Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
View Gallery
46 Photos
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Chernoh Sesay is pictured with his pepper plants. He is a farmer who plants rice and pepper, which he then sells to traders who visit the community. The water source he uses for drinking water is far away and dirty. Chernoh is married with five kids and is the main breadwinner. Sometimes he goes to fetch water for children to bathe in, or the children have to go to school without washing. Chernoh says politicians have come to the area to campaign about [the lack of clean water], but they have never helped. © Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Chernoh Sesay is pictured with his pepper plants. He is a farmer who plants rice and pepper, which he then sells to traders who visit the community. The water source he uses for drinking water is far away and dirty. Chernoh is married with five kids and is the main breadwinner. Sometimes he goes to fetch water for children to bathe in, or the children have to go to school without washing. Chernoh says politicians have come to the area to campaign about [the lack of clean water], but they have never helped. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Kadiatou H. Kamarra (far left) has been living in this community for 10 years. As a farmer, she mostly farms rice and cashew nuts. Maa Kanu (centre) farms pepper, cucumber and cassava. She relies on rain in order to water her farm. Mariatu Kanu (far right) plants pepper and okra with her husband. The money they make from farming is used to buy food for her family. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
The Tombotima community relies on cattle rearing and farming vegetables and cashew nuts. They have no well and have to travel long distances to get water that isn’t clean. The men are responsible for collecting water, as it is considered too dangerous for women, especially when they are pregnant. The community has noticed that rainfall is not as frequent, or fast, as it used to be, which affects their ability to farm. (Left to right) Kadiatou H. Kamarra, Maa Kanu, and Mariatu Kanu stand under the community’s cashew nut tree, wearing cashew nut branches on their heads. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Memounatou Kanoh, 18, lives in the Mabettor community and poses with a clay pot she made. She has lost both her parents, but learned the practice of pot-making from them before they died. Memounatou has a child whose father is currently in prison, making her his sole parent; the money she gets from work is used to feed and clothe her child. Memounatou has little support, relying on small gestures such as male members of the community who help to carry the clay she uses to craft her wares.© Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Mohamed Sankoh holds a clay pot he has made. He learned how to make pots from his father every day after school with his brother, Abuji. Mohamed speaks about how rising temperatures are affecting water levels, especially in dry seasons. Both brothers work in order to send their younger brother, Ousman, to school. They want him to carry on his studies and go further than they were able to. They also send money to their sister who is away at school. © Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
(Left to right) co-workers Ibrahim B Conteh, and brothers Abuji and Mohamed Sankoh, pose with their products in the swamp that provides water for making clay goods. Ibrahim was taught how to be a pot-maker by this mother 17 years ago. Though he did not finish school himself, the money he earns goes towards his child’s studies. Ibrahim says that they need water in order to make products with clay. © Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Abuji Sankoh makes his livelihood as a potter. He used to go to school, but started work under the mentorship of his father. After his father’s death, he continued working with pottery and has become the father figure within the community. His older brother, wife and mother help sell the wares they make in order to live and survive. © Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Clay pots lie on a factory floor used by the Mabettor community. Only 250 people are a part of this community, which mostly survives on the production of clay pots and other homewares, such as candlesticks and vases. The factory was set up by a German organisation many years ago, and the community continues to use the space. Water used to make the pots is sourced from a nearby swamp, which often dries up during the dry season - halting the production of their wares. When this happens, the community borrows or buys water for 1000 leones per container from nearby villages with better water supplies. Though there is a well in the community, they lack the tools needed to dig further for access to more water. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
(Left to right) Makenen Lahi, Adama Joe, Mme Musu Jaward and Sata Kanneh are elders within the community and pose in front of the farming garden where they grow okra. They are wearing a mixture of cocoa, banana and palm leaves to symbolise the most important farming assets to their community. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Mme Bindu Kamara is an elder in the Taninawahun community and is part of the water management community. She is wearing palm leaves on her head and a cocoa leaf on her mouth. Members of the community created masks out of leaves, a reflection of life during the pandemic. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Moina Jaward (left) and Islai Kamara live in Taninawahun where they attend high school. Their hats, made of cocoa leaves, celebrate the community’s most important export: cocoa. Their glasses are made of palm leaves. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Taninawahun is a community that received WASH service from Wateraid between 1987 to 1989. Wateraid provided them with a gravitational water system which the community continues to use today. Since it was implemented, however, the community population has increased. Wateraid plans to upgrade the water system so it can serve the growing community. Hawa came to our shoot day wearing palm tree leaves, one of the vital crops that requires water to grow, as the Taninawahun community sell palm oil to sustain themselves. