On this website, we have often written about Burlington’s sister city Honfleur, France, and celebrated the ties of friendship between the Burlington-Honfleur Sister Cities Committee and Honfleur’s Comité de Jumelages.
Just over a year ago, Burlington established a relationship with a second Francophone city. On March 25, 2024, the Burlington City Council voted unanimously to establish a sister city relationship with Thiès-Est, Senegal. French is the official language of Senegal, and Thiès-East is its third-largest city.
This sister city initiative builds on a longstanding relationship between the Vermont National Guard and Senegal, through the Guard’s State Partnership Program. Since 2008 the Guard has shared both military and civilian expertise with Senegal.
The early years of the partnership were focused on sharing tactical and operational experiences from the Global War on Terror with Senegal, one of the largest contributors of peacekeeping forces in West Africa. The Vermont National Guard also contributed significantly to Senegal’s emergency management system, through annual bilateral exchanges.
Since 2012, the Vermont National Guard has led several medical outreach missions known as a Medical Readiness Exercise or MedRex in Senegal. In February 2023 forty medical professionals, traveled to Thiès-Est, where hospitals are short staffed. For two weeks, the Guardsmen worked with local medical providers to treat 625 patients, mutually sharing best practices. “The language barrier was kind of hard,” said SPC Alex Gravel, but they got by using sign language and hands gestures. Guard members said they found the medical mission rewarding and wished they could have stayed longer.
The following year, in 2024, the Vermont National Guard MedRex traveled to several other locales in Senegal to participate in training sessions. This time, to overcome the language barrier, they used a team of interpreters and translation technology. The team visited Tambacounda, where medical infrastructure was limited; they provided essential medical training to local healthcare providers, focusing on trauma care, emergency response, and preventive medicine. In Goudiri the team “was able to impart some knowledge and also learn about how they adapt and overcome situations that arise.” In Kedougou, where the local medical facilities are more advanced, the Guard and the locals exchanged advanced techniques. Throughout the mission, Guard members “learned about the medical practices in Senegal while imparting their own knowledge, creating a best practices exchange between service providers.”
Throughout MedRex 2024, the Vermont National Guard emphasized compassionate and comprehensive care in order to build strong relationships with these local communities.
Now, the establishment of the sister city tie will enhance these already strong relations. The proposal came from former Burlington city councilor Ali Dieng, who grew up in Thiès-Est and even attended middle school with the city’s current mayor. The idea is to try to build a bridge between the communities.
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A meeting with Mayor Ousmane Diagne
Major Patrick Enriquez, director of the Vermont National Guard’s State Partnership Program, played a pivotal role in advocating for sister city status, which “represents a new chapter in Vermont’s commitment to fostering international friendships and cooperation.”
Colonized by France in the 19th century, Senegal gained independence in 1960. French remains the country’s official language, the language of business and government, Ali Dieng told me. In addition to French, Senegalese people speak numerous indigenous languages, among them Wolof, Puular, and Serere.
I asked Ali about attitudes toward France and the French language in Senegal. Like many places in Africa, he told me, the country is moving away from neocolonialism. The people want to take care of their own affairs and are loosening their remaining connections with France. For example, France still has a military presence in Senegal, but late last year the president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, announced that all foreign troops would have to leave the country, and at this moment the French military is in the process of leaving.
Still, Ali told me, French culture and language remain very strong. No separation in language can be completed anytime soon. English is now being introduced at the elementary level. “But French is forever,” he affirmed. French was the language of instruction during his schooling.
With the sister city relationship, Ali hopes to work in areas of culture, education, environment, and commerce.
Two past Senegalese presidents, Wade and Sall, have visited Vermont, he told me, and Burlington mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak has met her counterpart, Thiès-Est mayor Ousmane Diagne, by Zoom. The intergovernmental partnership is already strong, but Ali would like to strengthen it at a civilian level.
Senegal has a rich musical and artistic culture, he explained., one that Vermonters would want to know more about. In education, he would like to see teacher exchanges—and Thiès can use help with teachers and books to strengthen English. In terms of the environment, Vermont is a leader in understanding the impact of climate change on agriculture; Senegal needs a better implementation of ways to mitigate that impact. Vermont has issues related to employment and workforce; in turn, Senegal has a lot of educated people needing jobs.
Ultimately Ali would like to see Vermonters visiting Thiès-Est and vice versa.
At this writing the sister cities committee comprises Ali and two more Senegalese people plus Jim Holway, serving as executive assistant, and former Peace Corps volunteer Wendy Rice, of Vermont Connector. They are actively fundraising for future projects.
It’s beautiful, Ali told me, that Burlington has the Alliance Francaise speaking French and the Honfleur connection. Adding Thiès-East to the partnerships will strengthen French culture here. Ali is working to coordinate all of Burlington’s sister cities and strengthen all the local ties, so that people around the world can better share understanding, support, and enjoyment of life.
Photos by Ali Dieng
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