When the journey becomes the story, then there is no doubt other issues may be left unattended and unexplained. This is what happened to me when I landed at the JFK airport in New York on Friday morning.
While I set out from the Banjul International Airport, little did I know that I or rather the Gambian delegation, I was traveling with are going to face stiff resistance from our first friends in the United States - the snow. I call it friend because everywhere we go, the snow is there.
On rooftops, on top of cars and above all covering residential areas thus creating mountain of problems for cleaners.
At some point, workers at the JFK did all what they could but the snow was just sturborn and refused to go away. It would be interesting to see how events will shape up here in the coming weeks and days.
Our UK Correspondent Barbara Scott explains where on earth she was, and how she was cut off from the Information Society.
I have had the misfortune to have been 'cut off' from cyberspace for nearly a month now and I can tell you it has not been easy! For reasons that I will not bore you with I lost my internet connection and despite numerous phone calls to my (then) internet provider, I was not able to get connected until yesterday (Feb 20th). Oh the joy of it. I have taken the internet for granted for over 10 years now and never thought I would miss it like I did. Like a lot of things in the west, it is something we just treat as the norm until such time as we are deprived of it. I am ashamed to say I felt like someone who is unable to get their daily 'fix' whether it be cigarettes, alcohol or, worst of all, drugs. I found myself gravitating each day towards my laptop in the hope that overnight the problem had been solved. On finding that it hadn't I became bad tempered and frustrated. I had to wait almost 2 weeks before my new provider was able to connect me again. Ofcourse I was able to connect via outside sources like the local library but it just isn't the same as being able to sit down at your computer any time you like. I could use the phone to keep in touch with friends and family but it is not the same as e-mailing them. For one thing you can do it when you feel like it and they can't interrupt you!
This made me realise how lucky we are here in England. Most people have access to computers and the majority have their own. Many have two or three! Children take it for granted that they will get one as soon as they start school and rely on them for help with their homework projects. How different it must be in your country. Even if a computer is available I suppose the lack of land lines prevents them being used outside the urban areas. I know there are a lot of internet cafes where you can get online but from my experience they are usually very busy and the connections are very slow.
So in a way it has done me good to see what it must be like for a lot of people outside the western hemisphere. Years ago when I was growing up, if you wanted to communicate with someone you had to do so either by telephone (not mobiles!) or by letter writing. I lived abroad for awhile so telephoning was out of the question but I wrote lots and lots of letters to my family and friends. It gave me my love of writing which is still with me today. Nowadays though it is done via e-mail which is not only quicker but for the recipient much easier to read! I may have been good at writing letters and stories but my handwriting was, and still is, absolutely awful! Still, I was always told that it is not the handwriting that makes a good writer but the content. I hope that is true.
A mexican man poses with his tall Nepalese friend.
Some one once said to me there are certain events you always encounter along the way outside your village of nativity or outside your country, you tend to forget about at some stages in life, but there are certain issues that are just difficult to forget about.
As people from the world over prepare to once again go out with their loved ones on February 14th, better known as 'Valentine Day', it is a perfect moment to sit aside with the one you love so much and renew your love. Some don't even have the time and energy to observe the day, just like what a critic once said, no one can teach me love, I have my own formula to love and hate. Others will tell you that it is a waste of time they have tried, they cannot actually click with their loved ones.
I was in Delhi on 14th February 2009, it did not go down well for a number of families whose sons and daughters were mercilessly beaten by a so-called vigilante group that operated in the capital, but other areas in the country had hitherto received their own share of the violence that marred the Valentine Day celebrations in Delhi. Angry about the way girls have been dressing in the township, the youths of Bangalore stormed a nightclub beating anyone they hands laid on.
It was a constant reminder of how different people analyse, interpret and draw conclusions on several issues. Here was a day that was meant for lovers to celebrate, rejoice and reflect on some of the factors that divide them and iron it out peacefully. But other youths had other ideas, they took the law in their own hands and beat a brother and a sister who were spotted while walking in the street. They proceeded to other nightclubs and unleash their anger on innocent boys and girls who were enjoying their Valentine.
