Bagaya
Encyclopedia
Bagaya is a settlement in Senegal
in the department
Bignona
, in the region Ziguinchor Region
, in the Casamance
area. Bagaya belongs to the rural community
of Balinghore in the arrondissement
of Tendouck.
The village consists of quarter
s, a group of about 20 house
s scattered in the bush
. Around the village there are rice
fields (risiaires) at the edge of the Casamance River
.
.
Many people are fleeing to the major cities of Senegal because of the lack of school
s and employment
.
There is hardly any industry
or food processing
.
Not all the houses are equipped with electricity
.
Even if there is electricity then the refrigerator, or the television
cannot be turned on because the family income
is much too low.
There are daily power cuts of 1 to 3 hours duration; frequently between 19:00 and 23:00, possibly also during noon.
Students can attend the university
of Ziguinchor
, or Dakar
.
They can attend secondary school
in Bignona
.
, peanut
s, mango
s, cashew
nuts, millet
, maniok, oil palm
of coconut
for private or local consumption.
Animals like chicken
, goat
and cow are much elevated. Milk
is not used for human consumption because there is no cooling infrastructure, and because of the lack of transportation.
Vegetable
s are not sufficiently produced or eaten.
The meals are rather monotonic; two times per day rice is no exception.
In the morning people eat frequently millet
.
Meat
is only prepared at feasts.
There is normally one source for each quarter.
The sources produce water during the whole year.
Water is carried on the head.
Drinking water and washing water is kept in separate barrel
s.
Rain is normally plentiful during the rain season of July-August.
Rice is planted mid-August and harvest
ed around Christmas
and New Year
.
If there is not enough rain, then the rice cannot be planted, and famine
occurs during the dry season
.
Sint-Ulriks-Kapelle
, that support multiple projects like: the school
, the medical center
, the maternity
, the rice peeling machine, the mill
, the vegetable yard, fresh water distribution, textile coloring, the Foyer des Jeunes.
A project with a canoe did not succeed because the oad transport|transport over the road}} has moved forward a lot during the last years. The canoe was much too slow, too big, and consumed too much fuel , so it was not economical any more. One voyage to Ziguinchor
about 80 km took about 8 hours. Over the road it takes only 2 hours (about 55 km). A mini van can transport 10 persons, for the canoe mimimum 50 passengers are required to pay the fuel and the investments.
In Affiniam
a dam was built in the 70’s as a barrier to keep the salt sea water from spoiling the fields, and to be able to irrigate.
Because the sweet water could not flush through neither, and flow to the Atlantic Ocean
the salt water evaporated, and the fields salified.
The mangrove
is completely dry now.
The local fishery has completely vanished.
Fish has to be transported from 50 km distance by trucks.
The local language is the Jola language
.
Educated people talk good French
.
The community is strictly hierarchical, and managed by the village chief
.
The people are aware of good hygiene
and medical treatment but traditional medicine
and superstition
is still practiced a lot.
During folk festival
s
(Journées culturelles) people are dancing around
mythological
masked figures like the Samay
, the Kumpo
, and the Niasse
.
.
Fixed telephone lines are not available - still there is 1 single telephone booth
in the neighbourhood of the village chief.
Mobile communications are commonly available be it very expensive for the local people.
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
in the department
Department
A department is a part of a larger organization with a specific responsibility. For the division of organizations into departments, see departmentalization.In particular:...
Bignona
Bignona
Bignona is a town located in the Ziguinchor Region of Senegal. It briefly appears in the movie Binta and the Great Idea.-Notable people:*Landing Savané, politician*Ibrahima Sonko, footballer*Lamine Diarra, footballer*Séni Camara, sculptor...
, in the region Ziguinchor Region
Ziguinchor Region
Ziguinchor is a region of Senegal . The region is also referred to historically and popularly as Basse Casamance.-Departments:Ziguinchor region is divided into 3 departments:*Bignona...
, in the Casamance
Casamance
Casamance is the area of Senegal south of The Gambia including the Casamance River. It consists of Basse Casamance and Haute Casamance...
area. Bagaya belongs to the rural community
Rural community
A rural community is a type of municipality in the Canadian province of New Brunswick.There are five rural communities: Beaubassin East, Saint-André, Upper Miramichi, Campobello Island and Kedgwick.....
of Balinghore in the arrondissement
Arrondissement
Arrondissement is any of various administrative divisions of France, certain other Francophone countries, and the Netherlands.-France:The 101 French departments are divided into 342 arrondissements, which may be translated into English as districts. The capital of an arrondissement is called a...
of Tendouck.
