Page 83 - EarthHeroes

and dried grass to make briquettes. These burned just as well as charcoal, but were cheaper and saved trees. They started to sell these alongside their upcycled crafts.
Soon the women had run out of plastic bags and other useful waste in N’jau,
so they started to collect these from neighbouring villages and shared their knowledge about plastic and upcycling with the people there. In 2009, Isatou got a job leading a women’s project for the Swedish NGO, or non-profit organisation, Future in Our Hands. This gave her the opportunity to work with many more communities throughout the Gambia, while also continuing her own education by studying for a diploma in community development.
In 2012, Isatou won a Making a World of Difference Award from the International Alliance for Women. Two years later, NRIGG became the Women’s Initiative Gambia, and today Isatou has trained over 11,000 people all over her country in the dangers of plastic and the opportunities for upcycling waste. But her work has had an even bigger impact as, in 2015, the Gambia’s government banned the import and use of plastic bags.
When she first started making her purses, all those years ago, Isatou’s aims had been to solve the problem of plastic waste and allow women to earn money to support their families.
Now she dreams of seeing more women leaders in her country. There are now five women on the N’jau village council, something Isatou would never have imagined possible. And
as a mother to three sons, she sees it as her duty to leave the world a better place for future generations. She wants all children to have the chance to go to school. If they are taught to care about the environment, she explains, then we’ll be leaving the planet in good hands.
Isatou has travelled all around the world to share her story, but she’s always happy to return home to N’jau. Today, her village is clean and tidy and you won’t find plastic bags piled in the streets. But
she still remembers the villagers’ struggle with waste. Where others saw a problem, Isatou saw an opportunity – an opportunity to create a healthier environment, but above
all an opportunity to change people’s lives.
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