In Conakry’s crowded Dar Es Salam district, locals now describe life as a fight to simply breathe. For years, households living beside the massive municipal waste site have inhaled thick, harmful smoke from endless trash burning. Many fear what this could mean for their long-term health as the landfill keeps growing, rising like a mountain above the community.
For residents like Daouda Sylla, the impact is already heavy. “My condition is very painful,” he shared in Susu. “Just sitting makes my lungs burn, and walking even a short distance becomes unbearable.” Sylla says sleepless, cough-filled nights have become normal, with cold water offering only short relief. Yet hospitals keep warning him to stop smoking or drinking, habits he insists he has never had.
Countless others in Dar Es Salam blame the dump, where constant fires release choking fumes that settle into homes, schools, and markets. Over time, the landfill has grown so large that it now dominates the skyline.
Children are paying the highest price. Young Djibril, son of Mamadama Bangoura, has struggled with illness since infancy. “The smoke drains him,” she said. “Whenever he goes outside and breathes it in, he suffocates and falls into crisis for days. We often need to give him oxygen. Now, he doesn’t even step outside anymore.”
Doctors warn the long-term outcome could be devastating. Local pulmonologist Nyan Balamoun Gobou Tokpa says the polluted air is fueling pneumonia, COPD and possibly future lung cancers. “The dump is killing people slowly,” he warned.
This disaster unfolds as Guinea’s leader, Gen. Mamadi Doumbouya, continues pushing development and infrastructure efforts. But residents say growth means nothing if they’re dying for air. “We beg the general to remove this dump,” said community member Nana Rachel Bangoura. “We are suffering. We cannot breathe, yet we cannot abandon our homes.”
