Going to sea to honour my son
When Yayi Bayamo Diouf's fisherman son lost his life at sea, she decided to take up fishing too, to honour his memory. As a woman, she had to fight for her right to fish.
Yayi Bayam Diouf's son was a fisherman, until poor catches drove him to pursue a new life in Europe. But on the hazardous crossing from Senegal to the Canary Islands, his boat went down in a storm, and Yayi was left with no body to bury. To feel close to her son, and to honour his wishes as a fisherman, she decided to go fishing herself. First she had to fight her community's patriarchal rules, which forbade women from fishing.
Photo: Yayi Bayam Diouf with a photo of her son Alioune
Credit: Finbarr O'Reilly - Alamy
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