What the Rest of Africa can learn from the Seashell Island of Fadiouth

this bay sustains the village solely on shellfish and clams

Our last stop before returning to Dakar was the seashell island of Fadiouth.  Yes, an island made up of discarded oyster, clam, mollusks, conch, and other shells over the centuries.  It is not all that common for societies whose diet was based on seafood to create these piles.  Matter fact, it was done by the Calusa Indians of western Florida, and if you ever go to the Gulf Coast, many seafood towns like Bayou La Batre in Alabama have huge oyster mounds.  So, it’s not inconceivable that a village can be built on these mounds.  In the Sine-Saloum Delta there are over two hundred seashell islands.  We decided to stop at the island of Fadiouth, which has a population of about nine thousand residents. From the start, everything about this village was different from Djiffer starting with our guide who was Christian in a country where nearly everyone we met had been Muslim.

the entire island and structures were created by the livelihood of the people - centuries of shellfish

our guide Paul

Our guide, with a beaming smile, introduced himself as Paul.  He also spoke English, so Fatou was happy to take a break from the constant translating.  He seemed to immediately take a liking to Megan.  It was a common theme during our trip.  Senegalese men, offering their hand in marriage.  Their offers would have been much heavier had I not been around, as most people assumed that Megan and I were married.  Common mistake when you both look different from the locals and American.  I wanted to correct Paul’s mistake, as I realized it was exhausting for Megan was getting tired of all the proposals, so I went with it and Megan became wifey for the remained of the tour of the island.  But clever thinking Paul countered with, “Does Megan have a sister?”  Good move Paul.  Check mate!  I gleefully responded with, “Megan happens to have a single older sister.”  Paul’s smile grew even bigger.  So, it began a tour of his island with with sprinkles of flattering things we should tell Megan’s sister back in Florida and pictures of Paul to show Megan’s sister when we return to Miami. 

the only way to reach the man made island is over this bridge or boat

It’s connected to the mainland by a wooden bridge, about kilometer or so long, crossing over a very shallow bay.  Immediately, when you step your foot unto the shelled ground, you notice pigs basking in the mud.  Unlike most villages and towns in Senegal, Fadiouth is Christian majority in a country where ninety-percent are Muslim it is rare to find communities this Christian.  In Fadiouth, eighty percent of the residents are Catholic.  Matter fact, the best example of seeing how Christian the island is, is by crossing another bridge to their manmade island cemetery.  There about five hundred feet away is a huge seashell cemetery with white tombstones speckled with crosses and huge bao bab trees.  And this Christian majority village does things differently like nowhere else in Senegal.  It is the only cemetery that mixes both Muslim and Christians in the same cemetery! 

Christian and Muslims are buried side by side in Fadiouth.  The only mixed cemetery in Senegal

no trash in Fadiouth

Anyhow, Fadiouth was unusually clean for Senegal.  In terms of rubbish, there was literally none on the ground.  I was confused, because rubbish is everywhere there are people in Senegal.  Even if you don’t litter, by the end of the trip you are.  I remember very distinctly the moment I accepted the “if you can’t beat them, join them” mentality.  It was early in my trip back in Saint Louis, when I was outside of a convenience store eating a popsicle in the African heat, looking around for a garbage bin to throw my wrapper in a sea of garbage and plastics strewed all over the sidewalk, road, and alley ways.  Despite the inconvenience, I refused to litter, and then, there glimmering like a pot of gold was a garbage bin.  The image of gold quickly was replaced with reality. The garbage bin was overflowing with old stinking trash.  All around it was more trash.  It just hit me, that the idea of picking up trash doesn’t happen in Senegal.  So, the trash just gets dropped on the floor, the water, the street, the beach, the forest, and at some point, some of it gets collected and burned. But most just becomes a permanent part of the landscape.

this is Fadiouth's money maker

So, it was a big deal to arrive in a town with no trash.  I wasn’t so much interested in seeing the churches and religious icons Paul was pointing out, but why did the Senegalese here think and act so different.  Paul went on to explain, that the people of Fadiouth live on a man-made island where resources are extremely limited.  Like other villages, they depend on the sea for their livelihood.  However, they are not fishermen, but primarily depend on collecting clams and shucking conch.  Matter fact, by the time we had this conversation, Paul pointed out to the bay that we had crossed was shallow, and by now, was rapidly deepening as the tide swarmed in.  Devastation on mega proportions would happen should anything bad happens to the waters surrounding their island. 

The village decides, works, and shares much of what they produce as a socialist collective.   The idea that individual freedom trumps all here doesn’t exist especially when it comes to the environment and economic justice.  They make democratic decisions concerning what’s in the best interest of the residents. About twenty years ago, the villagers decided to enact a  green initiative that banned gas driven boats in their waters.  Their whole existence depends on the bay where they go out and collect shellfish, clams, conch, and oysters.  So, it makes sense and if you compare the waters of Fadiouth to the fishing village of Djiffer, it is night and day. The waters and mangroves here are pristine. And they didn’t stop with their water.  On the island, the residents made a pledge to not litter, so every Wednesday, they pick up any litter on their shelled island.  They have all their non-recyclable trash exported off the island.  Where it goes, nobody really knows.  But an indirect effect of their efforts has resulted in more tourism coming to the island than other villages we visited throughout Senegal.  What Fadiouth is doing here is an inspiring story of changing the game.  That local communities don’t have to accept the status quo or that decisions that really effect communities have to begin at the highest levels of government.

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