2018/19 academic year, principally the Ashinaga Africa Initiative Study Camp and the Taxawu Jàng University. More than 65 people, including staff, interns and students from Ashinaga Senegal, as well as various guests, participated in the ceremony.

The ceremony started with greetings of M. Nicolas Carter, the director of Senegal office, who spoke about the changes and developments that have occurred over the last year, with an eye on the changes and developments that all students have to look forward to in the year to come. Sadou Kane, coordinator for the Taxawu Jang program, talked about this initiative and mentioned one example of a successful student: Maimouna. After graduating from university last year, she now works as an accountant in Dakar and serves as a role model to motivate all Ashinaga Senegal students, with the hope that the 23 new students for both programs will also serve as models for future generations of students just as Maimouna does for them now.

Performances were conducted by interns and students during the ceremony. Interns sang a song to encourage the student not to give up in the face of challenges, to persevere in their work, even if faced by doubts and difficulties. This performance was more than matched by the students, who took the stage to perform dances from each of the countries before the audience. After the performances, the ceremony ended with a number of video messages from AAI students who participated in last year’s Study Camp, and finally a message from Mr. Yoshiomi Tamai, Founder and President of Ashinaga Ikueikai and Ms.Yuki Seki, the director of the AAI program. Mr. Tamai underlined the importance of the Study Camp as a preparation for the students’ studies abroad; they already have the motivation and the ideas necessary to achieve their dreams, so the final thing they need is preparation for the whole new world and challenges that they will face moving forward.

At the end of the ceremony, everyone received Ashinaga Senegal T-shirts, a symbolic gesture that brought all members of Ashinaga Senegal together, creating a strong bond, or “KIZUNA” between their hearts, a perfect way to end the ceremony and mark the official start of this year’s programs!