Sénégaëlle

My painting ‘In my dreams’ (featured below) sold (by way of raffle tickets) and helped to raise €21,950 for a truly great cause. Full info below. All money raised will go directly towards long-term development & support for a school in Senegal. Education is key for a better world and the beauty of this small association (Sénégaëlle) is that no costs get absorbed elsewhere.

The winner of the painting was Christophe Duggary who lifted the World Cup (football) for France in 1998.

Back in 2019, I was approached by a dear friend and collector, Thomas Joulia (Bordeaux, France), to become affiliated with ‘SENEGAELLE’ ~ a charity created by he and his friends in memory of their wonderful friend Gaëlle. Gaëlle was very close to Senegal where she often visited, and had many friends. In her legacy, the SENEGAELLE association was established with an intention to focus its actions on children by providing support to 3 school or extra-curricular entities in the city of M’Bour, namely:

• Elementary school Chateau d’eau in M’Bour
• Kindergarten in the same district
• The Living Together orphanage

Since 2019, following donations from members and supporters of the association, we have been able to send 2 shipping containers filled with clothes, toys, books, hygiene products and school materials. Thus we were able to create a real computer room equipped with wifi and equipped with 4 PCs, 2 professional printers and 30 tablets allowing the holding of real computer courses.

When Thomas asked me if I would create and donate a painting to SENEGAELLE – I didn’t need a moment to think. I created the painting featured in this post, titled ‘In my dreams’. This painting expressively depicts a Mother from Senegal with her son, for whom she dreams will get the opportunities that most of us take for granted – an education. Education is the answer for a better future.

This year, we have organized this raffle in order to raise the funds necessary for the repair of the school buildings, namely:

• The perimeter wall which has partially collapsed in some places
• The roofs of the classrooms which are perforated and where the water infiltrates
• The well which is dirty and which requires deep cleaning

I have already created another painting for the organisation which will be sold in the same way later in the year for the next round of fundraising. News on that as and when!