To my brothers and sisters, I say wake up from your slumber and open your eyes; shine your eyes very well and take a u-turn for a better Gambia.

I find it very disturbing taking into consideration the change of life style and attitude adopted by my Gambian brothers and sisters in the tourist industry.  I therefore appeal to the authorities to be vigilant and strong in their responsibility in disciplining and inculcating good moral conduct amongst youngsters in the industry.

Of course, our relentless efforts in eradicating poverty in the country are well noted. It is obvious that one has to go to areas where you can find your "cheese". This is clearly shown everywhere in the country, especially around the Senegambia area.  Many of these boys end up erecting wonderfully solid houses through their relationships with these tourists ("Toubabs"). Others are taking hundreds of steps ahead by marrying and bringing their partners to embrace their faith, in most cases Islamic.

This is good and remarkable.
However, on the other hand, I think we tend to compromise and let go of a lot in return for just a little. This brings up the question still circulating in my brain: is a tourist ready to help only by disregarding the feelings of the person they intend to help?  This is a fundamental problem facing our society today.

Hey brothers, let us be strong and have faith. No one can give you which is not destined for you. No one can take you to Europe if you are destined to remain in Africa. After all, someone’s Africa could be far better than another one’s Europe. Be nice to them though; exercise patience and honesty towards them; interact with them positively as fellow beings, but never as superior or inferior beings. Never entertain any inhuman activities, like lesbianism, gayism, hard drug consumption, alcoholism, and street romancing almost naked, just to name a few unacceptable practices common within the tourist industry these days.

For God’s sake, my brothers and sisters, we are all either good Muslims or good Christians; therefore we should demonstrate and practice the qualities of perfect Muslims and Christians.

The main factor responsible for Africa’s underdevelopment is our show of weakness. An African man will smile widely at every word uttered by another man.
We think they are right in everything they say or do.  What is it all about?  This culture of NODDING without DOUBTING to everything said to us must stop now! Let us start making a move now, before it is too late. "IT IS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN TO BE LATE". This is how it should be if others are to treat us with care and respect as they do among themselves.

Considering the significant role the police can play to the protection of life and property in the community, the Chairman of Wellingara Village Development Committee, Mr Samba Bah, is drumming up support for the completion of the new Wellingara police station complex.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with this paper, Mr Bah, who doubles as the head of community policing in Wellingara, explained that the construction of a police station is part of national development and called on the community of Wellingara and all those concerned about national and personal security to lend a hand to the building of a police station in Wellingara.

“The Alkalo of Wellingara has allocated a plot of land for the building of a new police station in the community. It is, therefore, ideal for the community to participate fully in the project so we can realise our wishes of crime-free society for all,” he added.

Mr Bah made a passionate appeal to the community to regard the police as partners and not otherwise. “The police are out to protect everyone and thank God people are beginning to realise this. There is definitely an overwhelming need for the community to work in tandem with the police for the common good,” he said.

On environmental cleanliness, Mr Bah appealed to the community of Wellingara to always respond to the clarion call of President Jammeh for environmental cleanliness. He described the anti-littering bill as an important step closer to achieving a malaria-free society.

-Aloa Ahmed Alota

A Living Mirror: The Life Of Deyda Hydara was launched on May 3 2008, as part of the activities marking this year’s celebration of the World Press Freedom Day in the Gambia. The decision to have the book launched on World Press Freedom Day was widely hailed by media practitioners because Deyda Hydara fought relentlessly for press freedom throughout his journalism career.

In this interview with Baboucarr Senghore, Aloa Ahmed Alota explained why and how he wrote the book with his co-author Demba Ali Jawo.

Excerpts

What motivated you to write this book on Deyda Hydara?

Our writing a book on Deyda Hydara is a commitment to a friend and to a cause we all share. We believe, as Deyda Hydara did, that press freedom is not an abstract concept. By contrast, we insist that press freedom is indispensable to progress in the sense that where the press is free, it is able to hold political and business leaders accountable to the people. The upshot is that there will be an efficient and equitable distribution of resources, which in turn will lead to improved living standards for everyone. The book therefore serves the dual purpose of keeping alive Deyda Hydara’s beliefs and ideals and of denying his killers the satisfaction of wiping out his memory altogether. Seen in this way, we agree with the saying that the pen is mightier than the sword.

What difficulties did you face in the course of writing this book?

A lot of people were afraid to talk about Deyda. One of them who had claimed to be his friends told me “I don’t know that man you’re talking about”. With a few others, I had to convince them that I was not going to mention their names in the book. Then they agreed to talk about him.

