TWO YEARS WHEN I WAS A CHILD

To say that a picture evokes sweet or painful memories is perhaps an understatement. If you disagree carefully examine this picture which I obtained from the National archives in Banjul. The picture was taken during the bloody July 1981 abortive coup led by one Kukoi Samba Sanyang who until now is hardly seen publicly in the Gambia. Yet majority of Gambians don't even know where Kukoi is.

One can barely figure out the true intentions of these boys, what is clear is that the scene is somwhat chaotic showing once again the effects of lawlessness and war. According to my birth certificate I was less than two years when the coup began and turned two years by the time the rebels were flushed out of town by the Senegalese security forces.

The picture also reminds me about the unfinished or should I say the unpublished book on the 1981 coup by veteran journalist Baboucarr Gaye. He started the book but could not publish it before the call came for him to join the land of the silent ones. How sad!


Another painful reminder of the abortive coup has to do with scar on the legs of my grandfather who almost died in 1981 when he defied all odds to go to work at Cable and Wireless. He was shot, but not without sustaining injuries. Poor him, my grandfather survived and was able to narrate the story to me, others couldn't.

He died some seven years ago. Two years when I was a child, the picture is still the same, my grandfather has died with his scars and other pictures are still out there waiting to be showcased.

by Ebrima Baldeh

THE RIOTS ARE OVER BUT...

AFTER THE RIOTS IT SEEMS BRITAIN IS BEGINNING TO ASSESS WHAT WENT WRONG AND WHY IT SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. Barbara Scott gives us her reactions.

This week in Britain we are witnessing unprecedented scenes of rioting, looting and arson in many of our major cities. What started as a localised incident has escalated beyond belief. The images that are unfolding on our TV screens and in the press are horrifying. We are used to seeing this in war torn countries like Egypt, Libya and Syria but not our own. Unlike those, our riots are not caused by an uprising of oppressed people but by criminals and opportunists. They are totally out of control and the police seem to be unable to stop them.

The Prime Minster is promising us a robust response and although too late for many of the victims, let us hope this will be the case. What sickens me the most is that the perpetrators of this violence are being egged on by Twitter postings. Most of them have Blackberries or iPods. So much for the 'deprived youths' as the liberals are fond of calling them. Once again social networking has shown it's ugly side. On the other hand Twitter helped to rally people to help clear up the mess left behind after the mayhem, so something positive has come out of it but on the whole it has been responsible for spreading the word to the looters of where the best places are for them to carry out their crimes. In some countries looters are shot. Here we have less draconian measures. We take photos of them and hope to bring them to justice. This often means weeks, months or years later. So many of them are under the age of criminal responsibility that they may never be punished. Depressing news, especially as we are building up to the 2012 Olympics which will help boost our economy and therefore help the unemployed and under priviledged. It just doesn't make any sense.

'A journalist with so many eyes'

'No, I am saying what is in me'



The world of fashion and modeling look promising for a young Gambian lady who doubles as tv journalist now a student journalist in the United States. Mariama Faye also known as Fayer Kanuteh breaks her silence and told Baldeh Bolong about what the murky world of glitz and glamour.

Now let’s talk about your mission in the United States?

I came here mainly to study journalism.

What do you hope to after your studies?

Come back to the Gambia.. If I am accepted to rejoin the TV, i will be glad to work for my country again.

What if you change your mind to stay and work in the U.S?

I will cross that bridge when i get there but my aim is to come back to the Gambia because only my own people can recognize and appreciate the job I am doing.

Come on, the U.S is a magnet to hundreds of young people around the world, they think there are brighter opportunities there than in than countries?

That is them i am me.. there is nothing greater to me than The Gambia. No matter the ups and downs i love my country... I can never be american but i can always say i am Gambian.

Well many people would say the same thing, what they do later is a different story, are you saying this because you want to be taken seriously?

no i am saying what is in me

Now tell me what exactly want to pursue in life, to be a model or a journalist?

