In 2021, the fraternity "Kër Taizé" in Dakar moved place. In this article, a brother shares his thoughts. In a hushed voice, the news breaks like winter thunder: the building that houses Kër Taizé must be demolished. Kër Taizé and Ak benn will have to move. Yes, we have written "Kër Taizé" because a "kër" ("house" in Wolof) is more than a building. The heart of Ak benn will be able to beat (...)
17 February 2022
“When, week after week during our outings, we collected all kinds of objects found in nature in order to find a meaning for them, nobody could have imagined that we would create a beautiful exhibition with them: “MAKE, MAKE AGAIN, MAKE LIVE AGAIN.” The exhibition was installed in Kër Taizé itself, and has been much visited by schoolchildren, students, visitors of all ages and cultures. Our (...)
20 December 2015
These days, there is an exhibition at the home of the brothers in Dakar. “Everyone set to work: the “moms” completing and renewing their collections, the youth leaders did the same… Some of them prepared display panels, some started cleaning … we even put a thin coat of paint on the walls and a piece of fabric on the ceiling to hid the stains made by the drainpipes. The artists (we have many!) set to work with material that was available: things that were close at hand, things we had picked up (...)
25 April 2010
The brothers arrived in Senegal at the beginning of 1993, at the invitation of Cardinal Thiandoum, the then archbishop of Dakar. The intuition of Brother Roger was that we should establish a small fraternity of the community in a Muslim country of black Africa (officially there are scarcely 5% of Christians in Senegal) even if at that time the tensions around Islam had scarcely begun to make themselves felt in the world. The brothers set up home in a large working class neighbourhood of (...)
8 January 2010
With thirteen young people aged between 15 and 18 from the youth chaplaincy in the region, one of the brothers recently made a visit to Dakar, in Senegal. This visit had been in preparation for many months.“The Taizé brothers living in Dakar welcomed the thirteen adolescents in their home for two days. We shared in their life, taking part in the prayers and the meals. The young people formed friendships with some of the Senegalese animators of their own age. These animators are Muslim and (...)
29 March 2009
The children, the women, the youth… what are they doing here?Do they realize that with “ak benn” they can lay the foundations for their future? For they are being offered a chance to learn, to discover, to build and network relationships, and each day to go a step further. This is what we call “ak benn". It began at Kër Taizé, the house of the Taizé brothers living in Dakar. The suburbs of Dakar where ak benn is implanted in four locations offer few prospects for young (...)
19 December 2007
“Very small projects” Upon the initiative of the Taizé brothers living in Dakar, Senegal, a reception service for refugees and immigrants (P.A.R.I.) was set up in 1995, under the auspices of Caritas-Dakar. The parishes and the religious communities of the city gave it responsibility for an activity that is becoming more and more necessary as the number of displaced persons increases in this Western horn of Africa. From the start, the P.A.R.I. has put the accent on (...)
18 September 2007
For the last 15 or so years, several of us, brothers from Taizé, have been living in Dakar, Senegal, a city situated on the westernmost cape of Africa. We are living in a large, popular neighbourhood. It’s a real privilege to be able to share people’s lives as we do, in a wide-open house that everyone feels they can enter. Once we were accepted by those around us, we were able to feel the incredible vitality that characterizes Africa, and at the same time experience the accumulated problems (...)
17 September 2007
In the neighbourhood of Dakar where the brothers live, drains were built a few years ago to dispose of the rainwater which regularly floods the streets, the yards, and often the basements of houses. These drains are covered by heavy paving stones, with gaps in between. Over the months, these fill up with sand and with all the rubbish thrown in – and so the drains become useless. Of course, the council staff should take care of the maintenance, but for the moment nothing is happening and the (...)
27 July 2007
Several Taizé brothers have been living in Dakar, Senegal, for the last 13 years or so. A large part of their activities is concerned with young people and children. “We are living in a large, popular neighbourhood. It’s a real privilege to be able to share people’s lives as we do, in a wide-open house that everyone feels they can enter.” One Friday during the rainy season, the courtyard of the brothers’ house is full of children and young people, and some mothers and (...)
10 September 2006
The “Welcome Point for Refugees and Immigrants” in Dakar, Senegal, was set up at the initiative of the brothers from Taizé some twelve years ago in collaboration with the parishes and religious communities of the city.Dramatic events occurred last October, when some 2,000 African migrants attempted to enter European territory by storming the fences that surround the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish cities located on the North African coast and adjacent to Morocco. Security forces (...)
26 May 2006
TAIZÉ
