'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!!

'Potto potto'

Very close to where I live: Central Wellingara, WCR

The rainy season has entered into a critical stage of its natural cycle, usually in the month of August weather forecast beleive the Gambia record more rainfall. However, one thing that has ALWAYS remain CONSTANT is the continued tension between the passerby and the motorists.

Ask anyone walking on this road how many times do they insult drivers, the response is: many times. Sometimes while on a cab, the driver usually apologise for 'sins' they have committed. But how often do we take such apologies?

I remembered vividly last year when a cab driver around my Wellingara neighborhood sent a beautifully dressed lady home after putting mud over her white clothes. Angry about what had happened to her on the morning rush hour to get a bus to Banjul, innocent bystanders could not help but hurled insults at the insensitive cab driver.

'Sorry' was all, the poor fellow could say. No matter what, the lady had to go back and changed all again.

Let it also be noted that sometimes those walking on the road are to blame for the problems they faced. The other day, I heard a young fellow telling a driver: 'if you hit me' But would you do anything at the hospital bed? I asked.

of stress and frustrations

Having just read the story of the plight of young Gambian Amadou Jallow I felt moved to reiterate a piece I wrote a year or so ago of misconceptions about there being a better life in Europe. For some maybe, but for a large majority it is not always the case. Yes, if they are able to find work and a decent place to live, then life can be much easier than in The Gambia. But in these days of recession and unemployment you have to either have friends or family in your chosen country or be very resourceful.

It is so sad that many of these young men feel unable to return to their families for fear of being chastised for not making something of themselves. It is admirable that they have been sending a good deal of any money they do make, home, to help their families. That I know this is the African way and many other cultures do the same. If anyone from the West decides to try a new life elsewhere they do not feel duty bound to take care of the families they leave behind, unless of course it is their wives and children. Mostly they accompany them anyway. This means they have a chance of making a better life for themselves and then one day being able to help their families if the need arises.

Barbara Scott

It is a struggle for lots of families here in the UK to meet the rising costs of fuel, rents, household bills etc. We do have a good support system which is taken advantage of by many people who have not contributed in any way towards it. It causes a lot of bitterness and resentment in those who have, as you can well imagine. At least in The Gambia, however hard life might be, there is always a good family backup network. From what I have seen everyone helps each other in times of need. It's a pity that young men like Amadou are led to believe that this is what happens elsewhere. It doesn't!