Folks,
The picture of children scavenging for food at the Bakoteh dump site is part
of a larger picture of poverty in the MBK (Man-njaikunda/Bakoteh/Kololi)
area.This is indeed urban poverty which has been greatly precipitated by
badly thoughtout urbanisation.Successive governments in the Gambia have
hardly thought about what happened to the primarily farming settlers of the
area when their agricultural land was converted into residential use.In the
inadequate attempts made to compensate them for the lost of their basic
source of livelihood,these communities have been brutally cheated by corrupt
public servants.There is the story of a family head from Bakoteh who was so
exasperated by the amount of money given to him that he threw it on the
floor at the  Central Bank in Banjul.The number of these urban poor have
been swollened by the migration of the rural poor to the area. The latter
have basically settled in areas like the fringes of the dump site.
In a research carried out by a group of students at the Saint Mary's
University Extension Programme (SMUEP) a couple of years ago, it was
discovered that water from wells that were located up to three hundred
metres from the fringes of the site were no more suitable for human
consumption.Infact the people had stopped using such water for the said
purpose without any relevant authority advising them to that effect.Other
investigative reports have spoken about the potential for the prevalence of
respiratory diseases in the areas surrounding the dump site.The combination
of gases from the waste disposed causes regular fires at the site which are
always accompanied by heavy smokes.This is a very dangerous scenario
considering the fact that Bakoteh Primary School, SOS Children's Village and
the SOS Hospital are located just on the other side of the Badala Highway
from the site. It should also be noted that those whose residence are
closest to the site are mostly poor and would find it almost impossible to
take care of hospital bills.
Yet it must be noted that the site several years ago was a quarry from which
the Kanifing municipal council (KMC)garnered a lot of money in the form of
tax .In those days this community benefitted the least from the services
provided by the municipal authority.The KMC and the Gambia goverment
definitely need to take up their responsibilities towards the people in this
area, or perhaps they are going to wait until they are made to do so!
Omar Joof,
Ex-GAMSU PREXY.






>From: saikss <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: May God Bless The Gambia
>Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 14:16:26 +0200
>
>The Independent (Banjul)
>April 22, 2003
>
>Posted to the web April 22, 2003
>Banjul
>In recent months the Bakoteh dumping site has become the scene for
>food scavenging by children as young as eight, who said they have
>been encouraged to go there by their scavenging friends.
>A fresh gang of dirty and haggard-looking children who were busy
>scrambling for food discarded in a blue plastic bag and thrown on one
>of the huge mound of rubbish at the site said they were happy to be
>at the site and have got used to playing on it and searching for
>discarded food items.
>Ndumbeh, eight, the youngest among them told The Independent that she
>likes going to the site because of the chance of finding what she
>could eat. She opened her small palms to show what was a soggy
>plastic bag filled with pounded nuts that must have been thrown there
>the night before. With a gleeful expression on her face she explained that
>they have been scavenging on the site for many months now,
>taking time before they go to school to visit the site for what they
>can stumble upon, whether its discarded food or toys.
>Another girl slightly older that Ndumbeh was meanwhile busy foraging
>through some mash of rubbish dirt with her feet, which were already
>besmirched with wet black sand as she tried to dig from its grave a
>haggard, hairless doll long forgotten by its original owner. Four
>young boys, with two dressed in uniforms rushed towards two other
>boys who were calling their attention to their latest find, which as
>this reporter inched closer was what the discarding owner(s) intended
>as wrapped parcels, three of them with bread into which meat and
>bones and sausages were carefully sandwiched. Thinking at first that
>this reporter was a cleansing service worker, they all bolted only to
>realise after the loud giggles of the girls that the "stranger to
>their rubbish world" was a harmless inquirer. One of them recovering
>from the shock generated by the intruder, unfolded one of the parcels
>and unleash his teeth on the bread and bite off a chunk, to the wild
>protestations of two others who thought he was about to play pranks
>on them.
>The boys (names withheld) said they have been used to the site, which
>they visit before and after school. Some admitted that if they were
>found out by their parents, they would be beaten.
>Modou Leigh, who described himself as a resident of Bakoteh, said
>residents of the area have got used to the sight of "noisy children"
>at the dumping site but paid little attention over what they do or
>get there. He said although he was of the belief that, the children
>comb the rubbish for toys, they also fight over foods discarded
>there.
>This is not the first time that children have been found at the
>Bakoteh dumping site scavenging for food. Last month the Independent
>carried the story of about twelve children who said they visit the
>site to find food because they are not catered for at home. Some of
>them said they were not going to school and they have been abandoned
>by their parents.
>It was impossible to get the Department of Social Welfare or other
>relevant institutions to react, as the writing of this story
>coincided with a public holiday and a weekendbreak
>
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