Hi Folks,
Today is the 10th anniversary of Gambia-l and I take the opportunity to thank the man behind the magnificient idea which has impacted the lives of many Gambians. Thank you Dr Katim Touray.
Shortly after the coup in July 1994 Katim set up one of his email accounts touray@hope.soils.... that was used by him and a few friends including Dr. Malanding Jaiteh so that they could send each other information and news. That group gradually grew and I came in contact with them in august 1995 when the release of windows 95 was being celebrated. It was Katim who at the time responded to a request I sent to the newsgroup soc.culture.africa requesting to meet other Gambians out there in cyberspace after having my first e-mail address:-).
I have still not yet met Katim, Tony and Sister Sarian Loum, Malanding and many others but I say a big thank you for all these years.
Momodou Camara
Below is a reproduction of some history of Gambia-L.
“The closure of the touray@hope.soils... account and the relocation to u.washigton.edu with the new name Gambia-l opened opportunity to create the largest gambian family in and outside the Gambia. This could not be possible without Anthony Loum. He put his reputation on line to guarantee that Gambia-l will be used sole for the purpose of discussing issues Gambian in the absence of partisan politics, cultural, tribal and religious bigotry, slander and insults to convince U. of Washington to host Gambia-L........Of course there are countless number of folks worked behind the scene to make life on the list easy for us.”
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 11:39:25 -0800 (PST)
Send reply to: "A. Loum" <[log in to unmask]>
From: "A. Loum" <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: First anniversary
Originally to: [log in to unmask]
Hi Everyone,
Let us take a time out for a moment from the hot and substantive debate topics to reflect on the fact that today, January 31st is the first anniversary of our listserv Gambia-l hosted by The University of Washington.
Contrary to what many may have believed, I am not the original founder of Gambia-l. That honor belongs to Dr Katim Touray of Madison, Wisconsin. He first started a discussion group after the 1994 Jawara coup d´etat with a few friends. I believe that Dr Amadou Janneh was among the original few. I was introduced to Katim in 1995 by a Senegalese called Moussa Samb whom I met in the newsgroup soc.culture.africa. I think that I was the sixth member to join the group which Katim informally ran through his email account at The University of Wisconsin, Madison. By the beginning of 1996, we were informed by him that we needed a new host since some reasons, we would not be carried past the end of January. So, the search for a new host site started but with no luck and success. At the last resort, I contacted my University and got a pleasant and affirmative response. We brainstormed on the configurations that reflects the current setup of Gambia-l which was a collective decision from the relatively few members at the time. Those included the following: Amadou Janneh, Malanding Jaiteh, Latjor Know, Lamin Drammeh, Roddie Cole, Sammy Bruce Oliver, Sarian Loum, Momodou Camara, Abdou Touray, Morro Ceesay, Latjorr Ndow, Modou Kolley, Sarjo Bojang. If I should miss anybody´s name, it is unintentional, please point that out to me and you will be recognized. Since, we decided that we wanted to be global and be visible world wide, we had to select a name for the list. Suggestions were tossed around ranging from Gambia-Net to others but finally settled on Gambia-L which was first suggested by Malanding Jaiteh, if my memory is correct. On April 8th 1996, Katim shocked everyone by abruptly resigning from the group over a philosohical disagreement with the rest of the members regarding the adoption of certain rules and regulation for the list. I was deeply saddened over his departure. He had worked so hard and did so much with the technical configurations. I personally appealed to him to reverse his decision and return but was not successful. Hopefully, sometimes in the future, he might relent. That void in the technical management was admirably taken over by Abdou Touray, who up to this date is doing an absolutely marvellous job.
Gambia-l has come a long way from our humble beginnings. This date, one year ago, we were less than 20 members. Today we have over 180 members enrolled. We can boast of membership in all the continents. All praise is due to you members for your interest in becoming involved and spreading the word of our existence to Gambians and friends of The Gambia.
As you can see, we are still growing weekly.
