Disappearing
Saint-Louis

Mamadou Thiam stands in what is left of his childhood home. The walls are compromised, the roof is gone, and the worn-off cerulean paint in one room is capitulating to years of extreme weather.

Thiam, 56, was born and raised in this blue room in the seaside neighborhood of Guet Ndar in Saint-Louis, Senegal. He spent his adolescent years swimming in the ocean and grew up to be a fisherman.

Now, the same waters that shaped his life have turned against him.

In 2018, a high tide swept through Saint-Louis. The sea expanded and destroyed houses along its path. Raging waters flooded the streets.

“I was afraid for the children and the women,” Thiam says. “I was trying to save them. When all the children and the women were rescued, that’s when I started being afraid for myself.”

The flooding devastated Guet Ndar, destroying a seaside school and many homes. The hollowed ruins of the school remain, a daily reminder of the sea’s power.

“We no longer have the cool, fresh air we used to have from the sea,” Thiam says.

The homes were funded by aid agencies, including the United Nations, and installed by the local population. Despite the challenges, Diougop has a warm, close-knit neighborhood feel.

Thiam’s wife, Khadi Sarr, sits just outside their home under sheets that struggle to provide relief from the piercing sun. As she pours tea, surrounded by her daughters, memories of a different time begin to flow.

“When I was a child, every morning we used to go to the sea to swim, to play hide and seek,” Sarr says. “Our kids nowadays won’t have that opportunity.”

Still, Saint-Louis remains a bustling fishing town, considered a titan of the country’s fishing industry.

Sarr and her husband, Thiam, don’t know what the next 10 or 20 years will bring. And they are not alone.

The neighborhood Khar Yalla, which means “waiting for God” in Wolof, was built inland to serve as a home for those who had been displaced by rising seas. But this neighborhood, too, was soon inundated with water.

“In 20 years, Saint-Louis will not be what it is today,” says Mamadou Dimé, professor of sociology at Saint-Louis University.

“The scenarios are often very pessimistic regarding the consequences of climate change. For me, Saint-Louis is on borrowed time,” Dimé says.

Sarr’s generation had a picturesque childhood near the sea. That’s all she wants for the next generation.

For now, as she enjoys her second cup of tea while surrounded by her children and grandchildren, she is happy they are out of harm’s way.