fatoumata
and the salt womens of Farim
Fatoumata Touré is the president of the association Aprosal, founded in 1994. He lives in Farim where, with other workers, ripping up the salt from the Cacheu river, one of the main rivers of the country. Farim is located 100 kilometers from the Atlantic coast, but despite this is an important center of cultivation of salt. A long stretch of sea creeps in fact from the coast deep into the hinterland and become the reservoir of the local harvest.
From November to May, the fall of the tide, the salt is deposited on the exposed surface of the riverbed. The women scrape the salt land, filter it with a thesis towels on wooden structures, and cook the brine thus obtained to accelerate the evaporation of water.
The Association now has over 500 members, divided into five different production centers. The salt is produced for domestic consumption and is sold on the local market. It is such a precious commodity that it has become a Slow Food presidium: for this, Fatoumata and the Association have been present for several years to the event “Terra Madre” in Turin. The establishment of the presidium provides for the sharing of a specification that describes the traditional process of cultivation of salt and certifying the commitment of women in environmental protection.
In Farim, in one of the Aprosal buildings, there is a room with a blackboard. It is the seat of the meetings of the association Women to organize the work, but also has a second function: to provide a little 'education to women. This is where they learn the rudiments of writing and calculation.
Fatoumata thinks Guinendadi and laughs: “It means to be children of Guinea Bissau, thinking all the time, all day to our country”.
