"To some extent, this malaise is constantly renewing itself because of 
the"display rituals" of " semesters": those who'd managed to get to the 
West, and who frequently, or not so frequently,come back for holidays. Some 
of these" semesters ", like peacocks, prance about town preeing their plumes 
in an unspoken but comic concours d'elegance. Very rarely would these 
"queens" explain honestly to people the price they have had to pay for their 
plumes: the sleeping on other people's floors,the sponging off of friends 
and enemies alike, the menial jobs,the cops,and as most of the West is 
racist, the almost systemic sapping of one's amour propre. The indignities 
that await the African in Europe are infact endless."

Yes, some of us go to Gambia to clown around and yes, fluff our feathers, 
thanks to the few that manage to exhibit that image.  I have run into this 
type in banks and other public places and believe me they can act the fool 
in outlook and behavior.  Especially, the ones that come from this end of 
the woods, with their slangs, walk, and flash.  Rappers don't have anything 
on them for every other sentence starts or ends with MF.  Funny story, I was 
in line at a bank and all of a sudden I heard one of these freaks yell from 
behind me, "What's up ma Nigger".  I instantly told myself, I hope this 
idiot is not talking to me, without looking back.  Luckily he was talking to 
another buffoon from Georgia.  You should have seen the hostile looks from 
the customers, but these two fools carried on with this noise for what seem 
like thirty minutes.  When they finally stepped outside, the customers, 
mainly home based Gambians and some caucasians, unanimously registered their 
disgust and heaped it on the bank tellers for not putting the brakes on 
those two exhibits.  It was really embarrassing the way they carried 
themselves, especially, when one of the caucasians commented that: "had a 
white person call them that in the states, then they call you a racist".  
So, yes, there are those types and they are representing.

However, why do some of our brothers and sisters on the ground seem to cling 
to this myth that the above listed jobs/conditions is what most of us do for 
the most part in Europe and America?  The ones that tend to do that the most 
are those that seem to think there is a competition between diasporans and 
them.  By virtue of them being on top of the food chain in the Gambia, they 
seem to have the need to dangle this "Hai, Yen Daagne Fok, Nyuun Nungeh 
Dohal Fee Teh Deka Baange Doh - Toportor Gi".  Good for you, so, where is 
the problem if things are working for you?  Why does your doing good have to 
counter the state of being of any other from the outside?  When you don't 
bite the bait, they shift gear to giving you advise that you need to buy 
land, build this and that, only to weave in what they are building etc..  
That is what they wanted to tell you and to know your business so, they can 
be an expert on you.  That is the Chuneh business that this crop like to 
indulge in.  The levelheaded friends are a joy to meet and it is those lost 
memories that you miss when you leave them.  I've heard the above many times 
during my trips and I just shake my head.  Well, Monkey see Monkey do.  
Years ago, Yaya opened his big mouth and said that nonsense when we 
embarrassed him on his trips to the US.

Am tempted to take this crop on, but I think it is best for them to continue 
to cling to their sweet dream and savor the complex they carry.  "Saalowe", 
they can dangle it all they want, but none will say they are an expert on 
Joe, for I tell them zilch.  That bothers them.  They want so badly to use 
you to measure their ego, but nope, none of your business what I do or have. 
  "Coumpa Gi Di Nah Leene Rey".  You have not seen me for a decade and I 
have not told you anything about myself, why you priming me about buying 
land and circumstance?  Is it not enough that I thought highly of you to 
look for you for old time sake?  Naah!  They have a need to shine on 
someone.

Finally, the Observer missed the forest for the tree.  If Yaya is doing so 
well for Gambia, that you seem to lie about daily, why you think the youth 
would rather die trying than live in the abundance that you seem to falsely 
write about?   See, the joke is on the Observer, for it by default have 
revealed that was all propaganda.  Poverty and unemployment is the reason, 
stupid!  You measure how well a nation is doing by the state of its 
citizens, not the thieves that thrive off the bones of the masses.  Write 
about that next time, will you?  Please read on.






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The Daily Observer (Banjul)

EDITORIAL
April 17, 2007
Posted to the web April 20, 2007


There is scarcely a youth in our country who does not harbour a craving to 
go to Europe or to the US .

Its true that the bourgeoisie have been sending their kids to the West for 
further education, but the sort of craving we are talking about is the one 
that we used to call"nerves": a vague hankering for Europe or the US, 
irrespective of whether one had the fare or indeed a definite plan of what 
to do when one got there.


This herd ambition to leave is so strong that a lot of people are now 
entrusting their lives to profiteering traffickers, whose perilous sea 
journeys have all too frequently ended in catastrophe. No amount of advice 
seems capable of dissuading these "hustlers" from making their hazardous 
journeys. The promise of El dorado has befuddled the minds of many would-be 
adventurers,and the glazed-over vision of the West which such a befuddlement 
entrails, is nothing but the glow of an illusion; soon to be dissolved by 
either death or the disappointing lineaments of the Western world.

Relevant Links

West Africa
Gambia
Economy, Business and Finance



Rumours of richest have always induced people into making the journey which 
they hope will improve their economic lot;but in our case,it is difficult to 
assess whether the current scale of exodus is a direct symtom of our 
economic under-development, or an excresence of the psychological 
morbidities that have been detected in the post-colonial mind. Most of 
us,expecially our youths, seem haunted on our own soil, and the Western 
world is believed to offer the only possibility of an exorcism.

To some extent, this malaise is constantly renewing itself because of 
the"display rituals" of " semesters": those who'd managed to get to the 
West, and who frequently, or not so frequently,come back for holidays. Some 
of these" semesters ", like peacocks, prance about town preeing their plumes 
in an unspoken but comic concours d'elegance. Very rarely would these 
"queens" explain honestly to people the price they have had to pay for their 
plumes: the sleeping on other people's floors,the sponging off of friends 
and enemies alike, the menial jobs,the cops,and as most of the West is 
racist, the almost systemic sapping of one's amour propre. The indignities 
that await the African in Europe are infact endless.

It is unfortunate that the admiration and envy which these "semesters" 
arouse, tent to inflame our fantacies of the West, and all earnest advice is 
usually met with suspicious leers, if not hostility. Most of us take advice 
as the ancient Greeks took the prophecies of Cassandra---with a pinch of 
salt. But fantasy's bubble invariably bursts, when it crashes against the 
immovable boundaries of reality.

_________________________________________________________________
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