In September 2022, Djamilla Touré launched the Sayaspora online platform. It all started
with a lack of communication about African women living in Canada.
Djamilla remembers the moment she realized she was black. Although she knew it well,
she did not realize what it meant until she left Côte d’Ivoire, where she was born, for
Morocco, where her skin was already beginning to stand out. Suddenly, being black
meant being different. “I understood the weight that society attached to being a black
woman and that I had to walk differently in this world,” she likes to tell the press. As an
uprooted black teenager from the African diaspora, she was desperate to find someone
to talk to about her experiences. She watched shows and searched the media, but when
she saw black women on TV, she never seemed to identify herself with them.
« Sharing stories »
Djamilla Toure finally found what she was looking for, only when she moved to Montreal
for university, by meeting other students who had moved from West African countries. “I
missed you all my life. Where have you been?” she cries. It was through these
conversations, especially with other black women, that she realized she was not the only
one experiencing this void.
This led her to create Sayaspora, an online platform designed by and for women of the
African diaspora, where they can write essays and share stories.
“Integrating African women into the Canadian labor market is Sayaspora’s next goal”
Since then, Sayaspora has grown to bring together African women in Montreal for events
and workshops. One of the projects aims to help African women enter the Canadian
labor market.
