Lamal, Lambal, LAABAL. It's Laabal Dindefelo, you know?

Laabal, in Pulaar, means cleanse or clean-up.  But because Pulaar is not commonly written and has only in the last decade ever been written, it's spelling is up for grabs.  Thus, when I arrived in Senegal with T-shirts sporting the waste management logo I designed, accompanied by the words 'Lamal Dindefelo,' there was some conspiracy.  A Senegalese friend originally instructed me to spell lamal this way.  But in no time, people came to me with aggression towards my "mistake."  I corrected it along the way according to their advice.  So, on our waste management T-shirts, you'll find lamal.  On our education brochures, you'll find lambal; and on all 100 waste bins, you'll see laabal.  We've settled on laabal, officially, in case you're wondering.  

Although I am uncomfortable with the consistency of the spelling, I am choosing not to look at it as unprofessional, and instead as a reflection of Laabal Dindefelo's infancy.  The inconsistency symbolizes the newness of garbage consciousness, for lack of a better term.  This project only a loose beginning and will hopefully take many forms in its lifetime--from simply consolidating trash, to recycling and composting, to reducing and repurposing waste.  And the variety of spellings of Laabal symbolizes the way in which we move the project forward: listening to the counsel of many voices and accepting the help of many hands. 

Lakeside (Seattle, WA) students, a crowd of curious kids and me