What’s your connection to Senegal

My husband is Senegalese so my first visit in 2015 was one to meet the family. A North American in West Africa will quickly find that “family” over there means your entire network of aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and the guy who works at the fruit stand across the street. My favourite lesson has been learning that “African Unity” is not just a saying, but a tangible thing — everyone helps everyone. I’ll quote my husband, “no one can go hungry in Senegal,” and it’s true because everyone shares what they have – be it money, food or good vibes. Now, having been there three times, going back always feels like going home.

So, tell me about your recent project to create a school library for the children over there. What inspired that?  

I was the type of child with a strong internal voice, asking lots of questions about the world. This project is five years in the making and is deeply rooted in my childhood memories at the library. In the 90s, the “diverse book” was not a thing, you just read what was on the shelf, what was most accessible for librarians, meaning white characters. About 8 months ago, I started giving interactive workshops that surrounded multicultural children’s books. The goal was, first and foremost, to help kids foster a love of reading, but also encourage self-identity, while building empathy and appreciation for different cultures. I didn’t want to replace the current school curriculum (which tends to focus on local culture) but have them sit parallel, introducing books about geography, peoples, tradition, music, dance, language, etc. that they may not have heard much, if anything, about.

What happened next?

Kind of on a whim, we thought it would be a good idea to bring the reading workshops to Senegal. It quickly turned into a building idea: build a reading culture, a bookshelf, a library for a school that needs it. It was supposed to be straightforward, but it ended up being my most rigorous, but rewarding challenge so far. A lot of the books that I had in mind for this project are expensive – inaccessibly so. I’m talking about the books that matter: with content that makes a child think critically. We didn’t have the money to do it all ourselves. We decided to start a gofundme campaign to raise funds. To our surprise, people came to us from all over the world wanting to donate. We raised close to $2,500 in a month. We also had authors from the UK, indie bookstores in Germany and around North America sending books, money and cards of support through the mail. We were in Senegal from February 1 to 27, 2018 and were able to fill three bookshelves with books, maps and flashcards for a school in Thiès village, three hours outside of Dakar. The school was run by a woman who has devoted the last 40 years of her life to educating neighbourhood children from her home. She recently found a formal space and divided it into three classrooms: this was École Mame Mariema Diouf.

What was it like being able to finally start this library and bring this dream to fruition?

Before this project, the kids had about 10 books to share between the 40 of them. Now there is a corner dedicated to reading. To inaugurate the books, we placed them all on tables and let the kids explore – and they did just that. Cover to cover, they went through, touching and looking closely at the details and asking questions, starting conversations. We were in the presence of discovery, and I was grateful to be a small part of the process of creating a value for reading that might not have been so strong. I don’t think I’ve ever been so present, but afterwards feeling like I wanted to do it again very soon. I’ve worked for a handful of international NGOs, but I’ve never felt like I’ve made such a big difference as when we were standing in that small classroom. This experience really showed me that we can all make a positive impact – and it can be started in the living room.

This article was originally published in the Summer 2018 edition of RG Magazine.

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Special Sections Editor Kyle Hunter spoke to Ms Farge about her experience of covering the major stories in Africa like the Ebola epidemic and the security threat posed by terrorist groups Boko Haram and al Qaeda.

How long have you been based in Dakar and what is it like to live there?

I’ve been in Dakar since late 2013. Senegal is one of the most stable countries in Africa so it’s a very good base and the authorities let us write what we want. The hardest thing is probably connecting with people outside of the expat bubble as the local culture is so incredibly different from my own. It’s another language, another religion and many women are not free. One thing that breaks my heart is how many children are born into families without the means to raise them in a culture where birth control is very taboo. Many hand them over to marabouts, or mystic religious leaders, who force them to work in child begging rings.

What are the challenges of working in Africa?

There are so many! Sometimes in autocratic or semi-dictatorial countries, you are kept under quite close surveillance by presidents who are very careful about their public image. I always publish the sensitive information once I am out of the country.

A successful reporting trip in this region is often just as much about your ability to get out of hairy situations as it is about being a good reporter and writer. I once had my sorely needed flak jacket seized by a pigheaded customs official in Egypt and had to spend four days negotiating to get it back. Tears eventually worked.

Another time I got stranded at nightfall near the Malian border with car trouble. We actually have a word for it in French “débrouillard”, meaning the ability to be resourceful and get out of difficult situations.

Travelling can be a nightmare as well with bad roads often lined with crooked soldiers looking for bribes. My husband, who is a TV producer, is also a bush pilot and that has proved very useful in getting to remote locations!

What are the main stories you cover in Senegal … Ebola, Boko Haram?

I was focused on the Ebola story during much of the epidemic. As the outbreak ebbed, I have switched to security stories. The main focus is on Islamist militant groups such as Boko Haram and a local branch of al Qaeda across West and Central Africa which are dogging Western-backed regional efforts to bring stability to the region.

