Yes Sariang, they were. Thanks for the kind words. Baba On Aug 2, 2017 9:32 PM, "Sariang Marong" < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > Brother Baba, > Good reflection I am sure the family was happy to see you after so many > years. Thank you. > Sariang > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Aug 2, 2017, at 2:04 PM, Baba Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Thank you Pierre and Abdou. Yes, there is beauty and strong potential in > the air. With God's help we can take this beautiful country to the next > level. > > Baba > > On Aug 2, 2017 8:53 PM, "Dr. Pierre Gomez" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> Yes Baba, The Gambia is on the move. Democracy is sweet: a new day is >> born. >> Pierre >> >> On 2 Aug 2017 19:33, "Baba Jallow" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> >>> *Gambia on the Move* >>> >>> >>> >>> By Baba Galleh Jallow >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> It’s Saturday, July 01, 2017. We left my >>> lodgings at 4:04 am and got to Banjul at 4:45, so we could catch the first >>> ferry to Barra. We are packed at the Banjul ferry terminal, waiting to >>> cross to Barra for my first trip to Farafenni in many years. The drive from >>> Brufut to Banjul was almost effortless. But God, we turned into Wellington >>> Street, the pathway to the Banjul Ferry Terminal. I could not believe my >>> eyes. The street was one big pool of muddy water. It was impossible to >>> believe that a street in the middle of our capital city was this bad. It >>> was almost a series of lakes and muddy mini mountains through which cars >>> have to wade and wobble to access the ferry terminal. >>> >>> >>> >>> Many times I find myself holding my mouth, peering around me, wondering, >>> whatever happened to this dear little country. The people look visibly >>> relieved that the tyranny that oppressed their lives for so long is now >>> gone. But they also seem strangely traumatized, dazed. You could almost >>> feel the sense of both naked despair and elation in the air. There is a >>> certain turbulence in the calm. A certain ugly in the beauty. People look >>> calm, but their eyes bear the scars of pain. Their fear of the dead >>> dictatorship is yet to dissipate. Their sense of desperation is lifting. >>> But it remains visible on gaunt faces. The taut skin speaks of tiredness, >>> of fatigue born of twenty two years of fear, of watchfulness, of a sense of >>> desperate bondage that threatened to last one billion years. One remembers >>> calling friends in Gambia and mentioning Yahya Jammeh and being told in >>> frightful tones, “*hey, bayil lollu. Bul tuda koku*” (hey stop that. >>> Don’t mention that name) followed by nervous laughter. It had grown so bad >>> that ordinary Gambians were afraid to mention the name Yahya Jammeh in >>> public. For fear of being overhead and picked up by the NIA, Jammeh’s >>> secret police and their ubiquitous network of informers planted in every >>> nook and cranny of Gambian society. What on earth justifies such mad >>> obsession with policing society as if people were some dangerous monsters? >>> Perhaps, the strange mixture of fear and elation on people’s faces speaks >>> of a cautious optimism that things can only get better than they were for >>> the past two decades. >>> >>> >>> >>> I walked past a small group of elderly men standing around in a small >>> circle, speaking in Mandinka. They were talking about Yahya Jammeh. I came >>> back again and stopped, just outside their small circle. I was shamelessly >>> snooping, knowing that my presence would not stop those determined elders >>> from having their noisy say in the new Gambia. In the old Gambia, they >>> would not have been talking about Yahya Jammeh at all, except perhaps to >>> exclaim how great he was. >>> >>> >>> >>> “They burnt all the ballots,” one was saying. “*Yae bae le jani!”* >>> (They burnt all of them!) >>> >>> >>> >>> “Around Darsilameh too,” another retorted, “lots of ballots were burned. *Senegali >>> yeng maakoi le deh!”* (Senegal helped us a lot). >>> >>> >>> >>> “Senegal and Gambia are the same,” another added. “There are Fulolu in >>> Senegal and Fulolu in Gambia; there are Mandinkolu in Senegal, and >>> Mandinkolu in Gambia. *Mbay moh killing*!” (We are all the same >>> people!). >>> >>> >>> >>> “But are not all people the same?” another agreed. >>> >>> >>> >>> “You know what the Nigerian president told his soldiers?” someone asked. >>> >>> >>> >>> Everyone said hmmn, hmmn, in anticipation of the juicy bit of >>> information. >>> >>> >>> >>> “He told them if you go don’t do anything. If they shoot you, shoot >>> back; if not, don’t do anything.” >>> >>> >>> >>> “They were going to catch him,” another suggested in a confident tone. >>> “Not a single shot would have been fired!” >>> >>> >>> >>> “That’s what he knew! That’s why he ran away.” >>> >>> >>> >>> The elders laughed and one of them said: “*Gambia diyaa taleh. Gambia >>> diyaa taleh.”