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jambo
3300 Posts |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
 Posted - 11 Oct 2006 : 21:27:31
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If the government can provide these young men with work and a home then fair enough. If there is social security, then fair enough. But if there is none of these how do people expect these young men to survive?
I am very worried that a young friend of mine will have been arrested. He has been evicted from his accommodation because he couldnt pay and has been sleeping on the street. He has been waiting for the season to start with the hope of making a small living.
If he went back to his family, they are in Soma and are large in number. He would be a further burden on them.
All most bumpsters want is enough money for a roof to sleep under and some food. If they are aggressive it is because they are desperate. |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 12 Oct 2006 : 01:31:55
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| I want to agree with Gambiabev in many ways but in some ways I feel that the government cannot be expected to do everything for everybody I know that job opportunities are limited for everyone,I cannot provide any answer at all,the bumbster problem is real, no doubt about that at all it is also a major reason for tourists to feel threatened after all they have come for a holiday and not to be pestered by young men,the effect that bumbsters have on the local community is not inconsiderable, fruit sellers not being able to sell fruit local shops not being able to sell their wares to the tourists and so on,I must say that I have taken the time to talk to these bumsters and almost all of them are nice people,is it right to try and make a living from being a bumster? I think that I have to say No, but the bumsters reasons for doing their "job" I understand. |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 13 Oct 2006 : 13:34:00
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| This topic didn't last long,obviously not enough controversy!! |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 13 Oct 2006 : 17:48:08
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quote:
Originally posted by toubab1020
I want to agree with Gambiabev in many ways but in some ways I feel that the government cannot be expected to do everything for everybody I know that job opportunities are limited for everyone,I cannot provide any answer at all,the bumbster problem is real, no doubt about that at all it is also a major reason for tourists to feel threatened after all they have come for a holiday and not to be pestered by young men,the effect that bumbsters have on the local community is not inconsiderable, fruit sellers not being able to sell fruit local shops not being able to sell their wares to the tourists and so on,I must say that I have taken the time to talk to these bumsters and almost all of them are nice people,is it right to try and make a living from being a bumster? I think that I have to say No, but the bumsters reasons for doing their "job" I understand.
In the 1970s, Bumpsters were always around and we had no problems. Tourist did not complain..
Njuks was right that volleyball matches take place on the beaches with tourists. However around this time, Gambia's economy was doing well, many jobs, we were producing surplus rice and in fact Jawara announced that in few years we would start to export rice.
Also during these times, life was more relaxed and there was this cultural explosion around the world with music and lifestyle changes. It marked the era of organized societies challenging every social structure and young men and women seeking new ways to enjoy life and be "free".
Today life has become more stressful everywhere and crime is up as the rat race gets faster. Today even in the west, retirees are going back to work because they cannot support themselves. The free market has gone too far.
Distrust is a common feature of life. Therefore what was acceptable in the 60s and 70s don’t seem to work now. Even in Europe, Grandparents used to baby-sit whilst the family goes to work. Not anymore. Life has become more boring and what may be taken as friendliness, is now seen as "invading one's private space". This self-centered approach to life where "everyone for himself and God for us all" (Otto Von Bismarck) is a major paradigm shift from the 60s and 70s.
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 14 Oct 2006 : 16:22:36
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I love the fact that I can be myself in the Gambia. Open and honest. Happy and content. In the UK people mistrust each other and put up a barrier to protect themselves. I LOVE being able to smile and say hello to people in the street. PLEASE don't loose that. I do think that MOST people are still honest, kind and good. But then thats me for you!!  I think the best until proven otherwise.
When I get home from Gambia and go to my local supermarket, people think I am a mad women for smiling and saying hellp. After a time the Gambia Factor wears off and I am back to being a miserable Brit!!! Yorkshire is relatively friendly too. I dont know how anyone bears the commuter life style in London, so stressful and unfriendly.
Give me Gambia any time!!!! |
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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 14 Oct 2006 : 18:19:17
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quote:
Originally posted by kondorong
Njuks was right that volleyball matches take place on the beaches with tourists. However around this time, Gambia's economy was doing well???, many jobs??, we were producing surplus rice and in fact Jawara announced that in few years we would start to export rice.
Kondorong i want to disassociate myself from the later part of your sentence. the President can annouce whats he likes, i dont care. whether that is true or not is subject to debate.
It only reflects YOUR opinion. |
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gambia6005
Canada
79 Posts |
Posted - 14 Oct 2006 : 22:12:48
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quote:
Originally posted by gambiabev
I love the fact that I can be myself in the Gambia. Open and honest. Happy and content. In the UK people mistrust each other and put up a barrier to protect themselves. I LOVE being able to smile and say hello to people in the street. PLEASE don't loose that. I do think that MOST people are still honest, kind and good. But then thats me for you!! I think the best until proven otherwise.
When I get home from Gambia and go to my local supermarket, people think I am a mad women for smiling and saying hellp. After a time the Gambia Factor wears off and I am back to being a miserable Brit!!! Yorkshire is relatively friendly too. I dont know how anyone bears the commuter life style in London, so stressful and unfriendly.
Give me Gambia any time!!!!
when I come back from the gambia and being in europe i am depressed and want to come back and stay but one has to make a living for themself and the family-but I never forget the feeling the gambia gives me being me and happy therefore thanks to all gambians |
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leokat
United Kingdom
123 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2006 : 10:37:53
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quote:
Originally posted by gambiabev
If the government can provide these young men with work and a home then fair enough. If there is social security, then fair enough. But if there is none of these how do people expect these young men to survive?
