Former president Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara is said to have flown to ColoradoState in the United States of America to attend the Democratic Convention, sources hinted this paper.

Sir Dawda, according to privileged information, left Banjul last Tuesday. The National Democratic Institute invited the former Gambian president to attend the Democratic Convention, where Mr Barack Obama will be officially declared as the standard-bearer for the Democratic Party in the 2008 presidential race.

According to our sources, Lady Njameh accompanied D.K Jawara, as the ex-Gambian leader is fondly called.

Since his return to The Gambia, after a short exile in the United Kingdom following the overthrow of his government in 1994, Sir Dawda has kept a low profile at his Faraja residence.

This is an autobiography that is composed from the speeches as well as other autobiographical essays that Martin Luther King, Jr., gave and wrote while he was alive. The editor of this magnificent work simply reconstructed them to fit into an autobiography that is captures the real Martin Luther King Jr. It is chronological in the sense that it begins with bits and pieces of his childhood (a precocious child who skipped two years of high school to begin college at the age of 15), then move on and on to tell his growth from a student to a non-violent crusader in the civil rights movement of what historians have termed as the “roaring sixties” in the United States of America. He attended MorehouseCollege where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology; enrolled at Crozer Theological Seminary where he received a bachelor of divinity; and went to BostonUniversity, where he obtained doctorate in systematic theology. He then began life as a preacher. While he was at Crozer that he heard the president of Howard University Mordecai Johnson lecture on Gandhi, the man whose philosophy of non-violence was to influence his outlook on life. Unlike most autobiographies, this one dwells more on the public life of Martin Luther King, Jr., giving as much information about his private as is necessary. So the bulk of the book is ideological, explaining his position on non-violence as the best way to undo the hatred of racial discrimination. His views on key America’s political figures such as John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Malcolm X as well as on the vexed Vietnam Question are clearly spelt out in this book. Though the style is reportorial, the reader gets the feeling of being in the presence of the great Martin Luther King Jr. It is like he is right before you, espousing his dream for the United Sates of America. In each chapter, key details about King are provided in a box. Also enclosed in boxes are speeches that he made in the course of his short but eventful life. He died in his prime when his guidance of the civil rights movement was badly needed. In his swan song, he said: “Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimised with what is life’s final common denominator - that something we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral. And I don’t think of it in a morbid sense. Every now and then I ask myself, ‘What is it that I would want said? ‘ And I leave the word to you this morning. “I’d like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. “I’d like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King Jr., tried to love somebody. “I want you to say that day, that I tried to be right on the war question. “I want you to be able to say that day, that I tried to feed the hungry. “And I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who are naked. “I want you to say, on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who were in prison. “I want you to say that I tried to love and to serve humanity. “Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that Ii was drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. All of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have money to leave behind. I won’t have fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that’s all I wanted to say. “If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody he ‘s travelling wrong, then my living will not be in vain. If I can do my duty as a Christian ought, if I can bring salvation to a world once wrought, if I can spread the message as the master taught, then my living will not be in vain.

This is a book all lovers of freedom and justice must read. It’s available at Timbooktoo.4494345

In this week’s Tourisphere edition, it is important to look beyond the shores of The Gambia to see some more  attractive places of tourist interest world over.  

As formerly discussed in this column, tourism is to travel for leisure purposes or for the provision of services to support recreational travel. The United Nations classified tourism into three categories in its  1994  recommendations on Tourism Statistics.

The three are domestic tourism,which involves the residents of a given country traveling only within the country; inbound tourism, is the non-residents traveling within  a given country, and the most popular and well known type, within our region,is the outbound tourism, this involves residents traveling to another country.

Tourism is vital to African countries especially West Africa, and many island nations due to the financial gains and  employment opportunity provided by the industry.

In the ranking of the world’s most visited tourist attractions last year, by Forbes Traveller for both international and domestic tourists, the following are the top ten attraction centres, with some other famous sites  which included  the list of fifty most visited places in the world.

According to the list, it is noticeable that four out of the top five and six out of the top ten are in the North America.

The Times Square in New York City, with 35 millions visitors. National Mall and Memorial Parks in Washington D.C recorded 25 millions. The Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, Orlando, 16.6 millions, of all the above mentioned ,three is in United States of America.