I was embedded with Dutch special forces working for a United Nations peacekeeping mission in north Mali last year to learn about how they are trying to protect local populations. Unfortunately, much of the time the peacekeepers are themselves the targets and the Mali mission has the highest casualty rate in the world.

I went to Chad to cover negotiation efforts to liberate the Chibok schoolgirls (from Nigeria) which unfortunately fell through. This month I have been travelling to mock battle fields with senior US military who are training African armies to protect themselves better as regional jihadists, inspired by ISIS, grow bolder and more sophisticated.

I also do a lot of translating, editing and coaching for our network of local African reporters, especially since I have been pregnant.

In 2012 you were part of the Reuters team covering the Libyan revolution. That team was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. How proud were you of that?

Every journalist wants a Pulitzer of course but I was more proud of the stories I wrote than the actual nomination! Sometimes press organisations go after prizes in order to seek recognition and even when it’s deserved I tend to be a bit incredulous about that process. Of course I don’t object to having greatness thrust upon me, but I am sure that many equally deserving stories were ignored because the editor was working too hard on another story to submit a publication.

Have you found yourself in any dangerous situations while covering stories, particularly in Libya? I imagine Benghazi could be a bit hairy.

Libya in 2011 was actually a much safer place than it is now. But of course there were moments of anxiety. When I was heading to Benghazi, there had been a number of kidnappings by Gaddafi henchmen including of a team of New York Times journalists. I was nervous during the long road trips as the country was in a state of total upheaval and it was often very difficult to tell whether a group of strangers in an artillery mounted pick-up truck are friends or foes. Gunfire during the night was usually celebratory but it was not always easy to tell the difference, especially alone at 3am. I had a satellite phone for making contact from remote areas and my husband and I even worked out a secret code for alerting authorities in a kidnap situation.

Another worrying situation was when I got a temperature while in a very remote location in eastern Sierra Leone during the height of the Ebola epidemic. I knew that if I fell ill there, even of a normal non-Ebola related illness, I risked quarantine and potentially getting stranded with other sick people who were potentially infected. Thankfully, it was just a temporary increase in temperature due to travelling on a very hot military helicopter. I was always more worried on behalf of my husband and family than for myself though. I chose to take those risks and make certain sacrifices along the way because I thought the story was worth it. They didn’t and my biggest fear is that a very personal choice I have made could lead to misery or disaster for my family. After my Ebola assignment, I spent New Year’s with my family but did not dare touch any of them for 21 days in case I should fall ill.

Do you travel much in Africa and how do you like living there?

I’ve reported from nine countries in the region including Chad, Mali and Gabon. Life in Africa can be hard but often you are rewarded with magical discoveries. While reporting on timber trafficking on the Gambian border, I met a spiritual woman who was protecting the remaining trees with magic spells. Since the villagers were afraid of her, they didn’t dare to cut down her forest. In Guinea Bissau, I shared cashews with one of Africa’s most notorious drug barons who narrowly escaped a US sting operation and is now enjoying a comfortable retirement on his farm. In Chad, facial scarring is a common tribal practice and the haunting beauty of them is transfixing.

What are the stories which have had the greatest impact on you?

It is important to get the right balance between empathising with your subject while not getting too personally bound up in his plight. This was particularly a challenge during the Ebola epidemic because the suffering was so great. We witnessed two people die on the streets before overstretched local authorities could send ambulances. The way they died was terrifying, during what people called the “wet” stage of the disease, when the victim suffers from vomiting and severe haemorrhaging. And they died like lepers, with people staring at them but unwilling to touch or help.

That was hard but when it’s hard I tell myself that it is worth doing, not for the glory, but in order to bear witness to someone’s incredible story that would otherwise go untold. I had the honour of writing about a Sierra Leonean doctor for example who toiled hours and hours alone in the Ebola “red zone” of a poor government clinic to give his patients the best possible chance of survival. Many of his colleagues died doing the same thing but he was determined to keep going and survived.

What other countries would you like to report from?

Right now, I am looking forward to several months off with my son in Bermuda and Switzerland (where my husband is from). Our baby is due on April 1 and I am so excited about becoming a mother.

After that, the adventures can begin again. I have a strange fascination for little-understood countries run by so-called African “big men”. In that spirit I would like to visit the oil-rich Central African countries of Congo Republic and Equatorial Guinea. I love the challenge of just arriving off the plane and saying: “There’s a great story here somewhere. You just have to find it.”

After that, I would be really interested in reporting from North Africa and potentially getting back into the Libya story if there is a way of doing it safely. The present upheaval there could shape the future of the Western world.

Do you ever get back to Bermuda?

Yes, I try to get back at least once or twice a year. Bermuda is still very much my home and I feel an enormous sense of belonging and spirituality when I am back among family and friends.

I love the pastel colours, the bleating of the tree-frogs and Johnny Barnes’ crinkled smile. When I return I do very simple things like swim in the ocean or walk along the Railway Trail, or do nothing at all! “Sitting off” can be very therapeutic!

This article first appeared in RG Spring magazine in 2016.

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How did you end up in Kenya?

