1 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:08,200 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha to Stephane. Never told 2 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: your production of I Hi Radio and Welcome to Women 3 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: around the World. Uh not the subsect. I guess it's 4 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: just a segment. Is it sub segment because it's not 5 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: the actual segment. It's the segment. It's like the actual 6 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: episodes that we do. Is this a subject to the 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: nitty goody? No? I think this is just segment, and 8 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:34,879 Speaker 1: I'm a sub segment with my fictional women. I just 9 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: add fifteen subs before it, because okay, I was like, alright, 10 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: so here's the segments in which we talk about amazing 11 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 1: women around the world and some of the accomplishments that 12 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,319 Speaker 1: they have achieved, and just talking about how they are 13 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: making change in their community and around the world. But first, Annie, 14 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: I do have a question for you. Okay, did you 15 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: as a kid like to do those little crafts, like 16 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: whether I remember making like potholders, did you do that 17 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: with the strings? Did you do anything like that as 18 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:09,119 Speaker 1: a kid? Oh? I loved crafts. I loved them. I 19 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: I remember like making your own paper, or you'd rip 20 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: up all the paper and you'd put it in the 21 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: water and then you'd let it dry. Out and then 22 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: you'd have more paper, which was probably it's not so productive, 23 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: counterproductive of making paper, but you know, yeah, and I 24 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: wrote like a declaration on it because it felt like 25 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: old paper. Yeah. I did, like you know, all the 26 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: the spin art and the marble art and just any 27 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 1: any craft I could do. I was into. I was 28 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: so into it. I forgot about that paper thing because 29 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 1: we did it too, and I really liked it too. 30 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 1: I wonder could we do it today? We made our 31 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: own slime with the glue. Yeah, did you do all 32 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: of that? Well? Today we're not talking about measy crafts, 33 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: but we're talking about a woman who took a craft 34 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: and made it something that not only helped create income, 35 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: made something that was fashionable, but also helped her community 36 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: when it came to some of the waste that was happening. 37 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,679 Speaker 1: And we are talking about it. Sa to c S 38 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: from the Gambian village of Jaw, I think that's joo. 39 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,239 Speaker 1: One produces said jaw the other side in Jao, I'm 40 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: saying yao, and just emphasize the jow because we have 41 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: to say a couple of times because I could not 42 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: find it anywhere anywhere from the game being village of 43 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: a jaw uh c s has been bringing women in 44 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:32,639 Speaker 1: her community to not only make and create a business, 45 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: but to better the environment and the pollution situation in 46 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: her community. She's phenomenal. She was raised with her two 47 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: sisters and a brother on a farm with her parents. 48 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: She grew up creating new things from old things, as 49 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: in fact pretty much recycling and reusing trash or waste 50 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: that was around her area. She would take waste around 51 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: her and create dolls and toys. She was so popular 52 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: with the other children because she did it so well 53 00:02:57,040 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: and so she was able to share and was able 54 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: to make it for other people too. So she has 55 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: been doing this for a very long time. After her 56 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: dad passed away when she was ten, she had to 57 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: help her mother bring in money to support the family. 58 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:10,679 Speaker 1: Although she wanted to go to high school to further 59 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: her education, she stayed to help her mother as they 60 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 1: could not afford for her to leave to go to school, 61 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: but she didn't give up on her dreams. Instead, at 62 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: the age of twenty, she sold her cow that she 63 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: had inherited from her father and went on to attend 64 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: the Gambia Technical Treating Institute to train to become a secretary, 65 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: but after she returned home, she actually volunteered with the 66 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: US Peace Corps that was there to train as well 67 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: as helping her community, and it was here that she 68 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: kind of learned about the possibilities of recycling as well 69 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:41,119 Speaker 1: as up cycling, which kind of tact me what she's 70 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: been doing. Without access to trash collection or having space 71 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: specific to taking the trash and waste, it would often 72 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: be in the streets and piles around and behind the 73 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: homes um and as a little girl, after her basket 74 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: broke down from a market, she discovered of the usefulness 75 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 1: of plastic bags and found that many other people started 76 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: to use them as well, so that kind of became 77 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: a big thing. But unfortunately, she also realized that because 78 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 1: of the waste issue, instead of having a way to 79 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: recycle them and or just at least safely discarding them, 80 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: people would just discard these bags into the streets or 81 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:18,920 Speaker 1: around the home, and this caused some major problems, including 82 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: that if it collected water from storms or rain, it 83 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,240 Speaker 1: would attract large populations of mosquitoes, which could lead to 84 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: outbreaks of malaria in the area, and also caused issues 85 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: with livestock because some would ingest the bags, which could 86 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: cause major damage or even kill them, and it also 87 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: caused damage to the soil which would prevent vegetation from growing. 88 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: So it was really messing up her community. And many 89 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,039 Speaker 1: of the families were burning the plastic bags as well. 90 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:46,919 Speaker 1: That often would release the toxic fumes from the burning 91 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 1: and causing harm to individuals, whether it went into the 92 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: cooking or just breathing it in, so it was causing 93 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:54,919 Speaker 1: a lot of havoc for them. With her new training 94 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: from the Peace Corps her skill of crocheting which she 95 00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: learned from her sister, Um, she came up with this 96 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: idea of taking plastic bags and plastic waists turning that 97 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 1: waist into something to use and value. She made new 98 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,359 Speaker 1: things like purses, which you should look up. They're they're awesome. 