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dbaldeh
USA
934 Posts |
 Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 04:02:21
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Have we ever sat down and ask ourselves these questions;
Did we in fact abandon our country at the mercy of President Jammeh and his regime?
Who is to blame for the mass exosdus of some of our most talented in search of greener pastures?
Do we hold ourselves responsible for running away from the heat leaving our elderly and the most vulnerable to the mercy of tugs who will do anything to stay in power?
In fact are we leaving a selfish life by enjoying freedom and liberty in other countries where a heavy price was paid for that very freedom we are enjoying now?
Do we expect others to stand up for us at home and fight for freedom when we are hiding behind the key board calling for political change?
Did we ever individually ask ourselves how Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko, Desmon Tutu would have brought change to South Africa without being on the ground to fight day in and day out?
Finally, do we blame Jammeh for bringing our country down, or do we in fact have a responsibility to be there with him and fight to develop our country? Are we credible in our cyber fight to descredit Jammeh in his strong believe that he is doing a great job for the Gambian people?
I think we need to look in the mirror and start to reflect on our own contributions towards our national development.
It is incredibly sad that quite a large number of some of our most talented people have left the country in search of better education, and lives. Almost every one I knew in High School, in the work force, in college etc. etc. has left the country. How can a nation advance when its most precious resources - human talent is eroding every single day?
The worst of all is the fact that even if we obtain our BAs, MAs, Phds, LLBs etc we still don't go back home to help develop our nation and society. The most successful among us in most cases never want to go back and invest their resources in our society? Who is to blame? When does a people become patriotic?
What say you my fellow citizens? Is this all we can do to help change our society??? Just a reflection of self..
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Baldeh,
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
Visit http://www.gainako.com for your daily news and politics |
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Dalton1
3485 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 04:27:10
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quote:
Originally posted by dbaldeh
? Who is to blame? When does a people become patriotic?
What say you my fellow citizens? Is this all we can do to help change our society??? Just a reflection of self..
Mawdo Demba,
These are critical questions that truly need answers.
Jammeh gets happy anytime someone runs away. that's for sure. You are right S. Africa won't have been liberated if the likes of Biko , Mbeki and Mandella were not ready to die for that struggle.
The reason for the intellectual brain-drain is that no one wants to die or go to jail. I often hear master kondorong quoting Bard Shakespeare saying -He who fights and runaway will live to fight again.
Don't forget about the revelations made by the alleged coup-plotters-the "hell manager" coming from "hell" to deal with them.
It becomes a question as to what is the measure and level of cowardice in Gambians, if at all such a brain-drain is qualified cowardice in the judgement of the masses.
This thread of yours is a true challenge, and i will sleep on my pillow thinking about the true solution. Lets conduct a survey.
To truly reflect, are Gambians cowards then?
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Dalton1
3485 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 04:27:10
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quote:
Originally posted by dbaldeh
? Who is to blame? When does a people become patriotic?
What say you my fellow citizens? Is this all we can do to help change our society??? Just a reflection of self..
Mawdo Demba,
These are critical questions that truly need answers.
Jammeh gets happy anytime someone runs away. that's for sure. You are right S. Africa won't have been liberated if the likes of Biko , Mbeki and Mandella were not ready to die for that struggle.
The reason for the intellectual brain-drain is that no one wants to die or go to jail. I often hear master kondorong quoting Bard Shakespeare saying -He who fights and runaway will live to fight again.
Don't forget about the revelations made by the alleged coup-plotters-the "hell manager" coming from "hell" to deal with them.
It becomes a question as to what is the measure and level of cowardice in Gambians, if at all such a brain-drain is qualified cowardice in the judgement of the masses.
This thread of yours is a true challenge, and i will sleep on my pillow thinking about the true solution. Lets conduct a survey.
To truly reflect, are Gambians cowards then?
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gunner
13 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 12:20:19
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The fact is we are not doing justice to ourselves, our parents back home and our posterity. The Gambia will never benefit from the fruits of developement if our most learned countrymen run away from our problems. Its like abandoning our wives, our children and our parents because we feel its hard to economically sustain them. We dont want to do the hard work because we want the food on the table.The new gambian generation can be described as the lazy generation. We have not followed the foot steps of our dear ancestors. That is why most of us are languishing in European and American jails.
Its high time we take the bull by the horn. Its high time we save the Gambian boat from sinking. Lets all go back home and challenge the current order. He can kill us but he cannot kill all of us. Sacrifices have to be made. Bravery was once the surname of the gambian, but now it is cowardice. This is sad. |
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gunner
13 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 12:20:19
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The fact is we are not doing justice to ourselves, our parents back home and our posterity. The Gambia will never benefit from the fruits of developement if our most learned countrymen run away from our problems. Its like abandoning our wives, our children and our parents because we feel its hard to economically sustain them. We dont want to do the hard work because we want the food on the table.The new gambian generation can be described as the lazy generation. We have not followed the foot steps of our dear ancestors. That is why most of us are languishing in European and American jails.
