The just concluded International Homecoming Root Festival has been rated as the strongest and best in West Africa.

Speaking to Tourisphere at the offices of the Daily Observer recently at the end of this memorable festival, Mr Ikechi Uko, Chief Executive Officer of African Quarterly Travel, has applauded and rated the International Root Festival as the best among the five international events that have global recognition in West Africa.

Ikechi Uko who was accompanied by Mr B Nkeruwem, the president of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), he said that “Africa needs to transit and begin to market its culture. When people appreciate your culture they will appreciate you. And they will give you some value. That is the reason I am very impressed with the success of the International Root Festival because tourism now is about people and heritage.”  

According to Ikechi Uko, the kind of facilities and environment available in the Gambia, in compare to some other West African countries, are sufficient for tourists and tourism industries. He added that “The Gambia have efficient and people that are calm. This makes the country distinct from other African countries where there is lot of religion problem and crisis; it is a good example to the whole world not only Africa.”
 
The travel market guru has also confirmed that the 9th Edition of International Root Festival is the most robust among others since 1996. He noted that “Gambia has an opportunity as the market leader and the most developed tourism destination in West Africa to tap into the huge human capacity available in the region because there are 250-270 million people in West Africa.” He emphasized “if just a million of them can come to the Gambia it will boom the country tourism industry and sell the rest to the world tourism market.”

In a bid to promote and market West Africa to other regions in Africa and the rest of the world, Africa Travel Quarterly (ATQ), the organizer of Akwaaba Travel Market has pronounced its annual 4th Edition of Akwaaba Travel Market scheduled for 24-25th October 2008 in Lagos, Nigeria.

The theme of this forthcoming travel exhibition is titled “The 21st Century Hotel” as revealed to Tourisphere by Ikechi Uko, Chief Executive Officer of Akwaaba Travel Market on his visit to the Gambia for the just concluded 9th Edition of International Root Homecoming Festival in Banjul.

Akwaaba Travel Market is one of the West Africa expos that touch all the sectors of tourism. Since October 2005, travel and tour promoters have met in Lagos, Nigeria to do business in Africa’s biggest market with 250 million people; West Africa offers a big market and a big destination for both private and public organizations.

The admirable travel expo marketer, Ikechi Uko, who says he love traveling, has highlighted that “out of the five international events that have global recognition in West Africa, International Homecoming Root Festival is one of the best so far. These five big events are Visual Art Dakar-Senegal, Panafest for culture Accra- Ghana, Fespaco for movie in Ouagadougou-Burkina Faso, Akwaaba Travel Market Expo for tourism in Lagos-Nigeria with the biannual Root Festival for culture in Banjul-Gambia. So this Root Festival is one of the strongest among.”

Despite the fact that West Africa has the largest population in Africa, they are still very poor in area of tourism. Pan-Africa makes million of tourists. East Africa, last year, made their first ever million visitors and South Africa got 45% of its travel from regional market which include West Africa, while West African countries made half a million of international visitors.

According to Uko, West African countries have to response appropriately to trans-trade within Africa. The purpose of having one continental passport in Africa that will be similar to other western countries is important, the Ecowas passport is an example, this will encourage traveler to move freely within the continent and boost tourism in West Africa and other regions in Africa.  One of the best things is to put West Africa countries together as a product and market this product to the entire Africa and rest of the world.

The most popular welcome word in West Africa is akwaaba an Akan word. It is a general language speaks in two countries in the region, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. This expo derives its name from the language because of the mission and vision of the travel market.

Taken the area of tourism most visitors are interested in to consideration, Gambia is the success story in our region in term of tourism. “Gambia beach tourism like everywhere in Africa, according to UNDP two years ago shows that 60% of the tourist receives in Africa came on beach,” Uko noted. This shows that the most popular African product is not wild life it is the sea and beach.

This year 4th Akwaaba Travel Market expo, where Africa meets the world, is an open market for general participants. It is free with different programme. The first day is schedule to be the Hospitality Forum Day. It is a workshop for hotels, hotel owners and hotel promoters with hotel equipments exhibition. Topics under the theme “The 21st Century Hotels” connote costs and benefits of international hotel brands, hotel in house entertainment in the 21st century, current ICT needs of a modern hotel, Hotel classification and standards in West Africa: case studies Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia and Senegal, problem of running international hotels in West Africa and some other related topics.

Day two is set aside for Seminar to deliberate on impact of aviation on tourism and travel in Africa, the importance of technology in tourism and travel, the role of airports in the development of tourism and travel with the main event, Akwaaba exhibition  by airlines, hotels, resorts, destinations and others.  

The market expo will be rounded up with Africa Travel Awards Dinner with Boat cruise. Exhibitors include airlines, hotels, tourism boards, IT suppliers, tour operators, travel agents, car rentals, national parks, resort and more. Participants’ stands chances to win free air tickets, free weekend stay and other prizes at Akwaaba. For more information about on this market expo check www.africantravelquarterly.com

Focusing, interacting and observing the unique cultures and styles on any trips are refer to as cultural tourism. The concept of learning from other cultures to broaden ones perspective is usually a core value.  Learning and acquiring a new knowledge on any handicraft or whatsoever would be a form of cultural tourism.

Buying crafts in the craft market with no interaction, focus and knowledge than the exchange of money does not provide the insight into another culture which is the central theme of cultural tourism.

Tourisphere has discovered the interest of some tourists to the Gambia in cultural tourism. Going round the Bakau Craft markets in this ongoing 9th Edition of International Root Festival, Rose Batik workshop, Bakau was the focus of some visitors and tourists who visited the stall to browse and buy from the numerous designed and neatly displayed batik materials at the stall. As some are buying, some are as well learning how to design and produce some nice batik for themselves.  