But were there people who supported you during the writing of the book?

Yes, many of them. Mrs Adelaide Sosseh gave me a lot of support. She not only gave me money, but she also helped work on the drafts. We both worked together on Chapter One and Chapter Three of the book, with her making so many corrections and providing useful details. George Christessen was always there for me. I had unrestricted access to his office and his home throughout. I can’t forget Swaebou Conateh without whom the book would not have come out in the shape it is now. He made me rewrite each chapter at least four times. He would sit down with me in office and we would spend at least six hours during each session re-writing sentences, paragraphs and scenes. He would look at a sentence and say, “You have to do this again. It is not sharp enough.” He gave me many books and magazines about the press in the Gambia. I owe a lot to him because without him I would not have had any insight into the state of the media in the First Republic. Ousainou Jagne of TIMBOOKTOO also gave me a lot of financial support. Pap Saine was also very helpful. And my friend and brother Lawyer Borry Touray gave me all the hope and assistance I needed. When I had almost given up on the project, he gave me a lifeline. My friend Amadou Dibba was equally very helpful. Hawa Sisay-Sabally is another wonderful person I met in the course of this project. Another person who helped a lot is Dr Lenrie Peters. Others include Babou Sowe and Ousou  Njie Senor. And the Hydara family was, and still is, most supportive.

Why are you donating the proceeds from the book to the Deyda Hydara Trust?

Money is important, but it isn’t overriding. Deyda Hydara stood and died for certain values, which I believe should be kept up. I think the money that comes from any memorial about Deyda Hydara should be spent to promote those values. With the Deyda Hydara Trust in place, we will be able to give scholarships to needy but deserving students in secondary schools across country, starting from the 2008/2009 academic year. We will be setting up the Deyda Hydara Scholarships Committee very soon. It is this committee that will formulate the eligibility criteria for the Deyda Hydara Scholarships.

So this project is a thankless job?

No. I have been compensated in ways I could never I have imagined. A college in America has adopted the book as a textbook for its students. A publisher in America has also contacted me for a book deal. I have already sent the draft of the book to the publisher. It’s an ambitious book, about 350, 000 words long. A Living Mirror is about 80, 0000 words. This new book A Killer Also Dies should be out in 2011. It isn’t a biography; it’s purely fictional. There is also this talk about making A Living Mirror into a movie. I couldn’t have asked for more.

Are there things about Deyda Hydara that you left unsaid in this book?

One single book cannot tell the entire story of Deyda Hydara. The emphasis of this book is on his professional life as a journalist. I think more books will be written on him in due course.

Did you make any recommendation in the book for the authorities to track down the killers of Deyda Hydara?

I have said it before; I’m a storyteller, not an investigator. And D A Jawo emphasised it at the book launch that we did not set out to investigate the murder of Deyda Hydara. I think there are people who are paid to do that.

How did you manage to get the book published?

At some point in the project, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) got to know about the book and showed a lot of interest in it. After reviewing it, they decided to take it up as an advocacy tool for press freedom campaign in Africa. They sponsored everything. But there are other organisations that encouraged us in one way or another. They are Reporters Without Borders, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Media Foundation for West Africa. I must say Ben Akoh of OSIWA was exceptionally helpful. He took me as a younger brother and did all that he could to get the book published. We are also grateful to Leonard Vincent of Reporters Without Borders.

So what are your future plans?

I plan to spend the rest of my life reading and writing. That is the only way I feel is right.

The book is now on sale at TIMBOOKTOO, Garba Jahumpa Road, Bakau

*This life is not a bed of Roses, but full of

Thorns. As you make your bed, do shall

you lye on it. Whatever you sow that’s

what you will harvest.

*Time and tide waits, for no man, make hay

whiles, the sun shines, the sun will only

shine on those who strive hard as to meet ends.

*Ambitions is a bitter tree, but it fields

delicious fruits, a patient dog will

always eat a fat bone.

*He who laughs last, always laughs best

 God will never leave those who work

hard to go forever unrewarded.

*The road of I don’t care!

always lead to the city of had I known

had I known always comes last.

Opportunity knocks at your door

but only once, and once opportunity

is last, it can never be regained.

My Mother

*My mother, who sat and watch, my infant head, and tears of sweet affection shed my mother.

*Who tought, my infant lips to pray and work in wisdom pleasant way, my mother

*When pain and sickness, made me cried who gared upon, my heavy eye and wept for fear, that I should died, my mother.