 The fourth one is Trafalgar Square,in London with 15 million  registered visitors while Disneyland, Anaheim, CA, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada and New York, Fisherman’s Wharf and Golden Gate Natl R. Area, San Fransisco United States witnessed 15, 14.7, 14 and 13 million visitors respectively. While the last three under ten goes to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, Tokyo, with 12.9 million, Notre-Dame de Paris, and Disneyland Paris both in France recorded 12 and 10.6 million  visitors each.

Other famous attractions include the Great Wall of China Badaling, Effeil Tower, Paris, Grand Canyon in Arizona, Statue of Liberty, New York, the Vatican and his Museum, Rome, the Colosseum both in Italy, Gira Pyramids in Cairo - Egypt and Taj Mahal, Agra in India.

Los Angeles Galaxy, who play in America's highest division of soccer (MLS), are set to hand Gambian youngster Mandou Bojang to prove his worth in the defence.

Impressed with the ability of New England Revolution to uncover new talent in the form of Gambian duo Sainey Nyassi and Kenny Mansally, LA Galaxy are ready to give Gambia Ports Authority defender enough time to prove himself.

Nyassi and Mansally wowed American audiences after stepping into the lineup full-time to begin the year with Revolution, and highlighted an influx of African-born talent that has been making an impact league-wide.

Not to be outdone, LA Galaxy director of soccer Paul Bravo went on a scouting trip to Africa, and has invited Mandou Bojang to train with the Galaxy. He arrived last week and has been training with the first team, and has brought with him quite an impressive pedigree.

The former Under 17 ace is only 19, but has represented his country at the full national team level as well as the youth level. He's a tall, athletic central defender who could potentially make an impact on a team currently dead last in the league in goals conceded.

Since Bojang doesn't have to sign before the August 15 transfer deadline, it gives head coach Ruud Gullit a chance to take his time and make an educated decision on whether to sign him or not.

"It's too early. You always give (trialists) at least a week," said Gullit. "It's hard to say right now (if we'll be signing him). Paul Bravo is responsible for (Bojang being here). We just have to see if he'll be a good addition to our team."

It's hard to argue with Bojang's credentials, and at 19, he's an exciting player simply because of the long-term ramifications.

The world-famous Gambian cultural extravaganza known as the Futampaf (initiation) took place on Thursday at President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh’s home   village of Kanilai. The extraordinary display of a living authentic African culture was witnessed by a massive gathering which included Diasporan Africans from America and Europe, including the African Poetry Theatre of New York which brought a group of 30 home-comers.

The redoubtable Mrs Lawrence (the mother of murdered black British teenager Stephen Lawrence who this writer first met at the British Government’s Inquest into the killing of her son in 1998) was accompanied by a dozen friends.

President Jammeh had, as in all previous Roots Festivals, agreed to sponsor the Futampaf event in full and the gathering over three days was fed entirely at the President’s expense. The President met the cost of all the activities laid on, including the dinner for the gathering on Wednesday evening, the Symposium on Pan-Africanism and the entertainment went into the small hours of Wednesday night, the Futampaf itself on Thursday, the lunch that followed and the Gala Dinner at midnight on Thursday.

The first act of the initiation, Ebujeyi Surumbasu ceremony took place under an imposing Busanab Tree in the centre of Kanilai. Busanab is Jola. In Wollof the Busanab Tree is called the Bentenke, which means "Tree of Peace". This was where in traditional African society the Elders and the villagers met to discuss the affairs of the village and ensure any disputes are settled peacefully.

The Busanab/Bentenke Tree was therefore a setting for the village National Assembly, a tree of "peace and democracy" indeed. It was here then that the crowd of Kanilai citizens, citizens from all over The Gambia, the Diddayal group from Mauritania and others from the sub-region, and the Diasporans from the United States, England and from Europe, gathered on Thursday morning to await the arrival of the President and the start of what turned out to be a phenomenal African cultural experience.

