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The picture also reminds me about the unfinished or should I say the unpublished book on the 1981 coup by veteran journalist Baboucarr Gaye.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
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The picture also reminds me about the unfinished or should I say the unpublished book on the 1981 coup by veteran journalist Baboucarr Gaye.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
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