I am forwarding the very first posting in Gambia-l that took place exactly one year ago today. I hope that this brief piece our history will be of interest.
Thanks
Tony
========================================================================
Anthony W Loum [log in to unmask]
Supervisor, Business Administration Library 206-543-4360 voice
100 Balmer Hall 206-685-9392 fax
University of Washington
Box 353200
Seattle, Wa.98195-3200
=========================================================================
PINE 3.95 MESSAGE TEXT <mail/[]> gambia-l Msg 1 of 1,208 TOP
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 18:00:24 -0800 (PST)
From: "A. Loum" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: Multiple recipients of list GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: We did it !
Hi Everyone,
Congratulations to all of us and welcome to GAMBIA-L. I have added everybody to the list and you should all have received the standard welcome message. We have not yet added the additional piece drafted by Katim which will be done soon. I am taking this opportunity to take an inventory of the list. I want to make sure that everybody has been added on, in the event that some typos were made in the addresses. So, I am asking that everybody responds to the list and confirms that they received this message and the welcome. Katim and I will match it against what we have now to ensure that everybody is properly added on.
We will finalize the administrative functions soon. So, I am asking Katim to continue taking the lead role to ensure the smooth functioning of GAMBIA-L.
Again, let us congratulate ourselves for sticking together to lead ourselves to even greater heights.
Sarjo, I have made sure that Modou Kolley is included. I will give you a call later on tonight.
Katim, I have sent you two messages on your calshp address. I hope that you will receive them before the deadline of the termination, otherwise I will forward them again tomorrow.
Thanks
Tony
========================================================================
Anthony W Loum [log in to unmask]
Supervisor, Business Administration Library 206-543-4360 voice
100 Balmer Hall 206-685-9392 fax
University of Washington
Box 353200
Seattle, Wa.98195-3200
=========================================================================
------- End of forwarded message -------
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 22:28:05 PST
Send reply to: [log in to unmask]
From: "latjor ndow" <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: gambia-l 2nd anniversary?
Greetings:
Though days, months and years keep flying by,
our bantaba continues to keep us all on on top of issues.
At times it is the political situation in our motherland.
Will the AFPRC step down? Will there be elections?
The NCC has drafted a new constitution.
What does it say? Who will challenge Jammeh?
At times it is the economy.
Is investing heavily in infrastrutural development the answer?
All these new school buildings, but where are the teachers?
Sometimes it is culture or its absence thereof;
Other times it is education,
The University Extension Program,
Book Donation Campaign,
Announcement: A new Committee for Education is being formed.
Curriculum evaluation ...
Another voice jumps in to remind us;
´70% of the workforce are farmers´,
So we ought to focus on Agriculture.
We ought to invest more in this sector!
Another voice dissents from the agriculturist.
´No! Agriculture failed to transform our
Nation into a modern economy.´
The answer lies in Information Technology.
Perhaps, says another. But where are our techies?
Announcement: A new company in Banjul is providing
e-mail access to gambians. Welcome gambia-l shadow list!
Postings from news sources are forwarded to the bantaba.
The news agencies rep. on the bantaba objects to it.
The bantaba ponders then acts. ´Keep the info. in the bush.´
Announcement: The Bush List is now operational. News postings
related to Gambia and Africa can be obtained there.
Sometimes the mood of the bantaba is playful.
A monkey joke is delivereed with such potency,
The entire bantaba doubles over with laughter.
Oh, by the way. Another new member has been added.
Welcome to our bantaba, we look forward to your intro.
Announcement: Jobs and Fellowships FWD.
Religion is raised and quickly buried. Too sensitive.
The Duutoo boys poke fun at Gunjurians.
The international community is assesed.
Someone pinch me. Is this not our Second Anniversary???
LatJor
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email: [log in to unmask]
URLs: http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara
http://www.gambia.dk
Bantaba in Cyberspace: Http://www.gambia.dk/forums/
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