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Who We Are

Our Story

Teach for Senegal was birthed from the life experience and ultimate life calling of our founder, Raby Gueye. An educator and entrepreneur, she’s known since her youth her destiny of purpose-driven work for everyday people and young people. 

 

Raby was born and raised in rural Senegal until she was eight years old—where her family immigrated to the United States as refugees due to a conflict that impacted her family. Just like many refugee families, adjusting to a new country came with its challenges and trials. With the encouragement of teachers, Raby and her siblings stayed the course and even helped their parents navigate daily life in America while they received an education.

 

Throughout her formative years in school, it became clear to Raby being educated is vital for one to be able to reach their full potential and thrive, but wondered why such education disparities exist in her home country and all over the world. Tapping into her passions of being a potential fulfiller and problem solver, she began her consistent service work for Senegalese youth while in high school. There, she was encouraged to explore a career in human rights law, as she aspired to work towards helping refugees experience fewer challenges that she endured with her family. But during her time as a student at Arizona State University, she transitioned pursuing a career in education from her experience teaching at a refugee agency, in an underserved community in India as well as a Teach for America educator. 

 

These teaching experiences revealed the importance of cultural representation in the classroom and in the curriculum. Raby also realized the need to disrupt the system, while working within it, if children were to truly realize their purpose. Starting with her own community, she developed Teach For Senegal with the help of mentors to make this purpose-driven work a reality. Currently, Raby and her team are building partnerships with the Senegalese government to create a collective vision among themselves, as well as with the communities Teach For Senegal will serve under the core values of leadership and empathy, as well as being locally rooted and globally informed.

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The talent from Africa’s youth is palpable; their passion is even more evident. Teach For Senegal not only wants to inspire the diaspora to return home and invest in the continent but to also exemplify the ability for young Africans to be given the room to finally solve their own issues—without aid—to prepare children for the real world.

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OUR CORE VALUES

Better Human

Sense of Possibility

Here to Serve

Community-Led

Deep Respect For Children

We believe a better world begins with us. So we work on cultivating self-awareness by deepening self-knowledge through reflective practice. We understand that self is a lifelong journey; we hold space for ourselves and others through this work.

We believe the issue of quality education is an urgent one. We take every action with the full realization that our work now means that children in underprivileged communities could have significantly better life opportunities than what is possible today.

We ACT in the direction of change and alignment with our values; in service of the work of social and educational justice. 

We believe the community must lead sustainable change and have all necessary to lead this change.

“Children are human beings to whom respect is due, superior to us because of their innocence and of the greater possibilities of their future… Let us treat them with all the kindness which we would wish to help to develop in them.” - Maria Montessori

Raby Gueye Founder and CEO of Teach For

Raby Gueye

Founder & CEO

Raby Gueye is the founder and CEO of Teach For Senegal. Originally from Podor, Senegal. At the age of 8, Raby moved to the United States, and since then, she has maintained a strong commitment to social justice issues. At Arizona State University, Raby assisted with research on gender violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her role as an English teacher in underserved communities in India allowed her to collaborate with a diverse group of NGOs to help increase the literacy rate. In 2015, she was recruited by Teach For America to join a national corps of recent college graduates and professionals who commit to teaching in urban and rural public schools. As a teacher, Raby prioritized building strong relationships with her students and families to create an environment where all families feel welcomed and included. 

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A 2019 Echoing Green Fellow, Raby has a bachelor’s in Global Studies and a master’s degree in Elementary Education from Arizona State University. Raby was also honored to be featured in Forbes 30 Under 30. She was also honored at the 2022 World Youth Forum by the president of Eygpt for her work at Teach For Senegal. 

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