The ceremony has traditionally always had gun-firing which is meant to ward off evil spirits. The arrival of the president was accompanied by the firing of thunderous mortar fire that shook the sacred ceremonial ground. President Jammeh arrived and merged with the massive crowd, some of the crowd armed with fearsome knives and ceremonial machetes! The presidential security must have been horrified, but then President Jammeh must be the most difficult president for soldiers to protect, as he always disappears into the crowd to greet and dance with the people be it in Kotu, Basse or Koina.

The president did three full circles round the massive crowd, greeting the adoring people as the drummers drummed and the dancers danced. The dignitaries, which included the vice-president, the speaker of the National Assembly and secretaries of state, stood and clapped and some even danced. The president then anointed the chief priest of the ceremony, performed the important ceremony of praying for and pouring libation (water) on the chief priest and the initiates "to appease the ancestral spirits and protect the initiates".

Then the Ebujeyi Surumbasu and the Futampaf proper commenced and here I leave the description of the ceremony to the Futampaf programme guide and my photos of the occasion in the centre-spread:

(1) Ebujeye

This is a sacrificial (slaughtering of chicken) ceremony to foretell the future and protect the initiates from evil spirits and at the same time seeking the blessing of the ancestors before going through the rites of passage.

(2) Butusab

This is a manifestation of African mystical powers whereby every participant armed with all sorts of amulets, tries to counter each other or show superiority by cutting and slitting themselves with knives or matchets without penetration through the body. This action is accompanied by singing, dancing and other cultural incantations. In this act, real men are distinguished from the passive ones.

(3) Esafeyui Ubarawu

While the guests retire for lunch, the initiates are taken round the sacred trees where libation is poured to appease the ancestral spirits and protect the initiates. They are then dressed in white as a sign of purity and maturity to manhood.

(4) Ejaw-Noken Karengaku

The initiates and their escorts (chintangolu) enter the initiation school (jujuwo) for the rites of passage to manhood. There, they are taught all the secrets of life like proverbs, riddles and other signs and symbols (passingolu and mansalingolu) which are to remain hidden and never to be revealed to the uninitiated.

(5) Jaw Bote Besindeyi

The initiates by now dressed in their new ceremonial clothes, emerge from the bush to go home followed by the burning of the Karengak (Jujuwo).

(6) Jibomaje Chinje

This is a traditional initiation dancing to be performed by all the initiates. Adopted mothers then adorn the initiates with beads and multi-coloured attire.

At this point, those from the Diaspora who went through this rites of passage will be given new traditional names if they wish after which they retire to their adopted family homes for the farewell or can go back to their hotels.

(7) Bunokenabu

This is the day the Kumbachaku will enter the bush.

The day is the climax of the jubilation by all those who have come to celebrate the occasion. It is the day when all able persons display their ability and skills in dancing and magical powers. The day also includes the display by courageous men who fire their super guns made of simple local materials, but thunder like the canons of great battle ships of ferocious days gone by.

The thundering sounds of these guns are meant to scare away the evil spirits that like to hang around the villages on such days. “Butusab”, the display of cultural rites and traditional dances is the order of the day and “Asafeyet Ubarrawu”, the visiting of important sacred trees and sprinkling special powders, charms and pouring libation on them to seek and obtain the blessings and guidance of the ancestors constitute an important ritual to protect the day. Some persons become possessed and transmit instructions from the dead ancestors as to what should be done or what the family has neglected over the past years.

When the Butusab reaches a particular point on the way to the “Karengaku” (bush school), the women have to stop and only men who have been initiated before can proceed.

There is an order in which the Kambachaku will enter. One from a particular family will lead and the command will come from the Ayieu (king of the Karengaku).

Once they enter the Karengaku proper, there is complete order and silence. The holy of holiest is full of taboos with very severe punishment for anyone breaking them. These are executed either immediately on the culprit or are an eternal curse on one’s descendants. The atmosphere in the Karengaku is tense with fear and maximum caution.

Then begins the manhood training and the traditional rites of passage for the young initiates. This process includes the acquisition of valuable tool for the life thereafter as a man in the traditional society and village community. As it is with such an activity, it is a taboo to talk about these processes and procedures outside the Karengaku or to those not yet initiated.