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Taninawahun is a community that received WASH service from Wateraid between 1987 to 1989. Wateraid provided them with a gravitational water system which the community continues to use today. Since it was implemented, however, the community population has increased. Wateraid plans to upgrade the water system so it can serve the growing community. Hawa came to our shoot day wearing palm tree leaves, one of the vital crops that requires water to grow, as the Taninawahun community sell palm oil to sustain themselves. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Taninawahun is a community that received WASH service from Wateraid between 1987 to 1989. Wateraid provided them with a gravitational water system which the community continues to use today. Since it was implemented, however, the community population has increased. Wateraid plans to upgrade the water system so it can serve the growing community. Hawa came to our shoot day wearing palm tree leaves, one of the vital crops that requires water to grow, as the Taninawahun community sell palm oil to sustain themselves. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Joseph Thulla, 64, was staying in hospital in Ja Kingdom when the mudslide occurred. It completely wiped out his one-bedroom house, killing 10 family members, including five of his children. Almost all of Joseph’s neighbours were killed after their homes were destroyed; he can name 43 people that he knew. This is a portrait of him with the ruins of one of his closest neighbours, Pa Unisa, who was also lost that night. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Mariama Kai, a 36-year-old teacher living in Ja Kingdom, recounts how a mudslide that killed many members of the community began on 14 August 2017. She recalls how the force of the flooding from the continuous heavy rainfall kept pushing bodies further into the village. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
The Congo Dam is one of the two main dams supplying water in Freetown. It shares a stream with the Guma Dam, where the water supply has been affected by deforestation in the area. Here, the Guma Dam is photographed in early July, more than three-quarters below its expected capacity for the time of year.©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
The Guma Dam to the west of Freetown is one of two main dams that supply water to the capital city. This photograph from early July shows it less than a quarter full. By this time of year, the dam should be full. Changing weather patterns mean the rainy season that would usually start between May and June now begins in July, and lasts until October. From December to March, the water in the dam dwindles until the next rainy season. The city’s population of 1.5 million people needs around 35 million gallons of water a day, but the company that supplies water only has the capacity to pump 23 million gallons. 4 million gallons of that water services the east of the city, where most of the population lives. The water system is outdated and ill-suited to the dense overpopulation of the city, built in the 60s for around 100,000 people. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
(Left to right) Sisters Salimatou, 17, Kadijah Sankoh, 18, Rebecca Smith, 20, and Gladys, 16, near their home in Ja Kingdom. They can no longer drink from what remains of the neighbourhood stream, now polluted by dirt and bodies from the mudslide. To this day, they continue to find bone fragments in it, and it still carries a smell. The water source the sisters use for drinking comes from someone connecting cut pipes together, but they are not sure where this source of water comes from. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Sisters Kadijah Sankoh, 18, and Gladys, 16, pose together in Ja Kingdom. They were there on the night of the mudslide and recall how many body parts were found. A baby was miraculously found alive, saved from suffocating because his fingers were up his nose. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
A portrait of Fanta Sesay near the waterfront where the women attempt to collect water. The women are sometimes forced to use seawater because of dwindling supplies from the public pump. Mabinti says, “water is life” and they need it for everything from cooking to washing their children’s clothes when they return from school. The price of water has increased from 2500 leones to 3000 leones. It now costs as much as 5000 leones, with an extra 4000 leones to cover transportation. The women worry about how they will manage with the upcoming dry season. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
(Top left to right) Rugiatu Davies, Fanta Sesay, Josephine Sandufou, Mariatou Mundah, (bottom left to right) Mabinti Kamara and Teneh Kidjah pose near the old police station on Police Beach, which is now inhabited by members of the local community. The women use a public pump in the area to collect water. According to Mabinti, they used to collect water twice a week, but since March 2021 the pump is rarely open. They have tried to contact the Guma Valley Water Company, who supply water to the capital, but the source of the problem has still not been identified. Instead, they collect rainwater during the rainy season, and occasionally they are able to access water from private wells owned by members of the community. Thieves are common in the area, however, so those who own private wells often limit access to others. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
