Watigueleya Kèlê Damaro

The third workshop of the Watigueleya Kélê project took place in Damaro, Guinea, from Monday 28 February to Thursday 3 March 2022. The workshop focused on theatre as a means of raising awareness about the effects of climate change. The objective was to train village communication relays to develop and perform skits on the theme of climate resilience, so that

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In March 2022, Marie Rodet and Elara Bertho presented the book Djiguiba Camara, Essai d’histoire locale (available in free access here) to the descendants of the Camara family in the village of Damaro, a partner of the Watigueleya Kèlê project. The book traces the long history of the Camara migrations, accounts of the founding of the village, resistance to French

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Ansoumane Camara in the Nakotou forest, one and a half kilometres from Damaro centre. From now on, when a tree is cut down (for a funeral or other reason), the community obliges to reforest in the forest, in return. This forest has always existed and the climate is very mild. The aim is to reforest the whole of Damaro.  

By Elara Bertho (LAM, Sciences Po Bordeaux), Co-investigator in SOAS research project: Watigueleya Kèlê, Equitable Climate Resilience in West Africa: A Comparative Research Action Programme (Mali, Guinea and Senegal) In a reflection on the notion of a collective village repertoire and its digitisation, I return to the research-action programme carried out with the Malian association Donkosira, which since 2017 has

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Hunter Saran Djiba Camara explains that the hunters know which animals should be killed and which should not. They preserve the security of the village. Before, they used to kill agoutis and many other animals. Now, Saran Djiba Camara deplores the scarcity of wildlife because of climate change and mining exploration in the Simandou mountain.  By Ansoumane Camara, Aguibou Sow,

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I am Drissa Camara from Damaro. I am the son of the village chief. Where we are, Damaro is here, everything starts here, everything is decided here. This is our palaver tree. Since these stones were put here years ago, all development actions are decided here, all decisions are taken by the elders since our great grandparents until now.

The socio-economic survey carried out in February-March 2021 in the villages participating in the Watigueleya Kêlè project could not be finalised in the village of Damaro (Guinea) due to an alert concerning the Ebola epidemic. Postponed to the beginning of September, the end of the collection operation had to be postponed again due to the political events that led to

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Kalil Camara, a farmer in Damaro, says: “Here the place is called ‘kônongroun’, this marigot is spoiled, the water was very deep, but look, you can even jump on it. The fish have gone, all the young people from the village of Damaro-centre used to come to wash there, to learn to swim, but because of the heat, it has

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Following workshops with delegates Ansoumane Camara and Fatoumata Doumbouya, the Donkosira association produced four educational sheets for classes in the village of Damaro. Previously, the “local history” section was not taught, due to a lack of material available to teachers. From now on, and in agreement with the Rectorate, the sheets “Damaro and its region”, “Samori Touré”, “Fata Kéoulén” and

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“Most of the wells are seasonal due to climate change, which causes the dry season to be prolonged. The women, girls and boys, very early in the morning, in single file, go in order of arrival, with the help of a well, to fill their canister before the sun is blazing and empties the well.” Mariam Camara