The day after the boys have gone to the bush, the uncles and aunts claim their rights by claiming a bull for the uncles and a bull for the aunts. Goats, palm wine, tobacco, food, etc, are also demanded as of right by different levels of both paternal and maternal relationships.

(8) Kahlibaku and Kabomenaku

This final stage is the dressing and dancing of the initiates. The initiates have been trained to dance a special complicated dance  called “Jibomaje Chingeh” which they perform on that day. Each one has his turn to dance and while dancing, relatives will be throwing money on each initiate while another person (one of the Kulangeyeh) with a special lappa tied to his waist collects the money showered on the initiate. It is a show of wealth and affection by the relatives especially the females. After these final festivities, the newly initiated young men rejoin their families and go home as reliable and fully fledged members of the village community. They will now rise to a higher level of society: to the group of the Kulambeoku.

Gambians are on the march again for the celebration of the 9th edition of the International Root Festival scheduled for 30th May - 7th June 2008.

According to Mr. Momodou Joof, Director General of the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) who is also the Chairman of the National Coordinating Committee for the 9th edition of the Root Festival said that this year Roots trail’s celebration will be at Janjangbureh.

In the Gambian there are lot of different cultural heritages and festivals grouped into three categories. We have community, national and international festivals. Among the international festival is Home Coming Roots Festival - a biennial event that grows in steady numbers and reaches out to the people residing within Africa, America, Europe, Scandinavia, Latin America, Caribbean Islands and Aborigines.

This event aims, as explained by Mr Joof is to strengthen and cement unity amongst Africans on the continent and within the Diaspora, to promote and give full exposure of The Gambia cultural heritages to the world and more so to encourage local and particularly foreign investors into the nation which will not be a benefit to the Gambia alone but Africa as a whole.

It is the part of each and every black soul that has wandered away to come back to their base and this can only be done through the tracing or returning back to the origin and where is the origin, the root which is the foundation where you can experience what they call real life and well rich cultures of which they have been denied courtesy of the colonial slave masters in some hundred years ago.

The biennial International Roots Festival which was designed to encourage peoples of African descendant that resides within the Diasporas to further discover their ancestral identity was first celebrated in the year 1996. This was due to a lot of different heritages that Gambia possesses and particularly the accolade received from the book – "ROOTS.’

A book published by the African-American Historian, Alex Hailey, who traced and discovered his root in The Gambian in a small village called Juffureh. He wrote this book, ROOTS, based upon the discovery of his origin and this book was later turned to a cinema that was showing on television and further produces into home videos for millions of people to view.

In brief, the history of the International Roots Festival will not be understood without mention James Island, it is an Island in the River Gambia which bears the last remains of a slave fort where Africans were held captive before they were forcibly put into slave ships to embark on an unknown journey without return. As confirmed by the director of NCAC "this is what brought Juffureh to limelight with a lot of other things at the village."

As the say goes ‘no event, no history,’ the International Root Festival celebration cannot be separated from the history of the slave trade. It was over 400 years ago that the ancestors have been separated by slave trade which was championed by the colonial slave masters. They kept Africans at bay from their true history and origin, identity, cultural traditions and prevented unity and growth amongst its people and the Africa continent as a whole.

At the heart of Atlantic slavery was the slave trade, a vast co-ordinated system for the forced migration of Africans often from hundreds of miles in their homeland to virtually every corner of America. Both Europeans and Africans participated in the trade, and four continents were deeply influenced by it.

In celebrating this year International Roots Festival, Mr Joof, Director of NCAC, a semi autonomous institution that was established to promote and develop Gambian arts and culture, who is also the Chairman of the National Coordinating Committee for the 9th Edition of the International Roots Festival, has said that this year event is going to be celebrated in a grand style with fanfares. The 9-day event will start on the 30th of May with orientation and welcome reception at Army Officers Mess, Kotu. Day two, 31st of May is for investment forum at Paradise Suite Hotel, Kololi, follow by Carnival procession at Kairaba Avenue and official opening of the 9th Edition of the International Roots Festival by His Excellency Dr Alhagie AJJ Jammeh at the Independence Stadium, Bakau.

