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Kuno
Malawi
17 Posts |
 Posted - 22 Jul 2009 : 19:10:26
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I have been thinking aloud a lot lately. I am in search of answers to the puzzles around my Gambian homeland...her people...the future...the dangers lurking in the shadows. I am finding it hard to come to some sense of the big picture...the monotonies of soliloquys...the zigzagging of the Gambian condition...from point A to point B...B to W...W back to A. This disorderliness has gotten my mind in a state of flux...the chorus of voices is not helping. I need the powers of solitude of the ancient Greek sage Anaxagoras...the intelligence and wisdom of Nfally Janko, the local philosopher of Kiang Nioro Jattaba...the patience and forbearance of Job. I need something...somebody to help me weave through this cobweb of Gambian foibles. I am troubled....worried about and for my Smiling Coast. My worries of the beyond...what lies in the infinite future...the great knowns and unknowns...the dangers that we see and those we don't...hidden from the public eye by those who deny us the advantage of visibility. Their plot is thickening....and I have been worrying...
I am worried about the fabric of my society...will the centre hold or will it fray? Will the single thread that binds us all together loosens or remain stitched? Will we survive this leadership with our limbs and minds intact? I am worried about the dangerous signs...the calls to arms...violence...the frightening imageries of mass graves...bodies floating down the Sofa Nyama Bolong... in the streams of Kossemarr...bodies clayed and entombed beneath the rice paddies of Sami Pochonke...carcasses and the greedy vultures eagling above. Kigali, Bujumbura, Ogaden, Kaju Kaji, Ramadi, Srebrenica. The Scriptures tell us that blessed are the peace makers for they shall inherit the land. I wonder if peace-making will soon become a necessary occupation in Gambia because the bleak future might warrant it. The tensions of today are pointing to the anarchy of tomorrow...the high and mighty seem unconcerned.
The prophet Amos warns us in the Bible, "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." Yaya Jammeh is at ease in Kanilia...away from the ceaseless toil of we the people....the Homeric perils of our daily sufferings in search of food and water, credible information and knowledge about our society. Our hardships have shackled our hopes...we cry too much blood...there is too much pontification, little rumination....we are despiring in our own impotence. Mussolini said,"It is not impossible to govern Italians. It is merely useless." I want to believe that Jammeh sees us, his constituents or subjects, depending on your defination of his leadership style, too useless as a countervailing force against him and the system. I am worried about the unpreparedness, the disarray of the progressive movement....I am worried about the dangers of a Jammeh departure...will he be overthrown or will be killed by a lone wolf? Will there be misery and bloodbath?
I am worried for the Jolas...the naked tribalism of one of them is inflaming the anger of many. I am worried about what would fate beget them. Looking at the current rage, I don't know if Gambians could show restraint against the ugliness of retribution. I am worried about a tribal war....Gambians killing fellow Gambians in the name of tribe and the greviances of myths. The last 15 years have not stopped my fears of the coming mayhem. Gambians are capable of large scale bloodshed, tribal war. I am worried...I think about the late Melchior Ndadaye and his Hutu folks in Burundi...the late Fred Rwigema and his Tutsis in Rwanda. I am worried that a lot of Gambians will continue to be exiles. When Jammeh is gone and if he does in a violent way, it will be a new batch of exiles and it will be an endless cycle. Exilehood will become a permanent national scar....and in the end Gambia will become a land of foreigners with the natives all forced into strange and unfriendly places.
I am worried for Kanilia...the infrastructure and facilities will one day come to waste. The electricity will be gone...the hotel will be empty...the buildings will be scarred, decayed...they would be forgotten by time. The villagers will be left to their own sadness, their once beautiful village-city now a ghost town. Kanilia, Yamoussoukoro in the Ivory Coast, Gbadolite in the former Zaire...the emblems of personal glory and the antitheses of national government....the architectural glamour ends when the leader is gone. I am worried that too much of the national purse is being spent on Kanilia...and when Jammeh is gone...the emptiness that follows.
