What does Sustainability look like on our land?

The term sustainability is a broad one, in general we can all the agree that it’s about avoiding the depletion of natural resources and in return creating and ecological balance for you, me and the rest of the planet.
During lockdown, we know that some of you started to experiment with new ideas and products to overcome the lockdown blues, indulge in some well-deserved self-care or to help cure the dreaded “mackney” (skin irritation and acne due to wearing a mask). Some of you wanted more transparency into where things come from and how that process is beneficial to you and the environment, rightfully so. It’s important to know the source of your products and how organisations are helping the environment, especially in these times.
For most of you that have been on this wellness journey with us over the years, you are aware that we are the source of most of our ingredients and that we are on hand to Share, Inspire and Assist (SIA) you with anything concerning your wellbeing and skin. As we continue, gracefully, to navigate our way through this pandemic, we will putting a spotlight on our sustainably sourced wellbeing products that can help you throughout this period and beyond.

But where exactly did we garner these sustainable values from?

Well as most of you know our Co-founder Maame spent some of her childhood living on her family communal lands in Ghana and Co-founder Sam’s Mother has a farm in Senegal. Some of you may think that this is where MamaSia takes its sustainability approach from, well yes but that’s just a part of it. As a collective we’re constantly asking our family members and researching about sustainable approaches and solutions to help develop our community.
Ghana has seen rapid growth in the past 5 years with it’s tourism industry now being hailed as a new destination of choice, but as wonderful as this maybe, many of us in the West are concerned and questioning that although this may help economically, what measures being put in place to protect the country environmentally.
We believe that even small measure can make a difference, so we are constantly doing our part by encouraging and educating our Ghanaian community about how we can continue to mix the old traditions with a modern approach, just like we do in MamaSia.
If we haven’t said it loud and proud enough by now, may we remind you that nothing goes to waste on our land as we repurpose everything. When our Commercial Director Rhian, visited Ghana for the first time two years ago, she was fascinated by the way the community recycled everything. One example is vegetable cooking oil cans being repurposed into coal stoves or coal pots” (as they commonly referred too) and used for cooking. This is a staple in any rural Ghanaian home just like we have cookers here in the UK. Another example is keeping the seeds of food and replanting them to restart the cultivation of new crops and continue the circle of life.
In some cases, the children get in on the action too and repurpose items for their pleasure and amusement, using discarded cans and old metals to make toys and other apparatus, which inspires the next generation of inventors, scientists and engineers. Here you can see 10 year old Bahki making trucks out of discarded can sand metals

Our general Manager Alhassan, explained it perfectly, he said “We are natural people and it’s instinctive for us to see how we can use something for multi-functional purposes. He also reaffirmed that Shea Butter is a great example and teacher of this. As Shea butter has a multifunctional purpose as not only is it used for the hair and the skin, it can also be used in a variety of ways such as a cooking oil, candle making, increasing the durability of wood for building materials and many more.
He went on to say “We lead by example we are one with our community from the people to the forest, we give respect to every living thing on our land, no one tells us to clean up and keep the streets clean we just do it because it’s the right and natural thing to do”