The four men on the right of the image, (left to right) Amarra Samura, David Moingeh, Aioh Mbayoh and Alimamy Nehemiah Kargbo spent almost six months digging a 30-foot well for the Dwarzack community. When we met them, they were testing the well’s efficiency - noting the intervals at which the connected 5000-litre water container to fill up. Other community members stand to their left for support. Alimamy Nehemiah Kargbo is chairman of the Dwarzack Police Partnership Board. His father was the chief of Dwarzack for 30 years and helped install a water tap, local roads and electricity supplies for the community. Alimamy hopes to continue his father’s legacy and got together with the other three men to dig the well. The YMCA provided 5 million leones to help build the well, with which they were able to dig and concrete it. The machine that pumps the water from the well was bought with the men’s own funds, and they hope to buy another 10,000 litre container to continue their work and supply water to the community. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Though Kroo Bay is an informal housing settlement, the community have found ways to organise and use the waste and debris that washes up on the shores, constructing barriers for areas that easily flood. They also use some of the waste to map out the foundations for new allotments for new residents to build their corrugated iron house on.©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Abdulrahman Kargbo, 15, collects water from a nearby pump five times a week, taking turns to carry six 5-litre water containers a day. Each rubber container costs 1000 leones. He is a dancer who joined a dance group two years ago that has since won four competitions. During the rainy season, however, the group are unable to make money from dancing as heavy rainfall halts their activities. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Healthcare workers in Kroo Bay report high rates of child malnutrition, caused by poverty, and accentuated by rising global food prices. Corrugated iron sheets are used to make houses in the community, known as Pan Bodies, which create a seemingly endless labyrinth of metal. The multiple textures used here capture the essence of this©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Kroo Bay is an informal housing settlement on the coastline of central Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. In 2009, it had an estimated population of 10,989 people. Residents of Kroo Bay lack adequate access to sanitation and health services. Despite this, the community is thriving and the residents of Kroo Bay cherish the community that they consider as their home. Kadiatou Kamarra, 25, a resident of Kroo Bay for eight years, stands for a portrait by her home. The textures used for the collage come from the polluted sea water that surrounds the community which, during the rainy season, floods parts of Kroo Bay.©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
A portrait of Pewama community member Fatmata Koroma, who brought her fishing net on the day of our shoot. Each community member was keen to share the skills that contribute to the prosperity and wellbeing of Pewama. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Sahr Kabba, 38, and his daughter Kumba Kabba, six, live in Freetown’s East End. Sahr is in charge of the maintenance of a public community water well near The Approved School. In order for the well water to remain clean enough for use, he has to buy a sterilising product which dissolves into the water. The sterilising products are now hard to find as they are in high demand. The well has been used since 1997, but as the population increases, it is in constant use and needs regular maintenance. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Abubakarr Kamara, 19, is a carpenter who buys water to wash cars in a wayside garage with his brother. It’s the most reliable way for him to make a living. The East End ward of Freetown is heavily populated and receives less water than the western part of the city. As the cost of water rises, work like Abubakarr’s will become increasingly difficult. Children from the hilly areas of Freetown, where water supplies do not reach, travel and sleep near by the garage in order to be first in line to collect water in the morning. As a result, many of them are unable to attend school, and unexpected pregnancies sometimes occur as a result. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Mme Amie Murray, from Konima community in Bo District, carries wood that will be burned into charcoal. The shortage of water in the area has led the Konima community to rely on charcoal production as a main source of income. They also produce and sell bags, baskets and furniture, but the wicker and bamboo they use has to be soaked in water. The community currently has no functioning well, so they have to travel to collect water. During the dry season, they have to travel further as natural water sources, like streams, are increasingly scarce as temperatures rise. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Fatti Mattia shows off a pineapple, something that she regularly farms. Fatti expressed how much the Wateraid well changed the lives of the Pewama community. Before, they had to walk long distances to fetch water from a dirty swap. Now, the community well is only a few steps away, from which she can collect water for her family and crops. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:
Ngadi Smart’s layered portrait of Sierra Leone’s complex water crisis
Mustapha Kamara, who is part of the Pewama community youth group, often helps to oversee the management and maintenance of the community’s water well. He is pictured holding a basket of palm kernels, which the community farms to produce and sell palm oil. ©Ngadi Smart
Source:Commissioned by WaterAid and 1854/British Journal of Photography as part of the WaterAid Climate Commission, Wata Na Life captures communities banding together in the face of an increasingly volatile climate
On 14 October 2017, following three days of severe rainfall, a mountain valley side slope in the Western Area Rural of Sierra Leone – located on the outskirts of the country’s capital, Freetown – collapsed. A catastrophic landslide developed into a breakneck stream of debris, which flowed 6km through the city. A World Bank report published several weeks after the event identified 1,141 dead or missing, making it the worst natural disaster in Sierra Leone’s history.
