IMG_1052.TALLER ESPAÑOL JUNIO 26 en tamaño mediano

Basic Spanish Communication Workshop for Welcoming Visitors in Thionk Essyl

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Basic Spanish Communication Workshop for Welcoming Visitors in Thionk Essyl

IMG_1052.TALLER ESPAÑOL JUNIO 26 en tamaño mediano
IMG_1055.TALLER ESPAÑOL JUNIO 26 en tamaño mediano
IMG_1059.TALLER ESPAÑOL JUNIO 26 en tamaño mediano
IMG_1065.TALLER ESPAÑOL JUNIO 26 en tamaño mediano
IMG_1067.TALLER ESPAÑOL JUNIO 26 en tamaño mediano
IMG_1075.TALLER ESPAÑOL JUNIO 26 en tamaño mediano

Volunteers Silvia Padrón Revillaand Pinja Ratilainenled a Basic Spanish Communication Workshop for people who regularly interact with visitors to Thionk Essyl, including international volunteers and tourists.

Over the course of four days, participants worked on practical communication skills for tourism-related situations, focusing on vocabulary and expressions commonly used in accommodation, restaurants, and transportation. 

The workshop brought together a highly motivated and fairly homogeneous group of participants who were eager to learn or improve their Spanish in order to communicate more effectively with visitors to the community.

The workshop followed a participatory approach. Dialogues and practical expressions were studied in Spanish and French before being translated into Diola to support understanding and learning. Participants also recorded the dialogues as audio files, which were shared through a WhatsApp group created specifically for the workshop, allowing them to continue practicing outside the classroom.In addition to the practical communication activities, participants worked on basic grammar topics, including numbers and adverbs of time and place.

As part of the initiative, Spanish language teaching materials were donated to support continued learning: two books were given to the teacher at the Thionk Essyl Social Centre and four books were donated to the volunteer camps. During their stay, the volunteers also held a meeting with Galibour, a local traders’ association made up mainly of women and young people working to strengthen local commerce in Thionk Essyl. 

The session included an introduction to basic project management concepts to support the association’s current initiative to import fabrics from Ziguinchor and sell them during peak commercial periods such as Ramadan and Christmas.

This workshop helped strengthen the community’s communication skills, improving its capacity to welcome international visitors while also supporting local initiatives for economic development.

image00034.Campus Senegal Qbasket. en tamaño mediano

Campus Basket 2026 organized by QBasket

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Campus Basket 2026 organized by QBasket

image00034.Campus Senegal Qbasket. en tamaño mediano
image00063.Campus Senegal Qbasket. en tamaño mediano
image00097.Campus Senegal Qbasket. en tamaño mediano
image00200.Campus Senegal Qbasket. en tamaño mediano
image00201.Campus Senegal Qbasket. en tamaño mediano

Qbasket strengthened its commitment to solidarity with Thionck Essyl (Senegal) this June through a new edition of its basketball camp, held from 20 to 27 June. Seven club volunteers worked alongside the coaches of Thionck Basket Club (TBC) to provide basketball training to nearly 50 children and young people, promoting values such as respect, commitment and teamwork.During the visit, basketballs, team kits and sports shoes were donated, basketball hoops were repaired, and support was provided to local schools to encourage the practice of basketball throughout the year.The project, carried out in collaboration with the Foundawtion Foundation, further strengthens the partnership between the two organisations and reaffirms Qbasket’s commitment to promotingthe growth of basketball as a tool for education and social cohesion, with plans already underwayfor a fifth edition in 2

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Drawing and animation workshop for children

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Drawing and animation workshop for children

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From March 30 to April 3, 2026, María Pulido Aguza and Silvia Padrón Revilla led a drawing and animation workshop aimed at introducing children aged 9 to 11 to the world of audiovisual animation in a creative, practical, and accessible way, using simple and easily reproducible resources. A group of primary school students from the Thionck Essyl school participated.

The training team was composed of:     

 Maria Pulido, animation art director and main person responsible for the technical and artistic content of the workshop.

  Silvia Padrón Revilla, support for coordination, pedagogical support and dynamization of activities.

  Mr. Abdou, teacher at the center, in charge of support in group management, daily support and linguistic and cultural mediation.

The workshop allowed not only to teach an artistic technique, but also to open a space for expression, play and creativity for children, reinforcing their ability to imagine, tell stories and work in a team.

Animation was a very powerful pedagogical tool, especially for its ability to combine art, narrative, technology and active participation.

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Fun workshop: crafts, creativity and laughter.

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A workshop by Miriam Alonso & Cristina Gusano.

“During the week of April 14, we taught a craft workshop to 2 classes of the Tionk Essil school where each day was dedicated to an activity that we did with the first class and replicated with the second class, after recess.

The children became familiar with the different tools and accessories we used to compose our crafts. They really enjoyed learning the different techniques.

Dedicating a space to games and creativity is always a good bet, especially with pre-teen children whose main interests are having fun, interacting with their peers and gradually defining their personality through creations.”

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“Illustrated recipe book” workshop with women from Thionck Essyl.

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In April, a group of artists travelled to Thionck Essyl with Javi Royo to give a series of artistic workshops at CEM Kamanar.

One of them was the workshop ‘Illustrated cooking recipes’ given by Florence Cairo, visual artist.

The aim of the workshop was to provide the participants with the visual elements necessary to understand, through simple drawings, illustrations and pictograms, the basics of reproducing, transmitting and copying Senegalese family cooking recipes.

The group consisted of 16 students, all women of legal age who are members of the Thionck Essyl Women’s Association. They are all mothers, and the

majority of them also assume the main responsibility for the household.

Some have jobs in the community – in the community garden, salt pans, cleaning, market stalls or cooking for the camps – while others work with their husbands in various enterprises, or plan to start a small “restaurant”, which is actually a soup kitchen.

“I believe that this workshop has been a human experience that far exceeded artistic expectations, and became an intimate, complicit and happy moment that illuminated the way for all of us”. Flor

Photos by Jordi García

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Second basketball camp held at Thionck Essyl

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Last June 22 Dani Osul and Marta Orrutia traveled to Thionck Essyl to carry out the second basketball camp.

We took with us 20 basketballs, 30 kits designed by Javi Royo (15 male and 15 female), numbered from 1 to 15 and 40 pairs of used basketball shoes, donated by players of QBasket Sant Cugat, a basketball team from Sant Cugat del Vallés, which supports the project. This is possible thanks to solidarity activities carried out during the season.

This time we conducted the campus from a base, already established last year, and thanks to the collaboration of Sekou, our basketball coach in Thionck Essyl, with whom we have continuous communication to follow up the players.

The result again exceeded our expectations, as the athletes assimilated the concepts quickly. In addition, a special bond was created with many of them as it was our second year of campus at Thionck Essyl, as well as with coaches Sekou, Malic and Kalilou.

Since the first campus, the social mass of TBC i (Thionck Essyl Basket Club) has increased in the form of new players. Currently the club has approximately 100 athletes, ranging in age from 8 to 18 years old, of which 50% are girls. We are especially proud of this, as one of the objectives of the campus was the integration of women in sports.

We are already working on the third campus to be held from June 21 to 28, 2025. For which, we will need new material, such as balls, equipment, sneakers… says Dani Osul.