This is the first project to train people in reprocessing techniques across the waste streams,” explained Mike Webster, the project manager from the WasteAidUK initiative, which delivered its inaugural project with the livelihood NGO Concern Universal. “There are plenty of reprocessing projects that haven’t got off the ground because the technology is out of reach for most people. We have focused purposefully on entry-level systems that can be made locally, and the waste materials that are actually here, not a western perception of what should be recycled.“It was really important to partner with a local organisation with strong community links. This is as much about behaviour change and finding new ways of incentivising waste management. Our focus groups showed that even a tiny financial incentive can make for effective collection systems, people are really interested in learning how to make income from waste.” Today, from the five [original] women, we are supporting 75 communities, and more than 5,000 women and youths directly who benefit from our organisation,” Isatou proudly states. “If you have a few people who believe what you believe, you can make a big impact. So, we are calling the whole world to come, and we join together to build the next generation.” Isatou grew up in N’jau with two sisters and a brother. Her parents were farmers. As a girl, Isatou used bits of waste, like scraps of cloth and wood, to make dolls and other toys. This made her popular with her friends because children in her village didn’t have many things to play with. She was a bright girl who loved learning and always came near the top of her class. Sadly, her father died when Isatou was just 10 years old and her mother was left to support the family alone. Isatou desperately wanted to go to high school, but her mother couldn’t afford to send her. She needed Isatou to work to bring money into the home. This wasn’t unusual; in the Gambia an estimated 75 per cent of children do not have access to a proper education.

And Isatou didn’t stop there. She and her friends have used some of their income to fund a community vegetable garden, which raises money to send orphaned children to school. International markets 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. Students could research and create a presentation for their own town/city council to ban the use of single use items such as plastic bags, straws, coffee cups, etc.The women had travelled 20km from Tawto village to learn about waste reprocessing techniques at the Recycling Innovation Centre, purpose built by the newly-formed NGO WasteAid UK and Women’s Initiative – the Gambia (WIG), a local partner, on land donated by Brikama area council. Five coastal communities are involved in the enterprise, which aims to teach people about good rubbish management and, crucially, how to turn waste into wealth. Mongabay Kids: What was the plastic bag pollution problem like in your community before you had the idea to recycle the bags into products like purses? 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.

As well as organic fuel briquettes, the women learned how to turn plastic bags into paving slabs – although plastic bags were banned by the government in July – and fish and food waste into fertiliser. Whether the issue of the hour is native vs invasive species, the interconnectedness of trees, or the ever-changing language surrounding identity and disability, the Gambians involved in any offshoot of or partnership with WIG are talking – and TikToking – about all of it. But Isatou wanted to find more ways to share her knowledge and help people in her village. In 2000, she got a job as a language and culture helper with the Peace Corps and, through this, she helped to secure funding to build a skill centre in N’jau, where the women could meet and work together. Here they could learn about the importance of caring for their environment and about the dangers of burning plastic. Isatou started to teach classes on subjects such as gardening, soap making and tie-dying, and the women were able to sell many of the things they made. She had learned about nutrition and gave cooking demonstrations on how to prepare meals full of vitamins and minerals to keep their children healthy. 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 the ugliness grows and the litter accumulates, one day Isatou finds a goat is choking on a plastic bag it has ingested. “ She knows too much to ignore it now.”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 I am extra excited about collecting waste and learning something new that no one else is doing. It means I am not competing with lots of others,” said Haddy Sillah, 30, a mother of five.

All Done Monkey * Crafty Moms Share * Educators Spin on it * Growing Book by Book * Imagination Soup I’m Not the Nanny * InCultural Parent * Kid World Citizen * Mama Smiles * Multicultural Kid Blogs * Spanish Playground As a child, Ceesay was forced to drop out of school at a young age but that did not allow anything to stop her determination to keep growing and to keep learning from the surrounding environment and still dare to take action. Why is this village so different? Ask anyone, and they’ll give you a name rather than a reason – Isatou Ceesay. But if you find her, prepare for a humble reply. “I am not thinking about myself within any situation,” Isatou says. “I am living within the situation, but I want to make sure the next generation has a better life. What I did was use the recycling of plastic bags as my umbrella, to be able to gain access to the community and discuss issues that are affecting women and young people in general.” Moreover, she spreads awareness about plastic being the worst polluters in the environment. Educating people about recycling and its effect in reducing the amount of plastic waste.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. Answer: Isatou says that when we abuse the environment, we are really abusing ourselves. You can help by learning about recycling and trying to reduce the waste your family creates. And yet, Isatou persisted. Twenty-five years later, her photo is on display at the national museum in Kachikally and in popular city restaurants such as Smile Lounge in the touristy area known as Senegambia. Her story has been told in books and documentaries. Above all, WIG is not only still active, but it has also expanded into nearly every corner of Gambian society and is inspiring countless individuals and groups to find solutions to problems other than plastic waste. Women’s Initiative Gambia (WIG) began as a small, environmental enterprise. Isatou Ceesay and collaborators began recycling discarded plastic bags through crochet, taking trash and turning it into useful products, such as ladies’ bags, purses, balls, and wallets. As the endeavor grew more successful, they formed local women groups and trained the groups on processing waste plastic into long stripes which could then be woven into useful products. The women were able to sell these products, bringing in much-needed money, and at the same time helping reduce plastic waste in their community. 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.