Why I cannot forget...?

Part 1

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.

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[1] A kind of dish prepared specifically for those newly circumcised boys.

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[i]

DUNBAR ON A PILGRIMAGE

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.

A WAY OUT in Rural Development

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 often dogged 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 developments within the sector.

Rockmond Dunbar comes to town

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.

Additional info: wikipedia

Care for those in need

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.

FLYING OUT

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.

Who wants to help 'Jesus'?

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.

January 30, 2010 3:55 AM