I am worried that the idiocies of men in power and the declining reservoirs of sympathies, sincereties, virtues, consistencies of the greater mass of the people will rankle the Gods of the land. They will be disappointed, angry at our sycophancies, hypocrisies, delusions, passivities, at our own self-inflicted wounds. Primal voices will be heard hollering from above....the thunderous clouds and snickers of lightening...the skies will part ways...the ground underneath will tremble...the tectonic plates will shift...opening up the land mass...it will be a total swallowing up of living things: weevils and grasshoppers, coyotes and chimpanzees, humans and camels, villas and Hummers. Chairs and cupboards, pictures and mirrors on the walls, will come falling down, scrumpled up...all flattened to rubble. It will be a raging inferno...thick palls of smoke will shoot up to the divided skies....total darkness will descend on the land.
It is possible that I am being unnecessarily paranoid...possible that I am unknowingly a hard-hearted pessimist....possible that Gambians are an exceptionally beautiful people, a cut above the soulless chaos of human civilization...it is also possible that Gambians could never be like the Sierra Leonians, the Ivorians, the Liberians and other former parties of war and plunder. Hmmmmmm.....I got to tell you folks, for the future of my Gambian homeland and her people, I am a worrier. I am less hopeful....less hopeful for the folks of Brikama Kabafita, Fass Wollof....less hopeful for the peace and security of the neighborhoods of Jarra Massembe, Foni Mayok, Kombo Faraba, Farafenni Sangsangkono...less hopeful for the historical sites of Baadari and Song Kunda, the Ndama cattle of Sare Sankulay. I am less hopeful for the continued preservation of the tolerant Gambian mind. I can't help it but hazard that the future will be a long and dangerous one. Peering into the endless distance, my mind is in a trance. I see demons...teacup demons.
Kuno, The Bird
Lilongwe, Malawi.
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2009 : 20:12:03
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| A really heartfelt posting,I am unquallified to respond but I thought that I must post something.I only hope that Gambians who frequent Bantaba in Cyberspace will think that this topic in particular is something that they should put themselves out and make time for this topic and not ignore it because of some feeble excuse.I shall follow the comments with the upmost interest.thank you for clear if worried thinking. |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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shaka
996 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2009 : 21:26:17
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| You know that you are one of the most irritating people in this forum Toubab, don't you? Who or what disqualifies from responding to any topic on this bantaba? And what is all this "ignoring' people and all that hogshiit? I hope that you understand that you cannot dictate what and when people choose to respond to on this forum. Just give your bloody opinion and stop worrying about other people's perceive 'ignoring.' You lot are so sad!!! |
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shaka
996 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2009 : 21:46:12
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| Your concerns are well noted Kuno. I am worried too but would not probably go as far as you have. This is one of the reason i preach non-violence and reconciliation but some folks are beginning to think i'm turning into a priest. Like i told Kay earlier i just don't want to repeat the mistakes of history especially those we kept being reminded on our TV screens, newspapers and other documented accounts in everyday life. This is also why i support a short term period of reflection, reconciliation, rectification in the eventual exit of Jammeh. Then we can take it from there. The five year period proposed in the NADD MOU will just about get us there. |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2009 : 00:31:48
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quote:
Originally posted by shaka
You know that you are one of the most irritating people in this forum Toubab, don't you? Who or what disqualifies from responding to any topic on this bantaba? And what is all this "ignoring' people and all that hogshiit? I hope that you understand that you cannot dictate what and when people choose to respond to on this forum. Just give your bloody opinion and stop worrying about other people's perceive 'ignoring.' You lot are so sad!!!
Shaka, something that you fail to grasp is that other peoples opinions matter I am not of the Gambian Culture I am a white man,so my thought processes are different from those of a black man.who am I to tell someone of a different culture what to do or what to think ?
I am not Gambian born, I can have my own opinion on those matters but cannot voice them I shall be branded as a person who does not realise that the empire is no more and there are no more countries to tell what to do ,or someone who is a racist,a white supremisist,IF you are Gambian born instead of trying to stir things for an "indepth discussion" with me, otherwise known as an arguement, why don't you address the concerns of a fellow countryman/woman who has posted them here for discussion,is it that you agree with those concerns ? but dare not comment because if you do your creditability will be gone and you will lose face amongst those of the circle if you did so?
Will you address the posted topic and discuss that lets see shall we?