Batik is a popular locally made textile materials that serve different purposes, according to Mr Kabir Dubois, the proprietor of Rose Batik Workshop, and also a former employee at MRC up to 1991 said “batik is a resist techniques used in the Gambia. Batik was first introduced to the society by some countries in Asian, among are Indonesia, India and some others.

Batik is used for decoration; sew into different styles and wear, for souvenir and so on.  To produce quality batik materials you need items like cloth – 100 percent cotton cut into different sizes of your choice, crayon for the design, a locally made pointed pencil called ‘jentting’, some melted candle wax and some colours. There are different types of batik in the market but the most attractive and well demanding is the 7-colour batik it is moving very fine in the market and it has really supercedes the old type of batik called 4-colour.   

The simplest way of producing batik is the old traditional mode that involves the use of a hand carved wooden stamp, dipped in wax, and applied to the fabric to create a pleasing design. But the advent of 7-colour batik make it a bit tedious but with quality standard and this allowed the free design of choice that often portrays some familiar object of village life, such as an animal or a flower, human being, farm works and some other things that express thoughts. After the application of the wax, the cloth is dyed, and then the wax is removed by dipping the fabric in a very hot water. The Asian’s producers of batik are using modern technologies to produce while here in the Gambia it is produced manually which is an advantage to many that wishes to learn especially tourists on their visit.

Some of this type of elaborate and contemporary techniques batik can be found in different craft markets in the Gambia such as Bakau, Banjul, Brikama among other places. Rose Batik workshop is a regular joint for western students during their trip to the Gambia. According to him learning batik work is very easy if you are good in art-drawing as you will be able to catch up under a period of one week but without the knowledge of art it will take you months.

Batik is very different from tie and dye though it is also a technique we used to color an ornament or cloth through what is known as resist dyeing. Resist dyeing means patterning either fabrics or yarn designed for fabrics by reserving some parts of the materials from dye to penetrate.  In case of tie and dye, the resist is formed in a number of ways like tie raised portions with thread; folding or pleating; wrapping rolled or furled cloth with bands of string or best; with trick, a needle technique of stitching a thread through the cloth and drawing it tightly so that the folds will resist dye from penetration or a combination of the methods.

In any of your journey as a tourist it is a mater of learning and honoring local culture and valued them. Either long or jaunt visit do not let your journey be a photographed only, if you will like to know more what really your journey can offered you.

Noble initiatives are distinguishable not only by how they are conceived or who conceived them, but also for what they are conceived for. In other words, the choices of societal problems such initiatives are set to tackle tell them apart from those that aim at merely solving individual concerns. And the latter should be the key determinant in supporting programs that seeks to raise fund.

Two very important and worthy missions are under way currently, the July 22nd Scholarship Pageant and the Root-Homecoming Festival. It is for these reasons that The Gambia is once again in the spotlight.

Indeed, there have already been many similar initiatives, all in the name of promoting a segment or two of this needy society of ours. But initiatives that are sanctioned for the absolute benefit of the people they are aimed at are hard to come by. Such are the July 22nd Scholarship Pageant and the Roots Homecoming Festival. The brainchild of His Excellency, President Jammeh, both occasions have incredible implications on the lives of the people of this country. While the Roots Festival aims at reconnecting lost generations, the Scholarship Pageant seeks to take a unique form of supporting education for the girl child of this country.

These latest ideas reiterate the fact that President Jammeh never relents in coming up with thoughts of pushing the country where he wants it to be. His innovative initiatives always portray the degree of his concern for the people, especially the women and the youth. The women folks, for one, have always been at the forefront of the development priorities of his government, since the inception of the Second Republic.

 This is largely because of their undisputable show of readiness to partake in nation building. And, thanks to Allah, all of government-steered initiatives aimed at promoting the cause of women have been so productive that the status of the Gambian woman is admired by citizens of countries even far beyond the sub-region. Such is inline with the ‘Gambian dream’, where our nation will be the envy of all nations, big or small.

This scholarship pageant will not only propagate for articulateness among these contesting young girls, but, given the rationale behind it, it will promote increase awareness on development in the country since July 22nd, 1994, which is of fundamental importance in the history of this country. And,most important, the pageant will promote a culture of social responsibility among the young girls who are partaking in the contest.

And the packages for the lucky winners are just enormous. With your support, no matter the size, you will be helping change the life of generations of Gambians. Remember the adage that if you educate the woman, you are educating a whole nation.  

With the Roots Homecoming Festival, the country, apart from reconnecting long lost Africans, also seeks to promote Gambian culture. Already the impact is being felt. Today there are an unenviable number of diasporans making their home in this country, thanks to the call by his Excellency, and the fact that he gave them the enabling environment to stay.

The other day on GRTS, a first time visitor who is here for the forthcoming Festival said: "I have waited long, for 55 years, to touch down on the land of my ancestors". That statement of his was an unequivocal vindication of the original idea of coming up with such a homecoming initiative. And there is also the economic aspect of it. Government as well as the ordinary citizens, stands to benefit immensely from the exchange. And who does the credit of all of these go to if not the intuitive Gambia leader, President Yahya Jammeh.

As citizens and inhabitants of the country we all call home, regardless of our original nationality or any other considerations, all we need to do is give a helping hand to him. And there is no better way of doing this than by supporting development initiative programs as noble as these. The Daily Observer wishes to recognize the tireless effort of SoS Fatou Lamin Faye, in the course of the past few weeks. We do pray that other institutions follow the footsteps of The Gambia National Lottery in fulfilling their pledge of supporting the pageant.

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.