Dear Colleagues:
                I am writing to announce the sudden
death of our good friend and brother Alhaji Bai Abi
Phall. He died suddenly on Monday at Laurel Hospital,
Montgomery County, Maryland. For those of you who do
not know much about this brother, let me give you a
brief account of his life and times:


                   OBITUARY

               Alhaji Bai abi Phall: A Gambian Who
               Labored Hard for his Contemporaries


             Alhaji Bai Abi Phall has returned to his
Creator. Like those before us he too has taken the
path which all of us will eventually take. During his
life he went through the stages of socialization most
young Gambians of the colonial era experienced. The
son of Pa Essa Faal, a private contractor whose
reputation among the colonial Gambians was far and
wide. His father earned the distinction of being the
Gambian contractor who built more wharves than any
other contractor. Throughout the Provinces the name
Essa Faal was known among many villagers and
townspeople. Young Bai Abi shared this commitment to
public service with his father. He joined the Boy
Scouts of the Gambia and excelled in many ways. Later
he became a member of the Zegoza, one of the earliest
Gambian youth groups projecting a modern outlook in
mode of dress and social activism. It was groups like
this that pioneered much of the changes that many
Gambian youths now take for granted. What later came
to be known in the provinces as Kompinos were in many
ways modelled after these urban-based youth groups.
          Mr. Phall attended the Methodist Boys High
School in Banjul. After finishing his education he
joined that small but growing caravan of aspiring
Gambians who went to the United Kingdom for higher
education. He studied the medical and health sciences
and worked in England for many years as a physician's
assistant. He emigrated to the United States of
America in 1969 and worked at the Washington Hospital
Center in Washington, D.C. Bai abi Phall was one of
the first Gambians who emigrated to the United States.
After almost five years in the United States of
America he decided to answer the call of duty and
returned to the Gambia. He was one the first team of
teachers to open the Gambia School of Public Health in
Banjul. During his tenure at this institution he
gained fame and recognition among Gambians not only
for his dedicated services to the community but his
radio broadcasts on health and medical issues in the
country.
         Alhaji Bai Abi Phall spent many years in the
Gambian Civil Service. During his years of service he
became known to almost all his contemporaries. He was
definitely a man who gave much of himself to others.
He gave medicine to the sick, school lunch money to
the youth and fish money to relatives,friends and
neighbors. In classical  Wolof terminology he would
have been described as Samba yek nyep. This is to say,
he was someone who cares for most if not all who came
his way.
           Alhaji Bai Abi Phall whose last name is
spelt differently from his cosuins(the Faals) in
Banjul and elsewhere in the Gambia, took this decision
to assert his independence and to capture phonetically
the sound of his name which many of his American and
British friends confuse with the English verb fall. He
is survived by his wife Hania and five daughters. May
his soul rest in peace. We express our condolences to
the family and to the in-laws, Habib Ghanim, Ghanim
Diab of Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, Kathleen and Fatwa,
Amira Diab Jagne and all others in Gambia, Lebanon,
United States of America and elsewhere.


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices
http://auctions.yahoo.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------