The tragedy was but a single thread in the web of Sierra Leone’s complex battle with global warming’s impacts — and, in particular, how climate change is affecting the population’s access to clean water. In the wake of the mudslides, bacteria, blood, and human remains contaminated Freetown’s already-distressed water supply, carrying serious risk of a disease outbreak. To this day, residents of Jah Kingdom still cannot drink from the water sources they used to.
“I find it really hard. Because a lot of Black communities are expected to be resilient. And they are. I just feel like it’s a shame that we always have to be. We can never really rest.”
– Ngadi Smart
Speaking over Zoom from London, the Sierra Leonean collage artist Ngadi Smart reflects on Freetown’s efforts to adapt to increasingly volatile weather patterns: “Sierra Leoneans are…” But after a moment, she trails off. “I find it really hard. Because a lot of Black communities are expected to be resilient,” she continues. “And they are. I just feel like it’s a shame that we always have to be. We can never really rest.”
Sierra Leone’s climate-exacerbated water crisis is the topic of new work from Smart, commissioned by WaterAid in collaboration with 1854 Studio and British Journal of Photography as part of the WaterAid Climate Commission. Namely, the charity selected Smart to shed a more authentic light on a narrative that has long been depicted through the white gaze. “In the past,” Smart says, “our [African people’s] narratives have always been told from a different perspective. Not from ours. And I wonder when I look at photographs of Africans under colonialism, what if they had the tools to take those pictures? What would they be taking pictures of?”
Smart’s resulting project, titled Wata Na Life (Krio for ‘Water is Life’), rejects the “dehumanising” way Western media has historically portrayed developing African nations: countering tropes of “poverty porn” with vibrant collage; celebrating the essence and identities of the people and places of her origin country. In a portrait of Pujehun resident Fatmata Koroma, for example, her fishing net – a central part of her livelihood – unfurls around her face, akin to a lion’s mane: she is strong, powerful and dignified.
In an era permeated by threats to our future, the intrinsic malleability of collage becomes a powerful tool for Smart. Throughout art history, the medium has been tied to ideas of resistance: concealing and revealing, deconstructing and reconstructing, to conjure new and different realities. Inspired by everything from the rich colours of Sierra Leone’s landscapes to the textures of wicker baskets and cement bags, Wata Na Life sees lush greens collide with vivid purples; piercing stares overlaid with jagged black stone.
Collage is, in many ways, ingrained in the fabric of Smart’s life; she was born in Sierra Leone, but moved between the UK, Canada, and Ivory Coast growing up. She identifies as a “third culture kid”, meaning she was raised in a culture different to her nationality. “But, my grandma always taught me to be proud of your roots,” says the 33-year-old, “and Sierra Leone has such a rich heritage”.
Situated on the West African coast, Sierra Leone is a small country with much to offer its people. But a decade of civil war devastated the nation in the 1990s, overturning much of its progress. When Ebola broke out in 2014, more than ten years after the conflict’s end, less than one in four households had somewhere to wash their hands, and only one in 14 had any soap. The disease spread rapidly, highlighting just how many people were living – and dying – without clean water, decent toilets or good hygiene.
“The Guma Dam, Freetown’s main water supply, was built in the 60s,” explains Smart, “but it doesn’t provide water in all households.” The city is currently home to over one million people, but the Guma Dam is only sized to provide water reliably to around 800,000. What’s more, corruption amongst government officials and water vendors across Sierra Leone is rife and well documented; public funds are frequently misappropriated, and people are further denied their basic rights to clean water.