I am very worried that a young friend of mine will have been arrested. He has been evicted from his accommodation because he couldnt pay and has been sleeping on the street. He has been waiting for the season to start with the hope of making a small living.
If he went back to his family, they are in Soma and are large in number. He would be a further burden on them.
All most bumpsters want is enough money for a roof to sleep under and some food. If they are aggressive it is because they are desperate.
I agree with everything you say Gambibev (and your and gambia6050's later comments about how you feel in whilst you are in The Gambia and after your return home).
I'd read a lot about 'the bumster problem' before I visited The Gambia and was both concerned by what I'd read and determined that I was going to avoid bumsters at all costs. However, within hours of my arrival it had become apparent that if I was going to have the type of holiday I wanted I was going to have to rethink.
The only alternatives were to stay inside my hotel except for organised day trips (which was never an option as far as I was concerned), or to make use of the official tour guides. I can't quite explain why but that wasn't really an option either. I think it's the hippy in me; the uniform, expense, and lack of flexibility didn't appeal.
Maybe I was lucky, the people my daughter and I got to know: a juice seller, a fruit seller, and my now boyfriend, gave us an insight into The Gambia and its people that we could never have hoped to get any other way.
I am sure there are many bumsters who are 'on the make' and I can totally understand how the more aggressive ones can frighten some tourists to the point of ruining their holiday.
My experience was totally the opposite. Once my daughter and I had taken on one bumster the others left us alone. He asked for little from us and was (and remains) grateful for anything we did for him. Not only that but we found that anything we did do was offset by the fact that, once he trusted us, we got cheap taxi fares, and water and other soft drinks at cost price. When he ate out with us he always chose Gambian food at the cost of only £1 or so and I never got the impression he was trying to take advantage.
On my most recent visit my boyfriend's family took me into their hearts. They fed me, spent time and trouble talking with me and answering my many questions. His friends also insisted I ate with them whenever I visited. This despite the fact that they had little enough for themselves (my boyfriend told me that hadn't been able to afford milk for two weeks and I found out they hadn't had have batteries for their cd/radios - their only source of news and entertainmet - for weeks). Everyone I encountered did everything possible to make sure I was comfortable and happy.
My daughter sent the fruit seller she had befriended an outfit of clothes for her young son. In return the fruit seller travelled (on polling day when travel anywhere was difficult) a great distance to bring her a necklace and bracelet she'd made as a thankyou.
In fact it was the porters in the airport, the airport car park, and at the hotels, I found to be the most greedy and ungrateful. Not only that but they seemed to take far less trouble with their personal hygiene than the bumsters, who I found to be concerned with their personal appearance almost to the point of obsession.
So maybe it is we toubabs who need to rethink out attitude to the bumsters. As has been said already, most only resort to this way of making money out of neccesity. As a relatively well off white woman, who lives in an country where there is welfare, free education and health care, I do not think I am in any position to judge.
I believe the hotel owners and managers (most of them not even Gambian)also need to rethink their attitudes to juice and fruit sellers etc. Year by year these people are being pushed further and further along the beaches away from their source of income. If the managers and owners were prepared to open up a dialogue then maybe there could be some voluntary regulation.
Finally, it is about time The Gambia Experience looked seriously at the issue. As far as I can see they do little more than comment, in their literature, that 'bumsters may pose a problem'. It is time they acknowledged that the Gambians, some of them bumsters, who befriend those tourists brave enough to get to know them are the very same people who prompt return visits and investment in the country.
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tintinto
United Kingdom
105 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2006 : 11:09:17
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That is an excellent posting Leokat,of which i can understand, and agree to most of it.When is your next trip. |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2006 : 11:39:59
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| Fantastic posting and I agree 100%. I wrote to Gambia experience about Bumsters being arrested for walking n the beach and got no reply. |
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jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2006 : 17:59:25
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i agree that you can meet some good "bumsters" and i have been helped by two of them and one i return always give them jeans, or shirts and buy "tee" for them, they make sure i am safe.
My problem is with the following of the tourists or the bad language when you say no thanks.
also get rid of the non gambians, they are rude and frightening. I have said it before, i do not fear gambians but some of the other african nations are off putting.
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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2006 : 18:13:17
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interesting reflections and i could agree but how do you get rid of non gambians. it would be dangerous to have laws telling people where they can and cannot go. Under ECOWAS rules and other similar protocol people have a right to move freely in West African member states.
everyone within The Gambia, African/European/gambian should be able to enjoy free movement and association. |
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jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2006 : 18:34:20
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| i am not sure if you could keep them out of the country but you could make it illegal for them i was thinking about the squatters who set up a market next to african village, some topics back on bantaba, this is the same thing, they are squatting on gambian tourist grounds, but of a thought but could be a start. I do not think if would be dangerous if people are evicted from the market or rounded up by the poliuce as sometimes happens that is not illegal. it is just someone making a decision. they can go where they like it is what they practice that is not acceptable. |
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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2006 : 19:27:17
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| i agree. |
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leokat
United Kingdom
123 Posts |
Posted - 16 Oct 2006 : 16:21:05
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quote:
Originally posted by tintinto
That is an excellent posting Leokat,of which i can understand, and agree to most of it.When is your next trip.
Thanks tintino.
I'm not sure when I'll be returning. I still have concerns about the ethics of my relationship with my (younger) b/f (have said enough about this elsewhere in Bantaba), and feel we need time apart.
Also, I have made two visits this year which, given the privations my Gambian friends have to endure, seems almost self-indulgent. |
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