Last week I had the privledge of meeting Fatou Danso, the Alkalo (Village Chief) of Kaba Kama, a village on the outskirts of Basse in the Upper River Region (URR) of the Gambia.
I was beyond shocked when I arrived in the village to observe and take pictures of Tostan's Peace and Security Projects's baseline survey to learn that their Alkalo was a female. It is extremely rare to have a female village chief! I was told that she was the only one in the URR and one of very few throughout the Gambia and most likely all of West Africa. The head of Tostan International's Monitoring and Evaluation Department was with us from Dakar, Senegal and said that he had never met or heard of a female Alkalo in Senegal.
I had the chance to speak with Fatou for a few mintues before she headed out to an event at the President of the Gambia's village a few hours drive away. She knew a little English and so we did not use a translator, though I really wish we had in retrospect because I think I could have gotten more from her. Instead, I did not get as much of her story as I wanted, the struggles and challenges of being a female Alkalo, but I hope to speak with her again. She said she would come to visit me at the Tostan office.
Fatou is the youngest of one brother and two sisters. Her grandfather and then her father were previously the Alkalo's of her village. The Alkaloship is traditionally passed on through lineage. In recent years it has become possible to remove a bloodline Alkalo and elect a new one.
She told me that she was born in 1955. She also told me that she was trained as a nurse in 1962, something I didn't catch until reviewing my notes. So clearly the dates are wrong somewhere. That aside...
Fatou was lucky to be educated as her older two sisters did not attend school. She trained as a nurse and worked at the Basse Health Center for a number of years before retiring in 1997.
She was married to her husband in 1972 with whom she has three girls and two boys. Her husband goes back and forth between her village and the Jimara district where he works.
Her brother, who was Alkalo at the time, died in November of 1983. Elections were held for the position and she decided to run against another man. She was elected and put into office as her village's Alkalo on February 8, 1984 (almost 31 years ago)!
She describes her leadership style and good leadership as a leader who listens to and helps the people. She said a leader is someone who does not decide for the people or force something upon them, but asks what they want and discusses it with them.
As Alkalo, she has brought electricity and more water pumps to her village. With outside funding help, they purchased a tractor and have four large gardens (some 2.5 acres). They were apart of the first Tostan Community Empowerment Program in 2007 and are currently joining Tostan's Peace and Security Project.