* (Gambia is sweet. Gambia is sweet). >>> >>> >>> >>> I was pleasantly surprised to hear that statement. Yes, Gambia is sweet. >>> In the months, weeks and days leading up to my trip, I did not know what to >>> expect. I had been away so long that I found it hard to imagine how >>> anything looked like. When I said this in a WhatsApp text message to my >>> good friend and former Gambia High School classmate, Omar Gaye (Banaa) >>> responded in his characteristic witty and confident style, “You will be >>> pleasantly surprised.” And yes I am pleasantly surprised at the new Gambia. >>> I could not fail to notice our society’s youthfulness. I could not fail to >>> notice the confident beauty of the people, the respectful way in which >>> ordinary Gambians in the street treat each other. I could not fail to >>> notice how the very many young traffic police officers around the Kombos >>> are so relaxed in their interactions with the bustling public and >>> motorists. I could not fail to notice the youthful sense of purpose; a >>> certain businesslike manner that, in a strange and interesting kind of way, >>> strikes me as a spitting image of the new Gambia. There is certainly >>> something new and beautiful in the air. Yes, we do have many problems >>> and some serious challenges. But I can feel that Gambia is on the move. >>> >>> >>> >>> I was disoriented for the first few days after my arrival. I had thought >>> I would feel like a stranger, and I do feel like a stranger. Yet I feel >>> perfectly at home. This land is my land, these people are my people, the >>> very laid back, smiling, carefree Gambians I had left behind seventeen >>> years ago. The magic is that they all seem to have grown younger and more >>> beautiful! Yes, most people I know have visibly aged. But elderly people >>> seem almost invisible in the Greater Banjul Area. Almost eight out of ten >>> people I see on a daily basis are young. It is good to feel the vibrant >>> energy. I remember my good friend and colleague Dr. Pierre Gomez telling me >>> during the impasse that Jammeh’s fall was largely due to “the Jammeh >>> Generation.” I now see what he means by the Jammeh generation. I now see >>> that Jammeh was outgrown by Gambian society. While he was busy grabbing and >>> hoarding the vestiges of power, Gambians were growing up, mushrooming in a >>> manner he was totally blind to. And when it became necessary to topple the >>> tyrant, the Jammeh generation was there to help execute the feat, to tear >>> his posters down from billboards, and to shout in his ears that Gambia Has >>> Decided! The sight of graffiti proclaiming “Gambia has Decided!” and >>> “Jammeh Must Go!” around the Kombos stirs a warm feeling in the heart and >>> tells you in no uncertain terms that Gambia is on the move. Our challenge >>> is to make it move in the right direction. And we will do just that. >>> >>> >>> >>> Back in the car at the Banjul ferry terminal, I think I recognize traces >>> of Jammeh’s NIA. I could see that blank indifference in the eyes of a >>> couple of men. I was almost certain that they are former NIA, now the >>> benign and restrained SIS (State Intelligence Service). I have pondered >>> over the wisdom of keeping what used to be the NIA in a post-Jammeh Gambia. >>> Perhaps to help thwart any evil plans by the former despot to destabilize >>> the new government? Anyway, as I sat in the front seat of my car and >>> started typing these thoughts on my laptop, one of the men I suspect to be >>> ex-NIA agents walked over and planted himself right in front of the car. He >>> was talking on the phone, or pretending to do so, eating a sandwich, and >>> making small talk with passers-by at the same time by saying things like *eh >>> boy ibedee? Waw nakam? Mbinaa mbinaa mbinaa.* *Hey hey naa jang naa >>> jang!* It was clear that he was watching me, all the while pretending >>> not to be doing any such thing. In by-gone days, he might have come over to >>> ask what was I writing about, or perhaps “invite” me to go with him to NIA >>> headquarters. And I would have had to go. There, I would be asked to sit on >>> a dry chair. And I would be asked a long series of silly questions. Then I >>> would be asked to sit on a wooden bench. And I would be forced to watch an >>> ugly system creaking and cracking and screeching around all day long. That >>> was how it was back in the day. Maybe now they would have just sent me to >>> the torture chamber. In any case, I was spared that sad eventuality. *Nii >>> mang kukeh kutela* is back! >>> >>> >>> >> ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To > unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web > interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html > > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/ > SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please > send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ > > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To > unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web > interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html > > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/ > SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please > send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