For the tiny fraction of Gambians who make it to or near the top echelons of the government or parasatal bureaucracy, retirement does not necessarily spell sudden and swift reduction in income and the fulfillment that comes with waking up and going to work in the morning. Usually those with good contacts can get rehired on contract to do a variation of their original assignments on renewable time periods. For the rest with average government jobs retirement begins the long journey of cashing the almost sacrosanct social bond by which children are expected to take care of their elders. By and large most people take pride at taking in their parents at their golden age , subsidizing at whatever level they can. For the most part retirees are able to maintain or if one or more of the providers are lucky enough to be more financially well off, are able to markedly improve their standard of living. It is a complex traditional form of social security that sometimes precipitates strains but has endured over the years. Gambians abroad by and large form an integral part of this social security web since they tend to be a bit more affluent than the larger society back home. Infact a very big chunk of the remittances sent to the country goes to subsidise those on fixed or no income . This inturn spurs the very crucial informal sector of the economy. Retirement for the village subsistence farmer which accounts for the majority of the country is not entirely different. The same societal dictum of the young taking care of the elderly within the family unit is at the core of rural society.In my village , poor diet and years of back breaking physical work often means early retirement for most folks. Early marraige also ensures children are grown by the time the labor- induced retirements occur. The very senior elders spend most of their day at the second village Bantaba which is deliberately set at the mosque grounds where they spend most of the day alternating between short snoozes , prayers and sometimes congregating around the few Qurans at the mosque reading verses from from the old and tender pages that have been carefully banded together with rubber bands. Every once in a while you will see them shaving eachothers head right at edge of the Bantaba. Some would bring small chores like groundnuts to deshell either for the next days meal or part of a larger quantity to be used as seed stock or corn on the comb that needs to be partially worked on to ensure the women have an easier time when they embark on the much more labor intensive task of turning corn kernels to a warm cherreh later in the evening. Age seem to bring out the creative skills of most people in that you more likely to see the elderly involved in the often tidious task of weaving boabab fibres into ropes for either the well or livestock. Some carve out mortar and pestle , others fabricate water collecting bags from inner-tube tires. Since their Bantaba is strategically located in the village in that all roads in and out of the village traverses it, the seniors serve as unwitting mailboxes in which messages are left and collected and the general pulse of the village is gauged. For the most part the seniors of Demfai seem happy. Underneath the hardened palms and weathered faces I always remember the twinkle in each of their eyes even as sit here in the surburbs of Maryland. There they sit taking in the dry breeeze emanating from the sandstone hills and gentle undulating vallies around their village, radiating the robustness once associated with their youth . Like the imposing Bantang tree that provides the shade at their Bantaba, they continue to imbue the kind of wisdom that has let this community endure through the ages. Karamba ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------