shattered the concrete walls of Sylla’s house, sending his wife fleeing for safety and forcing his family to move.
“I am frustrated,” said Sylla, his eyebrows arched above his dark sunglasses as his voice alternated between agitation and quiet resignation. “But even more than that, I have lost hope.”Runoff from the mine road rendered water in many of the rivers and streams undrinkable, Sylla and other villagers recounted.
After two days of protest — one of many demonstrations across the region in recent years — the company delivered a new water pump, Sylla said. Villagers left the tracks, but Sylla said the paltry water supply was little consolation for what they had lost.The entrance to a mining port run by the SMB mining company not far from the village of Dapilon. The entrance to a mining port run by the SMB mining company not far from the village of Dapilon.