Senegal

Bea (my wife) and I have been together in Senegal in the beginning of December 2019. She intended to write some articles of the climate change, plastic situation, over fishing and the migration there. Bea wanted to investigate how all these factors related with each other in real life.

We have worked for ten days in two cities at the capital in Dakar and at the former capital in Saint-Louis. Dakar is an overcrowded and busy capital like any others where I have been working before in Africa (Kampala, Bissau and Lusaka). We met here with Modou Fall or as many people know him ‘Plastic Man’. (He is on the very first photo). He told us how he started his fight against plastic and how long it has taken to him to being recognized as an environmental protector. And last but not least why there is no waste management in his country nearly at all.

Saint-Louis is different. It is much quieter and calmer. The old town is a tourist attraction and a World Heritage site. There are always tourists wondering around on the narrow streets and shopping gifts to their families back at home.

The last decade many people fled away from the Atlantic Ocean because of the rising sea level and the waves what destroyed many houses on the sea front. The less fish at the ocean makes many fisher men move away because of the Chinese fishing companies doing over and illegal fishing in these waters and because of that they have no enough income to live on. All of these reasons make much number of people try their luck in a hope of a better life to migrate to Europe by boat but sadly not all get to their destinations.