Her initiative aims to correct this by providing women with the training, funding and capacity they need for their projects, and offers to help them with their business ideas. “We tell them how to price their products, how to add value, how to do marketing, and everything in between.“ Other people in Gambia saw the same benefits in plastic bags. Soon, people began using the bags by the thousands. The problem was that they didn’t reuse the bags. They simply threw them on the ground. In Africa, women throw the family’s trash behind their homes so plastic bags often went there too. In the Gambia, the community organisation WIG has been educating communities about the hazards of burning rubbish, and teaching them how to recycle, since 2009.

Thinking about waste as a resource, rather than just a mounting problem, lies at the heart of the first global report on waste, launched this month by the UN Environment Programme and the International Solid Waste Association. Five female activists who are changing the world". Responsible Business. 2019-03-08 . Retrieved 2019-11-01. Isatou Ceesay was named Queen of Recycling when she started the recycling movement in Gambia called: One Plastic Bag. Bronze: Pomelo Books * Author Jacqueline Woodson * Papa Lemon Books * Goosebottom Books * Author Gleeson Rebello * ShoutMouse Press * Author Mahvash Shahegh * China Institute.org * Live Oak Media Dyu, L. (2019, October 3). Isatou Ceesay and the women turning waste to wealth. Climate Heroes. Retrieved December 6, 2022, from https://climateheroes.org/isatou-ceesay-turning-waste-to-wealth/

Taking back control

One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia tells the inspiring story of five women who creatively dealt with their village’s plastic trash problem. Despite limited resources and ridicule, Isatou and her friends persevered for more than a decade, eventually realizing economic empowerment through their recycled plastic purse project. The book also includes bonus information such as a Wolof language glossary, timeline of actual events, and photos of the women of Njau. The movement began in 1997 by Isatou and four other women, the N’Jau Recycling Center, in her native village in the northern Gambia. In the beginning, the movement had a mission to educate their village colleagues about the need to reclaim garbage and recycle plastic, rather than letting the garbage accumulate behind their homes.

Isatou had an idea. What if the plastic bags could be used to weave useful products, such as purses, balls, or wallets? She figured out a way to cut the plastic bags into one long strip that could be woven. Isatou stood at the edge of the village and looked at the ugly heap of rubbish piled high on the red earth. Amongst the discarded tins, food and bike tyres, one thing stood out: there were plastic bags everywhere. Mosquitoes swarmed above murky puddles of water pooled on bags on the ground. Two of her neighbour’s goats perched on the rubbish, foraging for food. She shooed them away. Isatou had heard that many people’s goats had died recently. When the butcher cut them open, he had found plastic knotted in their stomachs. One Plastic Bag would be a great resource as a springboard for Earth Day activities or a school wide venture into a community action project. Other smaller scale activities include:Over time, the movement became big and able to support and provide income to women around and was also able to drastically reduce plastic waste in the Gambia. Collecting trash remains full of a struggle because it is not always dry and easily collected. The women, in those days, they were using the bags to light fires when they wanted to cook, especially during the rainy season when all of our firewood was wet. After the reprocessing sessions, the community recycling project provided a week’s training to help participants form their own businesses or social enterprises. The idea is that this knowledge will cascade through the communities, with women encouraged to organise their own training events after completing the course. Remember, if you’re planning a trip to the Gambia, West Africa—ask your tour operator for the unique chance to meet the women of Njau and stay in the village. Having spent a lot of time in Senegal and a little in Gambia, I can tell you that there are lots of wonderful strong women working to empower other women. I’m not sure what the numbers are now, but for quite a long time, Senegal had significantly more women representing them in parliament that we had here! (in UK). They’ve not had a female president yet but it can’t be far away!

That trust and partnership led them to ultimately settle on an idea to wash and dry the bags, then cut them into strips of ‘plarn’ to be woven into recycled coin purses. Their first attempts were rough but, as time went on, they improved their product and peddled it to locals, volunteers and tourists. It was a humble beginning; the town’s residents and even Isatou’s own family pleaded with her to stop cleaning up waste, which was considered embarrassing, shameful and dirty work. All facts for Kids about Isatou Ceesay. Easy Science For Kids. (2018, August 8). Retrieved December 6, 2022, from https://easyscienceforkids.com/isatou-ceesay/ CREATORS: The co-creators of this unique event are Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom and Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book/Audrey Press. Learn more about these phenomenal ladies here. During the rainy season, plastic waste becomes wet and difficult to take and after that still takes patience to dry it before it can be processed. She explained that during the rainy season it would be more difficult to collect garbage. Plastic waste will certainly be wet so it needs to be dried before it can be used. Some men did not like to see the women working beneath the tree. Women were expected to take care of their homes and families while the men went out to work, and these men were afraid that the women would learn to no longer obey their husbands. Isatou moved the meetings to her house, where she and her friends could gather at night to chat and crochet purses by candlelight. They worked secretly for months until they had enough purses. Then Isatou took these to a market in the city and managed to sell them all – the city women loved them because they were so unusual.

A global target

WasteAid UK has offered support for The Gambian Women's Initiative, and Ceesay says it is helping to communicate her message far and wide. “I know that everyone working in sustainability is doing an amazing job, and if just 100 people read this I hope that maybe 25 can take away some benefit from what I am saying. This is my job, this is what I do, anyone that wants hear my advice is welcome – the more the better. I am so excited about the change we are all making together.“ Really fascinating blog and a story well worth telling! Wonderful that Luke offered his photos free to promote your initiative. Projects coordinated with rural women’s groups amplify women’s voices in their own development, as they are trained in income-generating, leadership and decision-making skills. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION When she passes by the pile of rubbish, she smiles because it is smaller now. She tells herself, one day it will be gone and my home will be beautiful. As a young, female, high school dropout from a refugee family, Isatou Ceesay was seen in Njau as the least capable person to lead an organisation. “[My father’s family] are refugees from Mali who settled in The Gambia,” Isatou recalls. “Because of the culture, the community treated us as the minority and some even said, “a slave should be a slave”. It was something that I definitely worked so hard and climbed so hard to make a change for.” At the time, women were also not allowed to be leaders on any local or wider government council; even in their own homes they were discouraged from handling money or making decisions.

The project was recently recognised as an official community-based organisation in the Gambia, now referred to as the Njau Recycling and Income Generation Group (NRIGG). Today, Ceesay works with more than 11,000 people and NRIGG is based in four separate communities across The Gambia. [3] [6] [1] Awards and recognition [ edit ]

One Plastic Bag activities ...

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