La Casamance, Senegal: A Social Documentary
By Misha Marston Johnson
25 July 2008
I spent part of the summer of 2006 in Senegal, the western most country in Africa. In this former French colony I had my home base in the country's capital, Dakar, and spent many days traveling around the country. Highlighting the trip was a voyage I took with a friend, shadowing and documenting the work of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) working to preserve the manatee, fish, and mangrove populations (each depends on the other two in their ecosystem) in the Casamance region in the southern part of the country. The workers for this NGO were challenging these people, who survive upon the fish populations, to take their futures into their hands and to consider the sustainability of their lifestyles.
The fish populations are already starved by large trawlers from Europe coming to West Africa for fish. The sustainability of a democracy hinges upon one's ability to feed one's population. And for Senegal, one of Africa's most stable democracies, sustainable fish populations are crucial to its security.
I was warned against going because of the region's history of unrest, being next to countries such as Sierra Leone, but decide to go for the trip anyway. Following this organization took me into the remotest regions of the world I have ever been...Hours on a motor boat through endless mangrove forests to see a medicine man and a village built upon mangroves and rice paddies, more hours in truck winding through desolate flood plains, and only bucket baths. On the trip we met daily with local village councils and improvised sleeping locations.
Some things that happened never could be grasped by words, but perhaps a few moments can be caught through these images.
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