*And can I ever sieze to be affectionate and kind to her, who was so very find to me my mother.

*When my mum is feeble old and grey, my health arms shall be thy stay and I will smooth the pains away, my mother.

Barack Obama is an exciting writer, spicing his smooth and engaging prose with colourful details that give it punch and pace. In this engrossing story of his life, Barack retraces his steps to his ancestral home in Alego, Kenya, where he reunited with members of his paternal family and rediscovered himself.

His father, Barack Obama Snr., was 23 years old when he arrived in the United States in 1959 to pursue a degree course at the University of Hawaii. He was the first African student at the university. He excelled and was given another scholarship to study for his doctorate degree at Harvard. On completing his studies, he returned to Kenya where he held various senior government positions. But Dr Obama was too radical for his own good. As a result, he fell out of favour with the Kenyatta government, which made life very difficult for him. Without a job, Dr Obama had to rely on the goodwill of friends and relatives to eke out a miserable existence.

Before leaving for the States, he had been expelled from school due to gross misconduct. And he had to take a correspondence course for the school certificate. Through the help of some visiting Americans, he was able to get a scholarship to study in the States. When he met Ann, the mother of Barack Obama Jnr., at the University of Hawaii, he had already had two children. And he was to have some more with two other different women.

When he walked out on the two-year-old Barack Obama Jnr., Ann took it in good faith and relied on her parents to raise the boy. Later, she fell in love with and married Lolo, an Indonesian student at the university. The family eventually left for Indonesia, where Ann worked at the American embassy. At 4 o’clock in the morning, she would wake up Barack to teach him English. When Barack complained, she said: “Waking up at four every day isn’t a picnic for me either.” But it from Lolo that Barack learnt how to be a man. It was Lolo who taught him how to do press-ups every day and to box. “Your mother has a soft heart… That’s a good thing in a woman. But you will be a man someday, and a man needs to have more sense,” he told Barack one day. He added: “Men take advantage of weakness in other men. They’re just like countries in that way. The strong man takes the weak man’s land. He makes the weak man work in his field. If the weak man’s woman is pretty, the strong man will take her…Better to be strong. If you can’t be strong, be clever and make peace with someone who’s strong. But always better to be strong yourself. Always.” (p.41)

In the wake of her divorce with Lolo, Ann returned with Barack and Maya, Barack’s younger sister, to Hawaii, where she studied for her a Master’s degree in anthropology. It was about this time, Barack’s father visited them and spent some time with the family. He even gave a talk to Barack’s class. His father’s oratory so captivated the class that his classmates who had been scorning him came to respect him and sought his friendship.

After completing his high school, he went to college and then worked as a financial writer before finding his dream job as an organiser in poor communities in the south side of Chicago. It was during this time, he met the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who is to be his spiritual guide right up until now. Like his father, he attended Harvard, where he read law.

Dreams from My Father is a moving story of one man’s quest to gain a better understanding of the world and play his part to make it a better place for everyone. It offers an insight into the circumstances that have shaped America’s probable first black president.

Barack Obama wrote Dreams from My Father after he was elected as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

It is highly recommended by The Point.

It is available at TIMBOOKTOO.

"I don't know why you had to go to the hospital," the woman's husband yells furiously. His pregnant wife defends her decision to go to the hospital instead of just trusting the traditional healer. "But I had to know about my health and the health of my baby," she argues. At the hospital, the wife discovers she is HIV positive.

Her husband screams, "So now you know - that's your health, but I'm healthy. Now get out of my house ... "It's over. It's all over between you and me." She tries to argue but its no use. And the scene is over.

The play, "My Husband is in Denial", is based on real events, like all those staged by the Grupo de Teatro do Oprimidos (GTO), "Theatre of the Oppressed Group" in English).

When the wife's HIV test is positive, her husband refuses to be tested and the actor then turns to the audience and asks, "How do I resolve this situation?"

Audience participation

Teatro dos Oprimidos has an interactive style that originated in Brazil and has been exported to more than 70 countries on all continents. Its creator, Augusto Boal, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his success in using theatre as a tool for social activism.

Using workshops and verbal exchanges with the audience, this style of theatre has not only spread but has proven to be an excellent method for revealing cultural obstacles in HIV treatment and prevention. In Mozambique, where there is a long-standing tradition of socially aware community theatre, it has found fertile ground.

After the 1992 peace accord brought an end to 16 years of war, the National Song and Dance Company crisscrossed the country, announcing that the conflict had ended and asking for reconciliation. Later, numerous local theatre groups explained how to avoid land mines and how to vote in the country's first democratic elections. In 1997, actors explained to farmers their rights according to the new land law.

