Story Gallery
CLICK on any of the pictures below to watch the 1 to 3 minute stories in French with English subtitles.
Selections from this story gallery were made into a documentary short film nominated for the 2011 Student Academy Awards and provided the inspiration for the internationally acclaimed feature film TALL AS THE BAOBAB TREE. The movie comes with free educational materials correlated directly to the CCSS curricula standards for Gr 8-12, plus guided discussions for community groups and universities.
Daily Life
Challenges
Our Future
Aldiouma Dia shares how her mother takes milk from the cows and prepares it to be sold in the nearby town.
Dior Ka discusses the tradition of early (pre-arranged) marriage in her village.
Amady Ba's goal for the future is to become an important man in his village and to study engineering.
Adama Ba shows us what it's like to be a student at his high school.
Cheikh Dia shares the positive changes he's proud of in his village.
Amady Ba shares his daily ritual of taking cows out to graze.
Aldiouma Dia must convince local parents to send their children to school.
Daly Dia shows some of the ways her village has evolved thanks to the community's new school.
Cheikh Dia creates a montage of his typical Sunday.
Coumba Dia shows what it's like to study without electricity.
Khalifa Ababacar Gueye shares the goals he hopes to accomplish in the future.
Coumba Dia shares a behind-the-scenes look at her family's meal preparation.
Debo Deme's village is far away from her high school. During the week, she has to live in the city.
Sileye Sall is the hope of his family: he is the only child his parents could afford to send to school.
Daly Dia shows some of the ways she helps her family.
Leopold Ndour contrasts a rich student with a poor student.
Debo Deme shares the jobs she does in the mornings before she goes to school.
Mouhamed Rassoul takes us along to the test center where they're announcing the big results.
Watch some of the ways that Dior Ba helps her family throughout the day.
Mouhamed Rassoul exposes the differences between French and Qur'anic schools.
Dior Ka shows the importance of her everyday task of fetching water from the nearby well.
For Papa Assane, vacation is a time when he can work to earn extra money for his family.
Follow Fatimata Sow as she does various tasks to help her family.
After school's over, Khardiata Dia takes us with her to see her work and play.
Mame Diarra shows us the proper way to prepare couscous, one of her favorite foods.
Marie Faye gets ready for school in the morning.
Oumar Sow shares a montage of activities that he and other boys do in their spare time.
Ousman Yade provides an in-depth look, from the fields to the kitchen, of the cultivation and preparation of millet, a common food.
Sileye Sall walks us through the process of praying, an activity that most Senegalese Muslims do five times a day.
Waly Yade provides an insider's look at the village "grand place," the central social area of his village.
Yacine Ngom shares a look at her morning routine before school.