In the south of the town of Aleg, Mauritania, is a locality called Badely.
Badely saw the birth four years ago, of a cooperative of women harvesters who decided to draw from the natural resources of this desert place to live, educate their children and to participate in the safeguarding of their environment.
Ten years ago, died Steya, the mother of the three sisters (Lediba, N'diavane and Marya who today lead the Badely Cooperative with about thirty other women.
Forty years before that, Steya buried her own mother, Al Bambarya who as her name suggests (Bambara ethnicity), was a slave captured or bought from Mali or in one of the regions bordering it.
Al Bambarya had to have known during her lifetime about a legendary baobab known throughout the region as "Teydoumet Al Jeïch" or "Baobab of the Regiment", which stood twenty meters high and five meters in circumference to the entry of the current field of the Cooperative. It served as a meeting point and haven throughout the entire region.
Through this blog, we will be sharing with you powerful stories of the "Baobab of the Regiment", "Al Bambarya", "Steya", the "Women Harvesters of the Badely Co-operative", and many stories of hope and perseverance that are making this project a reality.