Hundreds of refugees over the weekend cleaned up the West Field Traffic lights area to conclude their World Refuge Day Celebrations.

Refugees in The Gambia from Somalia, Congo, Chad, Togo, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Casamance, were seen working at Westfield leaving the area cleaner and more slightly.

According to Abdulrahman Kamara, the refugee PRO, the cleaning exercise was to show gratitude to their hosts for the past years. Also to let their hosts know that their plight was not their making but the making of greedy politicians in their various countries. In the words of Mr. Kamara, “the cleaning shows that we are one; it will foster good health. A dirty environment means sickness.

Talking about refugee turn-out, Mr. Kamara further stated that the UNHCR budget was for only a few refugees, because it was believed that nearly all refugees have returned.

Tenneh Kamara, a Sierra Leonean female refugee said she had lived in The Gambia for ten years. She said she is an orphan and has only one sister. “I have undergone a lot of hardships here; many of my friends have abandoned me and I need help,” decried Tenneh. She was the most outstanding worker at the Westfield cleaning. She is hard working but unemployed, she told this reporter.

A photographer said: “This is the best cleaning ever. I have never seen Westfield cleaned like this even during government’s popular Set-settal”. Abdouraman Bangura, a refugee from Basse complained about stakeholders neglecting the Basse refugees. He expected more refugees to be present at the cleaning. The refugees were quite happy. GAFNA provided food and drinks for them but they cried that not all could get the food or drink.