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2009 : 00:35:38
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quote:
Originally posted by shaka
Your concerns are well noted Kuno. I am worried too but would not probably go as far as you have. This is one of the reason i preach non-violence and reconciliation but some folks are beginning to think i'm turning into a priest. Like i told Kay earlier i just don't want to repeat the mistakes of history especially those we kept being reminded on our TV screens, newspapers and other documented accounts in everyday life. This is also why i support a short term period of reflection, reconciliation, rectification in the eventual exit of Jammeh. Then we can take it from there. The five year period proposed in the NADD MOU will just about get us there.
Very pleased you are not my priest,you would never forgive me would you
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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shaka
996 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2009 : 01:13:26
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| I love you too. You just get yourself too excited at times. And stop worrying about 'thought processes', Gambian culture and empires. You will only get yourself mad. What do you fear? Avartars and ghost names? You only have your conscience to worry about not what people think about you. Speak your mind and rest your conscience. Go to bed now will you? |
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Kitabul Arerr
Gambia
645 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2009 : 01:23:14
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Your concerns are well founded, Kuno, but be rest assured, Gambians are patient. just as they have smiled upon 30 yrs of Jawara, and potentially a "perpetual" Jammeh rule, lol! An Aku saying goes: first fool na fool, second fool na fool, but third fool na b¥Ø¥õ¥å¢¯#7885;d. Gambian people are more progressive than it's past and present leaderships. No panic, period!
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The New Gambia - Stronger Together! |
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mbay
Germany
1007 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2009 : 08:55:27
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You have done here a great work. (Respect) I cannot remembers if I have ever read such a type of sensible and a very very impotents writing since. Your worries are very potentially explosive, we only have to take action and pray for not finding our self one day in this nightmare!!!
Again, thank you for sharing your worries with us and may open our eyes wider...
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2009 : 10:38:40
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quote:
Originally posted by shaka
I love you too. You just get yourself too excited at times. And stop worrying about 'thought processes', Gambian culture and empires. You will only get yourself mad. What do you fear? Avartars and ghost names? You only have your conscience to worry about not what people think about you. Speak your mind and rest your conscience. Go to bed now will you?
OK Dad, I will go to bed and not get excited or dream about ghosts or avatars. |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2009 : 10:42:00
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quote:
Originally posted by mbay
You have done here a great work. (Respect) I cannot remembers if I have ever read such a type of sensible and a very very impotents writing since. Your worries are very potentially explosive, we only have to take action and pray for not finding our self one day in this nightmare!!!
Again, thank you for sharing your worries with us and may open our eyes wider...
My thoughts exactly,so much sense and serious thought in the posted topic,what to do? |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2009 : 14:51:41
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Kuno, I read this and felt you are worrying. Here is my question, the title is I am worried, you have listed some of the troubles you are having,
What are you doing about it. many times i have read postings from Gambians away from Gambia who are worried, but do nothing, long ago I suggested that education was the way forward.
Kuno, are you educating/sponsoring a family, tribal, religious member to be up among the high ones, to be the next generation of decision makers.
Unless you as a Gambian do something for the Gambians in gambia, life will not change. once again.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT. |
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Kuno
Malawi
17 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2009 : 18:07:48
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Jambo,
Your points are hard to ignore..... You asked if I was doing something practical like sponsoring a child's education...helping a family....and something else along those lines. I would say YES! Probably it will interest you to know that I was, once a upon a time, a recipient of help from numerous people outisde of my family who cared for me and helped in my schooling. As a city rookie in Banjul and faced with the hardscrabble life of the city, a lot of helping hands came my way....I am a from a poor family background if you don't mind my informing you. Many of those who helped me never wanted to brag about it...they did it in the name of God and humanity. I am also doing the same...help and provide for numerous people without talking about it...the rewards await me later. Kindness is good....but much better is the one done with humility and away from the glare of publicity. There are many Gambians who practice this kind of philantrophism....count me among those. Thank you!
Kuno, The Bird
Lilongwe, Malawi. |
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mbay
Germany
1007 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2009 : 20:38:14
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Kuno, ignored of this kind...
This your great writing here along is also very helpful and not like some here showing off of what kind of help they are doing...
Help does not mean just money /matrials.
Again thanks and keep on your work. |
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