Guardians of tradition: fulani women between generations

In the deep lines of her face, you don’t read chapters—you read wind patterns, grains of sand, and silent nights. Her name is Zeinabu - she is a Senu fulani woman. She has lived for over eight decades in the subtropical savannas between Burkina Faso and the Ivorian border. Her steps are slow now, but each carries the wisdom of many generations. She knows the signs in the sky, the silence of stones, the stories of wandering nomads. Zeinabu speaks little. But when she does, even the wind listens.

Normally, when the rainy season ended and the southern fringes of the Sahara desert began to dry, Fulani families gathered to drive their cattle, goats, and sheep toward cooler subtropical savannas. But warming temperatures have altered the families' lives. Rainfall levels are dropping, instead of whole families joining the seasonal migration, it is mostly the men who depart, leaving women and children behind in villages. The role of the women has become even more crucial. As the guardians of tradition, they are responsible for safeguarding knowledge, practices, and values that have been passed down through generations. The series shows three generations of Senu Fulani women living under one roof, and commemorates the continuity of Fulani womanhood from one generation to another.