On the 1st of June is scheduled for interfaith religious forum conference at Friendship Hotel, Bakau, Regatta (traditional boat race) will take place at Banjul Wharf. Roots trail continue, 2nd June will be a visit to Janjangbureh and heritage sites in Central River Region plus cultural night. The fifth day-3rd of June is pilgrimage to Juffureh village, the home town of Alex Hailey, the grate historian, in Juffureh/Albreda villages in North Bank Region. Sixth-day, 4th of June is set aside for preparation of initiates, at Kanilai village, symposium on pan-Africanism in Sindola Camp and local traditional wrestling competition at Kanilai Square.

The 5th of June is the d-day for ‘Futampaf’ (rites of passage) in Kanilai village and Foni Kansala respectively; this is solely sponsored by His Excellency Yahya Jammeh. Later in the day it will be Roots Gala Dinner where participants will have real taste of the Gambia food (local Gambian and West African cuisine and beverages) with fashion show and entertainment by local and international artists’ present, venue is Sindola Camp – Foni Kansala. Friday the 6th of June is the visit to Makasutu Eco-tourism Cultural Forest Park in Kembujeh village, in Western Region while Palma Rima Beach, Kotu will be a host to farewell musical jamboree (by local and international guests/artists). Finally, Saturday is a free morning/shopping departures for individual.

This year Home Coming Root Festival is going to be groovy and supercede the previous celebrations due to the introduction of more activities that will make it enjoyable and remarkable event each and every tourist will have a splendid time.

Please allow me a space to express my concerns about some angry Gambian-born asylum-seekers in America.

I would first like to give some advice to these morons so-called internet-based journalists. One thing I would like to share with you though is that any person who does not have a good up-bringing from his parents would always despise anyone of authority figure.

Anyone who does not celebrate greatness is doom to frustration throughout his or her lifetime. Greatness is the anointing of God. Not everyone will be a great person. But whatever God did not give you he would always give it to someone around you. The key to reach to that treasure is to recognise, love and celebrate that greatness and the blessing which God has bestowed on to that person without feeling jealous.

By recognising that greatness, God will bless you as well. When God blesses your neighbour before you, do not get jealous because your’s is on the way coming. Never think that God has forgotten about you.

God will always give someone the authority to lead and will always give them all the support they need to fulfill whatever they are calling for because whatever God ordains He sustains it. If Tom, Dick and Harry think that they too can form their own evil organisation to fight that anointed person you will see that God is not oblige to honour their wishes.

Every person is blessed with some gifted talents, but not every one utilises their unique talents to the fullest. Your unique talent bestowed on you by God is not meant to form an evil organisation to fight authority figures. Unless you recognise your own unique talent your key to success will be doomed.

Every human being needs an enemy to succeed in life. What an enemy can offer you there is no one in this world who could give you that. An enemy will force you to be more ambitious, because he will tell you that you are not good enough. An enemy will reveal your embarrassing secret, an enemy will always remind you of your past mistakes. But it will be a mockery on to God for not protecting or promoting you. Without the enemy you will not even know that you have brilliant talents inside you.

To sum it up, the enemy will bring the best out of you. All the cyber-based traitors who insult authority figures clearly show their true rotten and disgusting personalities which stems from their bad childhood upbringing; therefore they will despise any authority figure without feeling guilty. With the attitude they are showing on their so-called internet newspaper, it clearly shows that they were despising their own parents in the past. Please do not teach your children the same attitude for God sake.

In the western world, people criticise their leaders for the mistakes they make but they do not insult them. Watch your language and manners folks. I don’t know whether they have got any professional qualifications or it is just their recklessness. These cyber-based traitors are making too much brouhaha and pointing fingers.

I suggest to the families in The Gambia to discipline their children to be respectful and honour authorities. Every problem in society starts from a small family problem. For example, if a mother tells to her son or daughter that their father (the authority figure in the house) will not bring child support, that mother is cultivating a seed in to those children to believe that their father is not good enough.

That son will despise a policeman or any authority figure and the daughter will think that another man is responsible for their livelihood. That daughter will resort to prostitution, thinking that is the way to make a living.

Lastly but not the least, I want to wish our gifted and hard working president and the people in The Gambia a prosperity, peace, stability and a happy new year.

Surahata Marong

UK