The village consists of quarter
Quarter
Quarter is one fourth, ¼, or 25%, and may refer to:*Quarter , a section or area, usually of a town*Quarter , valued at one-fourth of a U.S...
s, a group of about 20 house
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
s scattered in the bush
Bush
-Nouns:* Shrub, a type of woody plant, smaller than normal trees. Usually grows in the soil. Most bushes are low to the ground and have branches which rise up from the bottom of the plant....
. Around the village there are rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
fields (risiaires) at the edge of the Casamance River
Casamance River
The Casamance River flows westward for the most part into the Atlantic Ocean along a path about 200 miles in length. However, only 80 miles of it are navigable. The Casamance is the principal river of the Kolda, Sédhiou, and Ziguinchor Regions in the southern portion of Senegal between The...
.
People and economy
There is a very young population, but the region has a huge shortage of infrastructureInfrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
.
Many people are fleeing to the major cities of Senegal because of the lack of school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s and employment
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
.
There is hardly any industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
or food processing
Food processing
Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food or to transform food into other forms for consumption by humans or animals either in the home or by the food processing industry...
.
Facilities
The roads and buildings are in a bad shape.Not all the houses are equipped with electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
.
Even if there is electricity then the refrigerator, or the television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
cannot be turned on because the family income
Family income
Family income is generally considered a primary measure of a nation's financial prosperity.In the United States, political parties perennially disagree over which economic policies are more likely to increase family income. The party in power often takes the credit for any significant changes in...
is much too low.
There are daily power cuts of 1 to 3 hours duration; frequently between 19:00 and 23:00, possibly also during noon.
Students can attend the university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
of Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000...
, or Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
.
They can attend secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
in Bignona
Bignona
Bignona is a town located in the Ziguinchor Region of Senegal. It briefly appears in the movie Binta and the Great Idea.-Notable people:*Landing Savané, politician*Ibrahima Sonko, footballer*Lamine Diarra, footballer*Séni Camara, sculptor...
.
Agriculture and nutrition
Most families produce riceRice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, peanut
Peanut
The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
s, mango
Mango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
s, cashew
Cashew
The cashew is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.-Etymology:The...
nuts, millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
, maniok, oil palm
Oil palm
The oil palms comprise two species of the Arecaceae, or palm family. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis is native to West Africa, occurring between Angola and Gambia, while the American Oil Palm Elaeis oleifera is native to...
of coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
for private or local consumption.
Animals like chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
, goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
and cow are much elevated. Milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
is not used for human consumption because there is no cooling infrastructure, and because of the lack of transportation.
Vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s are not sufficiently produced or eaten.
The meals are rather monotonic; two times per day rice is no exception.
In the morning people eat frequently millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
.
Meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
is only prepared at feasts.
Water and climate
Water sources are 20 m deep.There is normally one source for each quarter.
The sources produce water during the whole year.
Water is carried on the head.
Drinking water and washing water is kept in separate barrel
Barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container, traditionally made of vertical wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. Traditionally, the barrel was a standard size of measure referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. A small barrel is called a keg.For example, a...
s.
Rain is normally plentiful during the rain season of July-August.
Rice is planted mid-August and harvest
Harvest
Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper...
ed around Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
and New Year
New Year
The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....
.
If there is not enough rain, then the rice cannot be planted, and famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
occurs during the dry season
Dry season
The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
.
Projects
Bagaya is jumilated withSint-Ulriks-Kapelle
Sint-Ulriks-Kapelle
- History :Historically, Sint-Ulriks-Kapelle was a part of the Land of Asse.Together with Dilbeek, Groot-Bijgaarden, Itterbeek, Schepdaal and Sint-Martens-Bodegem, it forms since the 1st of january of 1977 the municipality of Dilbeek.-Geography:...
, that support multiple projects like: the school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
, the medical center
Medical Center
- Medical care :* Clinic* Hospital* larger complex of medical facilities often including hospitals, research facilities, medical schools, and/or other health care facilities- Transit :*Medical Center , a Metro station...
, the maternity
Maternity
Maternity or motherhood is the social and legal acknowledgment of the parental relationship between a mother and her child.It is specially related with the protection of the baby and the mother within and after the childbirth.-See also:...
, the rice peeling machine, the mill
Mill
Mill may refer to:* Mill , an equipment for the grinding or pulverizing of grain and other raw materials using millstones* Milling machine, metalworking machine that operates by rotating a cutting bit while the workpiece is moved against the cutter on an XY table.* Mill ** Arithmetic logic unit,...
, the vegetable yard, fresh water distribution, textile coloring, the Foyer des Jeunes.
