Displaced every year
Jul 15, 02:45 PM
I returned to Empantchá, a neighborhood in Bissau, in 2021 hoping to find the families of the abandoned houses I encountered during the rainy season of 2020. The neighbours told me they would be back for the dry season.
In this recording, you can listen to a conversation between the head of the household, my interpreter, and myself. Our discussion takes place in three different languages: Bissau-Guinean Creole, Portuguese, and Fula. In the background children can be heard playing, and two women engage in conversation while operating sewing machines. Each year, the heavy rains force these families to abandon the houses and seek refuge elsewhere, as the head of the household explains, "We have to constantly remove water from our house, day and night, and it exhausts us."
They normally abandon the house around September and return in December. Yet they refuse to abandon it permanently and instead choose to stay elsewhere in the city: “If we abandon the house for too long they will take the zinc from the doors and many other things” As they return in the dry season, they must make reparations or buy the stolen materials.
Flooding damages the house structure, and they can only repair it partially due to their financial condition. The house was built by his brother around 2017, and at that time, they did not experience flooding to this extent. But building here was an option because it was affordable.
This family is originally from the secondary city of Gabú, which they often go back to to visit family members and sometimes stay for one or two months. However, their responsibility towards towards the house has never made them consider leaving the capital and returning to Gabú. The emotions expressed by the head of the household and the women nearby are marked by a profound sense of hardship. Despite the burdens they bear, they possess a resolute resistance.
Recorded by Cláudia Santos.
Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration.
For more information and to explore the project, see https://www.citiesandmemory.com/migration
In this recording, you can listen to a conversation between the head of the household, my interpreter, and myself. Our discussion takes place in three different languages: Bissau-Guinean Creole, Portuguese, and Fula. In the background children can be heard playing, and two women engage in conversation while operating sewing machines. Each year, the heavy rains force these families to abandon the houses and seek refuge elsewhere, as the head of the household explains, "We have to constantly remove water from our house, day and night, and it exhausts us."
They normally abandon the house around September and return in December. Yet they refuse to abandon it permanently and instead choose to stay elsewhere in the city: “If we abandon the house for too long they will take the zinc from the doors and many other things” As they return in the dry season, they must make reparations or buy the stolen materials.
Flooding damages the house structure, and they can only repair it partially due to their financial condition. The house was built by his brother around 2017, and at that time, they did not experience flooding to this extent. But building here was an option because it was affordable.
This family is originally from the secondary city of Gabú, which they often go back to to visit family members and sometimes stay for one or two months. However, their responsibility towards towards the house has never made them consider leaving the capital and returning to Gabú. The emotions expressed by the head of the household and the women nearby are marked by a profound sense of hardship. Despite the burdens they bear, they possess a resolute resistance.
Recorded by Cláudia Santos.
Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration.
For more information and to explore the project, see https://www.citiesandmemory.com/migration