As I sit down to piece this article, one thing that comes to mind is my colleague Reginald Facah of the Compass newspaper in Nigeria who posted an article regarding the Delhi Valentine Mayhem, for his newspaper in Abuja. So eager to impress his class mates and put his name in the history books, Facah went onto show other lecturers that he's indeed learning and applying what he has been taught since he was a rookie reporter.
In The Gambia Valentine Celebrations are increasingly becoming popular, hotels are putting up ads on newspapers to sell their messages calling on people to come enmass on Val day.
Having ‘naturalized’ in the city, we present the compelling story of one man who isn’t impress with what has happened to his village of nativity, yet his memories of the village is haunting him.
By Mballowbannah
Rural urban migration has cost Fulabantang village a lot in terms of education, culture and youth activities. Many years ago Fulabantang, famous for its cultural activities mainly wrestling and the only boarding school within the surrounding apart from Armitage. Although partly settled in Tanjeh, Kombo South, there are certain distinct things that are in Fulabantang I cannot find in Tanjeh. The Banta Chekeyel, Banta Sareh and Ourdeh and off course Kertordeh (a traditional dining hall surrounded with either stones or wood locks)
Banta Chekeyel: In the winter of 1986, almost all the youth of the Village and some other hamlets were robbed off from their mothers by renowned Bora Mballow who was a Circumciser.Borra my biological father disappeared in the early hours of that day. I was taken to task not to go too far because I should meet a certain uncle who is coming from Banjul. Off we were all carried away to the bush under a big tree called Banta Chekeyel. We were all paraded and starting from the ALKALO Abdoulie Janneh Dem, followed by the others. What I heard was laughter and cries from the Alkali’s end but not him certainly. When he came to me, my father looked at me and for the first time during his career as a circumciser for 23 yrs, made two attempts to cut the relevant part off and spiritually, pretended to have buried it beneath his right foot and proceeded to others. From there we were all given something spicy and bitter called in fula Labu[1] to eat. Then we were swiftly whisked to a local house called Turdu[2][i]where we were confined for more than a month. Inside the Turdu, we also sleep in order of seniority, the Alkalo first followed by the Imams son and then on. Also inside the Turdu, there was a big wood where we are supposed to clean our hands with for a period of one month by rubbing our hands on it to clean them. During this month, we were kept to behave like adults and learn staying from our mothers for a while. We were first taught a song by Amadou Ngonyo who was the chief caretaker and followed by those who take care of us called Selbeh’s. ``Ndugu yooo ndugu wellee welleee chaayooo chaaawelleee chaa, Ndugu sii man bawdii mbellaa hattaa dii lengii nguma; aadiii nyammi kau adii nyamii`` that is the song sang for welcoming food escorted by one of the selbeh’s.
[1]A kind of dish prepared specifically for those newly circumcised boys.
Rockmond Dunbar held a successful meeting with President Jammeh on Friday, and according to his handlers the Hollywood movie freak is going to the ancestral home of Kunta Kinteh in Juffureh for a good part of Saturday.
While in The Gambia, Rockmond Dunbar will try to learn more about the untold story of the country's rich cultural history. His visit to Juffureh this morning is expected to give the Hollywood man the unique opportunity to see what is left in a settlement that was by all indications a major transit point for slaves during the infamous Atlantic Slave Trade. On my first visit there some three years ago, I saw the reactions of the people when we reached Juffureh - slavery has indeed affected the continent, commented one of the Black American visitors upon arrival at the site.
I CAN DISTINCTLY REMEMBER way back in 1993 when I used to shuttle between the village and the city, a time when we were hopping from one van or bus to another. The fares between Banjul and what one of my English teachers once wrote 'a little sleeping pastoral village' - refering to Fulabantang was D47.00 ( at least a little more than one dollar) this is about 200 kms from the main city.
It is often said that the village is usually the place where the action is, thats why village kids studying in the city will not forgive their parents if they are unable to send them to the village for holidays.
A journey that is oftendogged by series of stops and breaks, sleeping, waking up so many times and hallucinating. With the fares now pegged at D150 -(5dollars) going to the provinces as we, Gambians often call the village,is getting more and more difficult and protracted.
But thats all about to change, the bad roads that used to cause series of accidents on the south bank of The Gambia are slowly fading away going what we saw happening in that area. The Government has come to rescue what many road users describe as unprecedented developmentswithin the sector.