A project with a canoe did not succeed because the oad transport|transport over the road}} has moved forward a lot during the last years. The canoe was much too slow, too big, and consumed too much fuel , so it was not economical any more. One voyage to Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000...
about 80 km took about 8 hours. Over the road it takes only 2 hours (about 55 km). A mini van can transport 10 persons, for the canoe mimimum 50 passengers are required to pay the fuel and the investments.
In Affiniam
Affiniam
Affiniam is a small town in south-western Senegal . It is locatedin the Bignona Department in the Ziguinchor Region.-External links:*...
a dam was built in the 70’s as a barrier to keep the salt sea water from spoiling the fields, and to be able to irrigate.
Because the sweet water could not flush through neither, and flow to the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
the salt water evaporated, and the fields salified.
The mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
is completely dry now.
The local fishery has completely vanished.
Fish has to be transported from 50 km distance by trucks.
Culture and Folkore
The Diola people are mostly moslim.The local language is the Jola language
Jola language
Jola or Diola is the name for a dialect cluster spoken in Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea Bissau. It belongs to the Bak branch of the Niger–Congo language family....
.
Educated people talk good French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
The community is strictly hierarchical, and managed by the village chief
Village head
The village headman or village chief is a central government post. The village headman is the person appointed to administer an area that is often a single village.The headman has several official duties in the village...
.
The people are aware of good hygiene
Hygiene
Hygiene refers to the set of practices perceived by a community to be associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. While in modern medical sciences there is a set of standards of hygiene recommended for different situations, what is considered hygienic or not can vary between...
and medical treatment but traditional medicine
Traditional medicine
Traditional medicine comprises unscientific knowledge systems that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine...
and superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
is still practiced a lot.
During folk festival
Folk festival
A Folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music.-Canada:Alberta*Calgary Folk Music Festival*Canmore Folk Music Festival*Edmonton Folk Music Festival*Jasper Folk Festival*Wild Mountain Music FestOntario*Barriefolk...
s
(Journées culturelles) people are dancing around
mythological
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
masked figures like the Samay
Samay (mythology)
The Kumpo, the Samay and the Niasse are three traditional figures in the mythology of the Diola in the Casamance and also in Gambia.Multiple times in the course of the year, i.e...
, the Kumpo
Kumpo
The Kumpo, the Samay and the Niasse are three traditional figures in the mythology of the Diola people in the Casamance and in Gambia.Multiple times in the course of the year, i.e...
, and the Niasse
Niasse
The Niasse, the Kumpo, and the Samay are three traditional masked figures in the mythology of the Diola, living in the Casamance and also in Gambia.The are playing a central role in the social life of the traditional village community....
.
Traveling
- 450 km by car from DakarDakarDakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
via KaolackKaolackKaolack is a town of 172,305 people on the north bank of the Saloum River and the N1 road in Senegal. It is the capital of the Kaolack Region, which borders The Gambia to the south. Kaolack is an important regional market town and is Senegal's main peanut trading and processing center...
and FarafenniFarafenniFarafenni is a town in The Gambia, lying on the Trans-Gambia Highway in the North Bank Division, just south of the border with Senegal. It is an important market town....
/Soma (ferryFerryA ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
in Gambia). - 15 hour with a car ferryCar ferryA car ferry may be* In North American usage, a ferry carrying rail vehicles* In UK usage, a ferry carrying automobiles and other road vehicles...
Aline Sitoe DiattaMV Aline Sitoe DiattaThe MV Aline Sitoe Diatta is a ferry in active service since March 2008 between Ziguinchor and Dakar over the Atlantic Ocean.The ship passes the mouth of the Gambia....
from Dakar to ZiguinchorZiguinchorZiguinchor is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000...
over the Atlantic OceanAtlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and the Casamance RiverCasamance RiverThe Casamance River flows westward for the most part into the Atlantic Ocean along a path about 200 miles in length. However, only 80 miles of it are navigable. The Casamance is the principal river of the Kolda, Sédhiou, and Ziguinchor Regions in the southern portion of Senegal between The... - Domestic flight Dakar-Ziguinchor with Sénégal AirlinesSénégal AirlinesGroupe Air Sénégal, operating as Sénégal Airlines, is an airline with its head office on the property of Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport in Dakar, Senegal. It is a regional carrier operating a scheduled domestic network and regional flights to neighbouring countries...
- 55 km by car from Ziguinchor
Communication
There is no internetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Fixed telephone lines are not available - still there is 1 single telephone booth
Telephone booth
A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box or telephone box is a small structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience. In the USA, Canada and Australia, "telephone booth" is used, while in the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth it is a "telephone...
in the neighbourhood of the village chief.
Mobile communications are commonly available be it very expensive for the local people.