Women weaving plastic bags and building a green future in The Gambia

A group of women is gathered under a roof without walls, only a few small walls separate them from the rest of the room.

Some of those present knit with crochet needles.

It's not thread that they skilfully intertwine, almost without looking, while they talk with the rest of the classmates.

These are plastic strips of various colors.

With them they make bags, cases, rugs... Beyond sit those who smooth and cut recycled bags to provide the material.

Others cut pieces of old bicycle tire into almost perfect circles.

A little further back are those that thread them to form necklaces and bracelets.

Conversations intersect, laughter breaks out from time to time.

A few boys sleep at their mothers' feet, others play near there, and some girls,

sitting or lying on the edges of the partitions, they observe everything that happens.

In the distance another crew can be seen, in charge of cooking for those attending one of the training days.

All this activity takes place in Njau, a town in the Central River North region of the Gambia, where the NGO Women's Initiative Gambia (WIG) has been working since 1997 to enhance the skills of women in this area.

As part of the activities, they begin by recycling discarded plastic bags and transforming them into crochet work.

The example spread and gradually other women joined them.

After being trained, they also began to recycle.

The sale of their products brings them a profit, while helping to reduce solid waste in their communities.

Over the years, the success of this initiative has managed to consolidate a training program that aims to equip Gambian women with tools that allow them to generate income and care for the environment.

The example of these pioneers has gradually spread in the communities and people are beginning to understand the advantages of reusing and recycling waste.

One of the women who is part of the NGO Women's Initiative Gambia (WIG) weaves a bag from strips of recycled plastic.

The organization has created a training program that aims to equip Gambian women with tools that allow them to generate income and care for the environment.Chema Caballero

Discarded plastic bags are cleaned and cut to serve as material to make bags, cases, rugs... Objects that the women later sell to earn income with which to support their families. Chema Caballero

Cases made by the women of the Njau community, located in the Central River North region of The Gambia.

Thanks to these and other products they make, they earn extra income.

In addition, they have created a common fund to which they allocate part of the profits to obtain loans in times of scarcity.Chema Caballero

The women not only recycle plastic, they also make handicrafts with bicycle tire tires that they cut into small washers that they later thread to form necklaces and bracelets. Chema Caballero

One of the women from the project shows the necklaces she has just made with bicycle tire rubber.Chema Caballero

Among other products that are manufactured is soap.

It is sold in local markets more easily than handicrafts.

Its demand is much higher, which is why these women have begun to manufacture it from palm oil.Chema Caballero

The new initiatives implemented include the manufacture of charcoal from solid waste such as cassava shells, coconuts, peanuts, dry leaves or paper.

After a pyrolysis process in a special oven, the waste is crushed until it is reduced to dust.

Then mixed with water and compacted with a manual pressure machine.

Once dried in the sun, the resulting briquettes are packaged and sold to be used in kitchens.

This initiative is accompanied by a strong awareness campaign to end the logging of the Gambia's forests.

Chema Caballero

The latest project that WIG has started to implement is called 'Reforesting the Future'.

An initiative aimed at raising awareness among rural communities of the importance of conserving forests and replanting.

To do this, the organization has created a large nursery on the outskirts of Njau.

There they grow local species such as mango, cashew, moringa, mahogany... which they later donate to the communities. Chema Caballero

Farmers are trained in new cultivation techniques and experiment with micro-gardening, that is, using peanut shells to grow lettuce and tomatoes in places where there is a shortage of land or the soil is badly deteriorated.Chema Caballero

Modou Lamin Boyeng (center), the eldest son of WIG founder Isatou Ceesay, decided to move to the interior of the country after graduating from university and lead a reforestation program.

Through talks and various activities, they make schoolchildren aware of the importance of preserving the environment.

They supply the trees to plant on their land. Chema Caballero

waste burning

Thousands, millions of plastic bags flood the soil of many towns and villages, the roadsides or clog sewers in almost all African countries.

It is an image that is constantly repeated when traveling the roads of the continent.

The show is extended after a market day by clearing up stalls and stalls.

Remains of bags, transparent or colored, are everywhere.