Today, Mozambique has a total of 120 theatre groups in 83 districts performing plays mostly about malaria, cholera, tuberculosis and HIV prevention. GTO has partnerships with the youth activism network, Geração Biz, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Pathfinder International, a non-profit family planning and reproductive health organization.

In 2001, after spending six months studying theatre methodology in Rio de Janeiro on a scholarship from the United Nations Organisation for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), Alvim Cossa founded GTO in the Mozambican capital, Maputo.

"The main difference is that there are no spectators - people participate. The play is presented, based on a question, and the audience provides the answer," said Cossa, an actor who has lost four members of his family to HIV/AIDS, and is now dedicated to preventing the disease and eliminating the stigma attached to it.

"Normally, the plays are created by the oppressed themselves - associations of people with HIV/AIDS tell their own stories of how they became infected, or how they have survived in life in a positive way."

Their own solutions

The plays are presented in public places - markets, schools or commercial centres. In one of the performances of "My Husband is in Denial", in a busy Maputo market, the audience was asked to put itself in the shoes of the pregnant wife - the oppressed character - and to suggest solutions to her dilemma.

Putting on the character's skirt and headscarf, men and women in the audience took the place of the wife to try to encourage the husband to take the test, or to explain that traditional medicine can be used but that for HIV you must go to the hospital.

Cossa said the results of these efforts to educate the audience were better than if someone had given a seminar in Portuguese or distributed printed materials to a mostly illiterate population.

Cuanja Zawares Muanza, an activist with the youth HIV educational group, Geração Biz, who gives HIV information talks in Maputo hospitals, said her young age often made older listeners ignore her advice on prevention and she found theatre more effective for teaching people about HIV/AIDS.

She remembered a play in which a father finds a condom in his teenage daughter's purse and confiscates it in the presence of the girl and her mother. "They were embarrassed because we were young people talking about condom use, but when the mothers in the audience saw what was happening they took on the role of the mother in the play to defend its use."

Sassy Capetine, another participant in GTO, said the plays often presented scenes with which the audience were familiar. "We take everyday problems experienced in the city. The idea is to fight to convince the father to let her use the condom," she said.

Muanza said the group researched themes for its plays by visiting the places where they would be staged, usually to give talks on HIV prevention.
During debates and question-and-answer sessions, participants identified themes or issues that were seldom discussed and generally considered problematic or taboo, and would be illustrated more efficiently through theatre.

The group is currently working on a play about the dangers of illegal abortion, to be staged in secondary schools. Muanza said the plays made the audience more willing to pass on information about subjects that were generally not discussed in public.

The biography of a prominent Gambian journalist, former Managing Editor of The Point and AFP correspondent, was unveiled on Wednesday in neighbouring Senegal. Gunned down in 2004, by yet unknown assassins, on a street near a police barracks on December 16, 2004, the late Deyda Hydara had reportedly had threats to his life by some unknown people. Titled ‘A Living Mirror - The Life of Deyda Hydara’, the book was made public to more than 200 delegates to an international symposium in Dakar on Democracy and Governance in Africa.

The then 58-year-old was an outspoken critic of draconian media laws authorizing jail terms for journalists who violate legislation on the press and heavy fines for their publishers. “We have written this book to ensure that Deyda Hydara is not seen to have died in vain; he died fighting for press freedom, for human rights, for freedom, for justice and democracy,” one of the co-authors, Aloa Ahmed Alota told AFP.

In a preface to the 216-page book, Alota and co-author, Demba Ali Jawo, described Hydara as having “embraced a brand of journalism variously termed as journalism of purpose, journalism of meaning, or advocacy journalism.” “His life struggles reflect humanity’s ongoing quest for liberty and ... enlightenment,” they added.
 
Hydara was also a correspondent for the global media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF). “We are struggling for freedom of expression and memoirs like these augment some of the work we are doing around freedom of expression,” said Ben Akoh, Programme Officer for a non-governmental organisation, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), which sponsored the publication of the book. Proceeds from book sales will go towards setting up a trust for the promotion of press freedom, good governance and economic development on the continent.

The book will be formally launched in Gambia next month, according to Alota. “The book should draw international attention regarding the media situation in The Gambia, which is still antagonistic and hostile to effective media practice,” said Alota.

Gambia, under the elected presidency of Yahya Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 military coup, is regularly criticized by press freedom organisations for regressive media curbs.