I have now lived in Africa for four years and it all happened a bit by accident. While working with Deloitte Bermuda as a Human Capital consultant I took a short sabbatical and travelled to Tanzania for a six week visit. I needed a change of scenery and a moment to decide which direction I wanted my life to take. While I was there I met Tanzanians in my age group who were disrupting the market with various businesses and concepts. Their drive began to energize me and my vision shifted and I started to understand what the world meant when they were saying that Africa was the world’s emerging business frontier. I was able to identify a range of gaps in the market. I ended up heading back to Bermuda and leaving my job, packing my bags and moving to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. That was in 2013.

I started a company called Global Partner Solutions Ltd. Our core business is market entry and business development strategies for the African market. Within the first three months of business, I was able to win a large Dubai-based client. This caused me to have to open both a Tanzanian and a Kenyan office. I eventually moved to Kenya as it is the business hub of East Africa and most global clients are demanding that market. Kenya is growing at a rapid rate, has a large educated human capital base, and is also the tech hub of Africa. I eventually closed my Tanzanian office and maintain an office in both Kenya and Nigeria as clients want a presence in both of those markets, which cover both East and West Africa. In 2016, I had a staff of 15 in Nairobi and five in Lagos.

We have had some fascinating projects including market assessments, business planning consulting and marketing for global clients looking to identify the best angle to capture their share of this growing yet difficult to target African market. Every day is a challenge. Besides the typical challenges of entrepreneurship, the formula that works for business in the west of the world does not necessarily work in Africa. There has been a ton of trial and error, hitting of walls, tears and having to find the will to keep pushing and growing in a culture and country that is foreign to my own. The reward of seeing something that you have built develop is worth the constant fight and hard work. Four years later I still wake up every single day feeling incredibly blessed for this unconventional path that I have chosen. The continent offers so much in terms of natural beauty, deep rooted culture and my lifestyle in Nairobi is one that I couldn’t pay for in the west of the world with safaris on the weekend, a high standard of living and an amazing group of friends.

Where did you go to school? What did you study? I attended the University of North Carolina in Charlotte as well as studying International Relations at the Paris-Sorbonne University. In Bermuda, I attended Bermuda High School. Since high school education has been less about academia and more about exposure, and equipping myself with the tools to be fearless and to be able to sit in any boardroom, or any meeting, and to think and respond critically with the world’s best. This is what has carried me throughout my travels and unconventional career path.

What are your goals for the future:  I am working on so much! Along with growing GPS I am constantly weighing how I can fulfill my career passions with my purpose on earth. I’m working on a social enterprise, which is the manufacturing and export of shoes and accessories out of East Africa. It’s all very exciting and will make a huge social impact on the education of girls and working environment of women on this side of the world. (More to come on this!). I never want to lose my excitement for life and if that means that I have to constantly move locations or take on new challenges to do that, I will be relentless in the fight for my happiness and the fulfillment of my purpose.

24 hours in Nairobi

The place you most like to eat breakfast: I absolutely love a new Parisian coffee shop that has popped up in Nairobi called Le Grenier a Pain. Their baked goods, quiche and salads are absolutely delicious and they also offer free wifi and ample space to work out of their coffee shop if you need a change of scenery out of the office.

Favourite hideaway: The spa at the Kempinmski hotel is my favourite local escape in Nairobi. They have a gorgeous rooftop pool, a delicious menu and the treatments are heavenly. I’ve spent many a weekend there with a good book, and disconnected from my phone and laptop.

If you could only eat at one restaurant during a visit: 45 degrees Kitchen is a gem. They have the most scrumptious menu and fantastic ambiance and leaves me dreaming about their food even when I’m outside of Nairobi. You must try their crab cakes and seafood gumbo!

A must-see attraction: As cliché as it may sound, with only 24 hours in Nairobi, you must visit the Nairobi National Park. With it being situated only 20 minutes out of the city, you can get an entire safari experience within two hours, along with a visit to a Masaii village. Perfect!

Best place to stay: I love Westwood hotel in Westlands, Nairobi. It’s a boutique hotel with stunning indigenous modern decor and has the most amazing garden and patio, which combines modern graffiti art within this garden setting. It’s one of the city’s gems.

City’s best kept secret: Nairobi is known for its amazing pop up events. Pop up restaurants, music festivals and pop up parties. You have to have your ear to the ground to know about them. They pull together the melting pot of cultures that make up Kenya and usually celebrate culture, food and music. The ones that I can recommend that happen annually and sometimes quarterly are  – Dinner en Blanc Nairobi – a very hip and trendy all white dinner, Blankets and Wine –  a quarterly music festival that bring in global artists for an amazing day party and Pop up Nairobi Dinners – held at a secret location in the city with a private chef and a mystery menu.

Best place for people watching: I enjoy K1 Market Sundays where they have a live band, local goods and a yummy brunch menu. This is an amazing place to people watch and enjoy a day with friends.

Top night spot: Brew Bistro located in Westlands is a cool place to party, and lounge on the weekends. They have great DJs every weekend.

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