99 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: She met up with five women to start a women's 100 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: group to gather bags from the rubbish and clean them 101 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,920 Speaker 1: up and take them into what she called plarn p 102 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 1: l a r N, which is plastic yarn, which they 103 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:27,039 Speaker 1: used to crochet into purses and coin purses. And this 104 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: whole process Um would take somewhere like eight hours and 105 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: has led to even more creations like shoulder bags and 106 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: cosmetic purses and more right and of course doing this 107 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: brought so many obstacles, including naysayers and the fact that 108 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 1: women at that time did not typically own or run 109 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:46,559 Speaker 1: any type of business in the area, so a lot 110 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: of like pushback, but she didn't back down, and with 111 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: influence from her mother who kind of inspired her to 112 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,839 Speaker 1: make her own future essentially and um knowing how to 113 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: solve any issues that maybe in her way she the 114 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: others did it, kept going forward with it, first secretly, 115 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: uh doing it at her house, doing it by candle light, 116 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: and then making a big collection of persons which she 117 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,040 Speaker 1: actually took to the city market and it was a success, 118 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,240 Speaker 1: as he say, was able to sell the entire collection. 119 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: She said that she had so many people coming about 120 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 1: how unique and beautiful they were, and so they made 121 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: some money. With the fact they were able to make 122 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: money and help their household, more women joined and they 123 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 1: no longer crafted this in secret. The people were like, okay, 124 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 1: it's working cool, and the organization grew to have up 125 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: to fifty fifty women and even a hundred women. In 126 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,839 Speaker 1: another article, it says, and she's been around for a minute, 127 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 1: So some of this may be outdated information. I did 128 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: try to get more, but she's still doing things which 129 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 1: she say has now named this group or this organization 130 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: and GIL Recycling Income Generation Group or n r i 131 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: g G also later known as the Women's Initiative Gambia. 132 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: So she's doing some things. Yeah, and it has allowed 133 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:00,359 Speaker 1: for women in her community to learn different kills and 134 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: earned money for themselves which could lead to educational opportunities, 135 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: ability to get medical treatment, and support their families beyond 136 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: just the bare necessities, and even help the community, whether 137 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: it's funding um community gardens, are helping children without families, 138 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: things like that. Her story has spread all over the 139 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: nation with her speaking at different organizations and functions, a 140 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 1: book written about her journey, and she has been able 141 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: to train well over eleven thousand women in these skills. 142 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: Because of her hard work and attention to the problem. 143 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: Her village is no longer littered with plastic bags and 144 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: the government of Gambia even banned at the import or 145 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: use of plastic bags in They're ahead of us on 146 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 1: this amazing and of course her work has gotten her 147 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: accolades for accomplishments, including the Making a World of Difference 148 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: award from the International Alliance for Women. And yes, her 149 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: work has become an example in her country and the 150 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: village of the power of women and leadership. She's been 151 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: showing how her initiative not only empowers women, but helps 152 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:02,560 Speaker 1: the entire village as a whole fin dangely economically and environmentally. 153 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: And because of this, there are women who have been 154 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: put into leadership positions, including being on the in jail 155 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 1: village council. So it went from women don't work to 156 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: being a part of the leadership because of her initiative 157 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:17,680 Speaker 1: and because of her willingness to push forward. And when 158 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: she was talking about what she's been doing and the 159 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: fact that this is something that was made a difference, 160 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: she talks about having her kids of her own and 161 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:28,239 Speaker 1: hoping that she has passed down this love uh for 162 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 1: helping the environment, helping the community as well, and maybe 163 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: they will learn and take care of the world and 164 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: the planet a little better than we have essentially and 165 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: going forward and conservation and environmental issues. So she's phenomenal 166 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:43,719 Speaker 1: And yeah, you should go and take a look if 167 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:45,560 Speaker 1: you just google her name, and I think if you 168 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 1: look at some of like I said, she has a book, 169 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: so you can look that up to I believe It's 170 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: one Plastic Bag is the title of the book another 171 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: woman had written about her. But the persons are cute. 172 00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: I feel like I need to go and see if 173 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:02,439 Speaker 1: they're still available to the one. Absolutely yeah, it's It's 174 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 1: an amazing story and if you have any amazing stories 175 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,199 Speaker 1: we should be highlighting on the segment. Listeners, please let 176 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:12,559 Speaker 1: us know. You can emails at Stuff India, mom Stuff 177 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: at iHeart media dot com. You can find us on 178 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:16,839 Speaker 1: Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or on Instagram at Stuff 179 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: I've Never Told You. Thanks as always to our super 180 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: producer Christina, also another incredible woman. Oh yes, and thanks 181 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: to you for listening Stuff one Ever Told. Use protection 182 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:28,320 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio for more podcast on my Heart Radios, 183 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: that the Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you 184 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.