Both

You tell us why you participated for the first time in beauty pageants in the Gambia?

Why I participated in beauty pageants?

Yes...

Well fashion is a passion to me.. i love anything that involves fashion. i participated in Gambia because i belice in the saying charity begings at home

if i want to represent Gambia at any level the Gambians have to know me first in order to support me.

Now what next for you after your crowning at Paradise hotel certainly that was a special night for you?

what i wanted to do was work something out with SOS Children's Village. Anything. unfortunately things did not work out because the person who should have lead the way was out of town for a long period.

You were one time Miss Bakau, and later participated and won another event in the Gambia. How did you win, what is your secret?

hahaha no secret Baldeh

i just did what i had to do.. walk the runway, smile pose and be confident thats it

Excuse Mariama but there are some people who have negative concepts about fashion and modelling. For example some believe that it actually lure and expose the individual to all sorts of peoples?

that is very true and their belief is correct too.

So how did you weather the storm? I mean your dealings with these people you met?

Just be professional and cool

its is some how similar to working in the media. You meet different types of people and hear all sorts of things it is up to the individual not to mix business with pleasure

Did you ever have any point in time where someone asked you out?

hmmmm lol Yea sure.

And what did you honestly do?

What I honestly did? i go for the ones I like and think are genuine.. if I don’t see any spark between us thats it you are unqualified .. but when it comes to the job no fooling around

You married Jali Madi Kanuteh because he is a musician.

Because God said we will get married

Because you love him

Yes that correct

Whats your last word, do you really miss him?

More than anything I miss in ma life

Mariama thanks for talking to Baldeh Bolong.

Its a pleasure

For more details on Mariama Faye, go toher profile on face book/ Fayer Madi Kanuteh

Is this the connection Barbara refers to...?

on a typical family breakfast: serve yourself if you like

Barbara Scott tells us more about some life-changing holidays on the African continent, in these days of globalisation and clash of civilisation, no one can put it better than the author of this piece who has experienced what is like for a British woman to connect with real lives and real people in the West African state of the Gambia.

I have just finished watching a programme on TV called Holiday Hijack. It is a new reality series which aims to show unsuspecting holidaymakers the other side of the country they are visiting. A side which few tourists ever get to see, especially the ones who have the money to go to 5 star luxury hotels. This was the first of the series and the country they were visiting was Gambia. I must say I was a bit apprehensive about it because so many negative stories appear in our papers regarding tourism in your country that I thought this was going to be the same. How wrong I was. The four tourists, three women and one man, thought they had won a free luxury holiday which would have cost them £300 per night for 7 days! They were all seasoned travellers and had plenty of money. They always travelled to luxury resorts and never went outside their hotel, preferring to lay around the pool drinking and partying! Nothing wrong with that I suppose. Certainly not in Western eyes.

You can imagine then their surprise when they were introduced to a local family who lived and worked in Kotu who were going to be their hosts for the week. Not at all what they had planned. They were taken to the home of a lovely woman who lived with her brother and worked Fajara Craft Market. When they saw their accommodation they were, to say the least, rather shocked although the family had made every effort to make them welcome and comfortable, as is they way of the Gambian people. At first they struggled to get to grips with the culture shock. These were people who were used to hot showers, flushing toilets, washing machines, hair dryers, all the things that we in the west take for granted but are a rarity for the average Gambian. However, by the time the programme had finished and they had seen how hard life can be but how kind and caring their hosts were they were sorry to leave. They had all changed their opinion and felt humbled by their experience. They were even offered the chance of spending their last night back at the luxurious hotel that they had left 5 days before but turned it down so they could spend it with their new 'family'.

They vowed to change their way of holidaying in the future and to go out and meet the local people and spend their money outside their hotels instead of in the shops and restaurants within. They had been shown a way of life that they had never imagined before and gained so much from it. From shallow, patronising and quite frankly arrogant tourists they became more caring and thoughtful. That is what the programme aims to do. The people of the Gambia helped them do it. Viva La Gambia!!