Talking about the Chows , Gracie Where on earth is Jacqueline Chow? Habib aisha camara wrote: > Hi if I may bot in here. Macdonnell Street is renamed Jack Chow Street, the > late father of mrs Eileen Downes Thomas the wife of Felix Downes Thomas and > Ms Gracie Ngulu Chow. > > >From: Prince Obrien-Coker <[log in to unmask]> > >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list > ><[log in to unmask]> > >To: [log in to unmask] > >Subject: Attn: Sidi - The Banjul Street Names. > >Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 16:55:54 +0100 > > > >Sidi, > >It is funny you asked what the new name of MacDonnell Street is. In the > >late > >60's Eric Janneh (Now a Chief in the Kombos) and other MacDonnell > >"prominents" were advocating that the street should be named after your > >dad. > >I am honestly not joking. Kassy Janneh, M.I. (Kabba) Jallow and Oussou Njie > >(Seņor) are online and they can confirm this. You see, In the Gambia the > >people determine street names. No Government organ can change this fact. > >A good example is "Tobacco Road". The government then had tried everything > >to discourage the people from using that name. "Tobacco Road" is a song by > >rock group called "Rare Earth". "The Super Eagles" popularised the song in > >the Gambia. It is a song about a place you love so much, but it is being > >destroyed by "dirt and filth" - corruption and all other political > >iniquities. "The Super Eagles Band" was very good in using songs to > >"Garuwaleh" the government and "Tobacco Road" was one of the most implicit > >protest songs of the late 60's and 70's against politicians and their > >practices. > >When I was working at the BCC in the late 60's, I was partly responsible > >for > >the street name boards. One day Kutour Louis Prom asked us why we were > >putting up street name boards, with names that the people are not using. He > >said the street names should be the way people are calling the street. This > >was said at an informal gathering at the BCC. The Boards were ordered and > >when they came, we saw that some of the streets have completely changed > >names to the way people call them. It was not noticed for over 3 months > >until "The Gambia Echo" published it. I was called at the Mayor's Office to > >explain the changes. That was not difficult. I told the City clerk, Mr C. > >I. > >Jagne, to call the Mayor's wife and ask her the name of her street. Kelepha > >Samba was then the Mayor and I knew that his second wife was living at one > >of these streets. She did not only call the name but she also spelt it the > >way the new names were written. We all laughed and left the room. > >The street that originally was Spolding became Spalding, Rakin became > >Rankin > >and Lemon became Leman. Although Leman street existed but it was an > >extension of Lemon: from Hill street to the Brown Street mosque. But > >popular > >usage called the whole street Leman, from McCarthy Square (July 22 Square) > >to Brown Street. > >Kutour Prom would not have been the Kutour Prom we knew had he not been > >instrumental in this. He also proposed that the Health Service Offices by > >Russell Street should be call "Bordor Fell" (Board of Health). > >Note though, some street maintained the street board while the people call > >them by other names e.g Anglesea will always be "Angleseen", also > >Perseverance Street is still called "Pasiveeran". Kent Street, to the > >people > >will forever remain "Ken Street". > >When I just left school my mother used to advise me to go to Griffith > >Street > >to look for a job. It took me days to know where meant. Griffith Street was > >in the place that we used to call "PWD" or "PUD" and today it is part of > >the > >Ports. > >Among the streets that have, at present, changed names are Buckle, Leman, > >Anglesea, Cameroon, Independence Drive (formerly Clifton Road) and Marina > >Parade. Please do not ask me how they are called NOW. I only know Mandela > >Avenue (Cameroon), because I was there everyday when I was in town. > >I am sure you will say, "yes, but these are only the pronunciations of the > >illiterates", but never forget that in the Gambia, illiterates sometimes > >dictate to the literate how things should be said. The person who ordered > >that "Twenty-Five Dalasis" should be written on our bank notes is surely > >not > >an illiterate, while any literate person knows that "Dalasi" has no plural. > >You have never heard a mandinka person saying "Dalasis Kemeh". > >Another example is calling the wife of a knight by her first name. "Lady > >Chilel" was such a popular name that they name a ship after her. During > >KuKoi's fray, the BBC thought that Lady Chilel was Jawara's daughter. > >So don't ever under estimated the power of the Gambian people. > > > >Prince Coker > > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L > >Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ______________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.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 > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------