For those who watch him on the TV Series 'Prison Break', Rockmond Dunbar the soft spoken American film star and director touched down at the Banjul International Airport on Thursday @ 18.30 for a four day visit. As a special guest of the Gambian Leader, Dunbar is expected to visit a host of historical sites in the country.
Career
Dunbar is well known for his leading role as Kenny Chadway on the critically-acclaimed television series Soul Food. He also landed a regular role as Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin on the U.S. television series Prison Break, where he played the role of a character who was discharged from the military and arrested for black market dealing. The underlying reason for his incarceration however, is transporting stolen goods after he was dishonorably discharged from the Army. Dunbar's other credits include several guest appearances in Earth 2, Felicity, The Pretender, Two Guys and a Girl and North Shore. He also had a recurring role on the UPN series Girlfriends.
His film projects include Punks (which debuted at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival), Misery Loves Company, Sick Puppies, Whodunit,Dirty Laundry' ' All About You and Warner Bros. feature film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Aside from his theatrical performances, he also had made contributions to the world of art through the mixed-media exhibit, ARTHERAPY. In addition, Dunbar posed for the November 2003 issue of Playgirl Magazine.[1]
He made a guest appearance on Noah's Arc as himself to give Noah (screenwriter and the main character of the show) some ideas about his movie Fine Art.
In 2007, Dunbar starred on the TNT transplant surgery drama Heartland.
TO wake up and realise that; on top of you lie rocks, then you start wondering what has gone wrong, and where is the man, woman, children or the domestic animals? On that evening of 12th January, some people in Port Au Prince to this day could not see their people - dead or alive they simply did not know.
The earthquake lasted for ten minutes according to experts but the tremor generated by the quake will take a very long time before residents or survivors will come to terms with what actually happened on that fateful evening.
It wouldn't be suprising to witness the marked differences it will likely create when the millions of dollars sent by several African states to help Haiti in these hard times. One do not need to go to Haiti to measure the magnitude of the crisis, simply because when ever the earth shakes, it is disaster, and that means deaths. So the number of people who have died silently under the rubble may never be accounted for and thats bad news for the families of the survivors.
Even for Gambia's one million dollar contribution, a lot of people through the blog wrote us explaining the sorry state of a country that is by all indications regarded as the one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.
Again, the face of Haiti is very much like some of the faces you see in Africa, have you been monitoring the news on Tv? Just look those children, shirtless, shoeless perhaps their parents have disappeared. You could not just your mind turn off your mind on it, you just wonder probably you have something in common with those sometimes gory images we saw from Haiti.
The African states that contributed money to support Haiti's cause, know full well that Africans have an inextricable link with Haitians, and the reason or reasons why the blacks are there is all-too familiar. So it's when a brother is down, try to help especially in these times.
Bravo to The Gambia for contributing one million dollar, showing once again that despite our size and geography, Gambians are capable of doing even bigger and greater things.
He was regarded as the FLYING LION in the country's up and coming music scene, now when the cold hands of death snatched him away from planet earth, those who know him wept and wept, until they were left with no tears.
Sometimes, we tend to know more about certain people when they die than when they were around with us. Those who have been in the Gambia in the late 1990s, must have seen him on Tv. Musa Njie as he fondly called by his family members grew up in The Gambia, and was a founding member of the defunct rap group Pencha bi crew. The group simply means, a place where people sit and discuss common issues.
The Gambian artists are now plannning to hold series of programmes with a view to raising money for the family of the departed soul.
THE MEXICAN MAN WHO LAUNCHED A PASSIONATE APPEAL FOR HELP OR ADVISE ON WAYS AND MEANS OF ADOPTING A CHILD IN EARTHQUAKE RAVAGED HAITI HAS WRITTEN TO BALDEHBOLONG APPEALING AGAIN.
'Thank you, Ebrimah!
It is true that my wife Erika and me need a lot of advice for this great step in our lives. Your blog is great!
Blogger's comments: Jesus Hector Bentacourt heads a cultural organisation in Mexico, he was in India in January 2009 to study at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. A passionate writer and singer.
I hope we can use this forum to exchange ideas and contribute our quota towards the development of our dear country, The Gambia. I Want us to look at development issues that are often neglected or even when they are taken, newspaper editors would just treat it just like any other story. Lets work together and change that concept: we can do it.
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