OLPCorps MIT Mauritania Bababe Deployment Location

Bababé

Bababé is a small town in the Brakna Region of Mauritania. It is located between Bogue and Kaedi, two regional capitals in southern Mauritania and is two kilometers away from the Senegal River. The town is also its own department, which includes a number of smaller villages in the immediate vicinity.
According to our ground contact Zach Swank, it is a wonderful town that is right on the border between between being a "small West African village" and a "city." Although it has over eight thousand people it still has the feel of a small village. It is a tightly knit community in which everyone knows each other, the village elders still gather in the marketplace every evening, and when asked to describe their town people most often say it is like one family.
At the same time the town is rapidly developing; two massive diesel generators were installed 6 months ago and now provide power from noon to midnight. The town has a sense of forward progress. It is rapidly becoming more independent from the two regional capitals on either side, and many local, national, and international groups are working together to improve the condition of life here. With the arrival of electricity, satellite internet is becoming available as well.
There are three primary schools as well as a large middle school and high school.