There are times when gangs of young people organize and clean up.

Then they burn the waste.

Then an acrid taste clings to the back of my throat and my eyes sting from the burnt plastic.

The environmental health hazards associated with the uncontrolled burning of plastics and the harmful pollutants that are released are serious and include health and environmental consequences.

Most African cities have a serious garbage collection problem.

The World Bank already denounced it in a report entitled

(what a waste), in which he claims that both local and government authorities across Africa do little or nothing to recycle.

He predicts that in the next 40 years, the citizens who live south of the Sahara will experience serious environmental problems.

Hence, policies such as those implemented by countries that have banned the use of plastic bags are applauded and taken as courageous steps to fight pollution and allow future generations to inherit a better world, also in Africa.

This is not the case in The Gambia.

For this reason, the work of women recyclers makes up for the laziness of the institutions.

They not only improve the environment of the towns and take care of the environment, but also find new sources of income.

Cooperative Loans

Fatim Gobe is one of the trainers of the Njau women's waste picker project.

She also weaves fashion accessories out of plastic as her colleagues do.

She guides them and solves any problems that may arise.

She comments that the Njau cooperative is made up of 110 women.

And she adds: “The benefits we get are divided into two parts, one goes directly to the members, the other to a savings account.

For example, every woman who makes something and sells it for 50 dalasis (0.16 cents), keeps 25 and the other 25 goes to the till.

During the rainy season, when they don't have money, they can borrow it to help their families or do business.

This way they get more income that allows them to be more independent”.

Not all of them are dedicated to the recycling of plastics or rubber from bicycle wheels.

They are divided into groups and some are in charge of making soap or launching a new project, the manufacture of charcoal from solid waste such as manioc shells, coconuts, peanuts, dry leaves or paper.

After a process of chemical decomposition of this organic matter in a special oven, the residues are crushed until they are reduced to dust.

Then mixed with water and compacted with a manual pressure machine.

Once dried in the sun, the resulting briquettes are packaged and sold to be used in kitchens.

The Gambian Government has long banned the felling of trees for charcoal production.

In recent years, on several occasions, it has reminded local communities that these regulations remain in force.

But it is difficult to implement, especially in rural areas where many people depend on it for cooking or earning a living.

For this reason, the Gambia Women's Solid Waste Charcoal Project is accompanied by a strong awareness campaign.

“We educate people so that they understand that the forest is very important to us, it connects us with our lives.

People have to take care of it.

If we lose it we will get sick and if we don't take care of it we will die.

This is the education we give.

But when you go to a village, people tell you: 'You know, we don't have work,

so cutting down the trees is our way of surviving.'

I tell them, now you have alternatives, leave the forest alone, use only the dead tree.

As long as they are alive, leave them there, they are helping you”, comments the founder of this NGO, Isatou Ceesay.

reforest the future

This is the name of the latest project launched by the Women in The Gambia initiative: reforesting the future.

Its objective is to make rural communities aware of the importance of conserving forests and reforesting them.

To do this, the organization has created a large nursery on the outskirts of Njau.

There they grow local species such as mango, cashew, moringa, mahogany... which they later donate to the communities.

They are trees that can produce wealth for them by marketing their fruits or leaves.

Modou Lamin Boyeng, Ceesay's eldest son, after finishing his studies at the university, decided to move to the interior of the country and lead this program.

Along with a couple of collaborators, he has established clubs in different schools in the area to replant trees.

Through talks and various activities, they make schoolchildren aware of the importance of preserving the environment.

They also work with local authorities and farmers to show them the advantages of taking care of the forests.

They supply the trees to plant on their land and, with care and attention, they become a source of income.

They also train farmers in new farming techniques and experiment with micro-gardening.

They use the shells of peanuts to grow lettuce and tomatoes in places where there is a shortage of land or the soil is badly deteriorated.

In this way, they contribute to the food security of the peasants.

The work of these women and men from the community has shown that caring for the environment is a way of life that can provide great advantages to those who practice it.

Women are the most benefited, as they have become the first guardians of their environment.

They provide solutions to the problem of solid waste management and earn income with which to take care of their families and feel independent.

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