Water is equally scarce in the rural parts of Sierra Leone, where insufficient supply from municipal systems forces people to seek out other polluted sources. Typically, women and children are tasked with collecting water, triggering a host of knock-on crises: children are pulled out of school to walk long distances; an increased risk of sexual assault on the way.
“I want Sierra Leoneans to look at this work and feel proud”
– Ngadi Smart
Photographed by Smart under a cashew tree, Kadiatou H. Kamarra, a farmer from the town of Port Loko, is in charge of collecting water for her family of five. Kadiatou left school after her mother, who paid her fees, died from Ebola, alongside her father and brother. For that reason, Kadiatou married soon afterwards. “The water situation is very difficult here,” says Kadiatou. “The stream where we collect water is very far away. It takes 30 minutes to walk each way. The water is dirty so we put it down to settle for a while before drinking it.”
As a farmer, Kadiatou relies on rain to produce healthy crops, meaning longer dry spells in recent years – caused by global warming – have been incredibly damaging to her livelihood. Maa Kanu, another farmer from Port Loko pictured beside Kadiatou, is in the same situation. “We depend on the rain to help grow the plants for us,” says Maa, “but for the last three years we have been experiencing very late rainy seasons. The productivity level of crops harvested has dropped… Life has been very hard. Sometimes we go without food, me and my husband; sometimes we eat only cassava.”
WaterAid’s work in Sierra Leone is focused mainly in rural regions, where communities are often small and remote, meaning they can be neglected by government plans. The charity helps install water pumps and trains local men and women to maintain them, as well as supporting households to build toilets. They also work closely with the government to help build strong institutions that will provide long-lasting services. “People in Sierra Leone need a reliable supply of water that keeps flowing through flood, drought and natural disaster,” says Laura Summerton, Photography Manager at WaterAid. “With clean water, they can stay healthy, go to school, earn a living and be better prepared for whatever the future brings.”
As we approach the COP26 Climate Change Conference – when governments have the chance to come together to tackle the climate crisis and ensure the world’s poorest communities are not forgotten – the situation in countries like Sierra Leone demands global attention. But, far from a story of helpless people, Wata Na Life is about people working to help themselves: communities banding together and finding ways to adapt. Like Amarra Samura, David Moingeh, Aioh Mbayoh, and Alimamy Nehemiah Kargb, who spent six months digging a well for their community of Dwarzack in Freetown; or the residents of temporary housing settlement, Kroo Bay, forging flood barriers from litter that washes up on their shores. “I want Sierra Leoneans to look at this work and feel proud,” says Smart, resolutely. “That’s the most important thing.”
In Mabettor, a small village in the Karine District, the community makes a living trading clay pots and vases made with mud from the nearby swamp. Smart captures them proudly holding their creations.Brothers Abuji and Mohamed Sankoh use the money they make from clay production to send their younger siblings to school; or Ibrahim B Conteh, who was taught the art by his mother 17 years ago, relies on the money to fund his child’s school fees.
“I went to school until Grade 4 in high school, but I couldn’t go any further,” says Ibrahim. “As I speak my child is in Lungi School and has been promoted to Grade 5… From this clay trade I can take care of my family.” But during the dry season, Mabettor’s swamp dries up, sometimes halting the residents’ craft completely. “During the dry season it is very difficult for us to find anything to eat here,” Ibrahim continues. “Previously we had a man who had a machine for drilling water which was helpful. But we no longer have this.”
Ultimately, Smart’s hope for the series is to galvanise action: whether that’s individuals donating money to a cause like WaterAid, or corporations working harder to reduce their carbon footprint. In an article by Gabriel Kpaka, deputy director-general at the Sierra Leone Meteorological Agency within the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, he asserts that “the diverse impacts of climate change have over the years severely affected the economy of Sierra Leone and changed my people’s lives and livelihoods… We urgently need nations across the world to take leadership on the issue.”
“It’s always the hope of my work,” Smart concludes. “To touch a person, and make a change. For this, I hope it makes many changes.”
For more information visit Climate change | WaterAid UK
The WaterAid Climate Commission is a collaboration between Studio 1854 and WaterAid. Want to work with major brands and NGOs on compelling, cause-conscious campaigns? View our current commission opportunities.
Explore the full project here:
Discover more of the 1854 x WaterAid – Climate Commission:
