Truly, The death of Paa Joakim DaCosta is a great loss to the country. Even to those of us who never knew him personally, that he spent most of his life teaching and nurturing Gambian minds, is a reputation more dignified than can be adequately summoned in our present sense of bereavement. He falls in line with a shortlist of those Gambian heroes who championed the national interest with disarming consistency, never equivocating when truth needed to be spoken to power. Like Paa William Small, Paa Ali Jammeh, and Paa Dickson Colley, all before him, Paa DaCosta's memory shall be treasured and honoured, never to buried....always to be remebered when we pay homage to all those silent heroes who sleep their final sleep unfulfilled. Together with all those whose passing have been brought to our notice on this List, we pray that Allah shower His countenance upon them, and grant them eternal peace. Momodou S Sidibeh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~