Its high time we take the bull by the horn. Its high time we save the Gambian boat from sinking. Lets all go back home and challenge the current order. He can kill us but he cannot kill all of us. Sacrifices have to be made. Bravery was once the surname of the gambian, but now it is cowardice. This is sad. |
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dbaldeh
USA
934 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 17:46:05
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I am absolutely reluctant to call Gambian youths cowards. I would prefer to use the term selfish which, can be good or bad. Selfishness is deeply routed in our societies. Every individual wants to be seen as the best or the most hardworking by showing off how much he or she has individually.
Take an example of what happened during the Jawara days. People were driving expensive cars, living in luxury homes at the expense of the general populace. At the sametime while living "large" the rest of society is lacking and no priorities were given to public institutions or infrastructure. Those expensive cars were driven on dirt roads, expensive homes were built without sustainable access to energy, medical facilities, or viable educational institutions.
It is because of this self centered goals to archieve more than others, that led to the massive youth migration into Europe, Americas and other parts of the world. Few individuals who were lucky to travel abroad started to sign better than people at home. This further led to the abandoning of our land for greener pastures.
The temporal migration is not necessarily bad especially when the young are seeking education and expertise in the outside world. The terrible thing is that once we archieve some of those goals we tend to look down on our own brand instead of giving back to the community and nation.
So as a matter of fact, we have a lot of self evaluation we need to deal do. Can we in fact find a better way to contribute much more positively towards building our nation? My strong belief is that we are in a better position to contribute much more effectively while we have all the resources we did not have at home. It is a matter of putting our nation's priorities straight. |
Baldeh,
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
Visit http://www.gainako.com for your daily news and politics |
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dbaldeh
USA
934 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 17:46:05
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I am absolutely reluctant to call Gambian youths cowards. I would prefer to use the term selfish which, can be good or bad. Selfishness is deeply routed in our societies. Every individual wants to be seen as the best or the most hardworking by showing off how much he or she has individually.
Take an example of what happened during the Jawara days. People were driving expensive cars, living in luxury homes at the expense of the general populace. At the sametime while living "large" the rest of society is lacking and no priorities were given to public institutions or infrastructure. Those expensive cars were driven on dirt roads, expensive homes were built without sustainable access to energy, medical facilities, or viable educational institutions.
It is because of this self centered goals to archieve more than others, that led to the massive youth migration into Europe, Americas and other parts of the world. Few individuals who were lucky to travel abroad started to sign better than people at home. This further led to the abandoning of our land for greener pastures.
The temporal migration is not necessarily bad especially when the young are seeking education and expertise in the outside world. The terrible thing is that once we archieve some of those goals we tend to look down on our own brand instead of giving back to the community and nation.
So as a matter of fact, we have a lot of self evaluation we need to deal do. Can we in fact find a better way to contribute much more positively towards building our nation? My strong belief is that we are in a better position to contribute much more effectively while we have all the resources we did not have at home. It is a matter of putting our nation's priorities straight. |
Baldeh,
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
Visit http://www.gainako.com for your daily news and politics |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 19:36:29
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Malian women removed Musa Traore when he killed innocent student demonstrators. The women of Mali sacrificed their lives; some died but eventually Musa left office. This sacrifice to die for others to live is absent in Gambian genes.
The Wolof saying: KEN DUMA REYE DESS comes to mine. It means i will not die for someone to live. The government knows this.
It will not happen because Gambians are more Catholic than the Pope. We believe God is there for only us Gambians. We quickly retire to predestination to justify our current state of affairs. God said he is a loving God so therefore hardship is from our fellow human beings.
Many Gambians leave because if you die no one remembers, if you are jailed no one cares and if you loose your job everyone runs away from you. You become a loner. Many stood up but no one cared. How many Gambians visited Waa Juwara after his torture and imprisonments. How many of us sent money to feed his family while he was in Jail on behalf of our liberty, how about his children's school fees medical bills etc. How about Shyngle Nyassi, OJ, Halifa, Omar Barrow, and countless others who stood for freedom and justice and paid the ultimate sacrifice of death. Yet no one remembered or cared.
People are arrested everyday or jailed and yet no one cares. They become a statistic and not human beings. Unless we put a human face to these numbers, and see theses people as fathers, mothers, uncles with hopes, emotions, desires and a whole lot of human characteristics, and owning our responsibility that nation building requires collective participation and being each others’ keeper, we will forever, live in fear and let human advancement pass right before our eyes.
Like the Mandingo say: NING MO BEH IKO MALA, IFANANG SI KONO MA. If i wash your back for you, you should be able to wash your belly yourself. A better saying is the Wolof proverb: KU MUNTA EG, MUNA BOSS KU DANU (If you cant climb a tree, you must be able to massage someone who risked climbing and fell down.) I see newspapers carry headlines on Deday Hydara but I am not sure how many Journalist remember that he was a father, husband and grand father to many. How many of us walk up to the family to find out if they had food on the table, children went to school or could afford paracetamol. Yet he died for us to taste liberty and sacrificed and denied his family the opportunity of having a parent or husband. The least we can do is to make sure his family is taken care of. He is not the only example.
How about the 10 students who died in 2000. How many poor Gambian students did we Gambians sponsor to make sure that these students did not die in vain by providing scholarships to needy students. We can’t bring them back to life, but we can help educate others so that their memory and ambitions will live in others for generations to come. This patriotic duty to defend the state and not the government is sadly a myth and an untried adventure in Gambian political evolution. A state precedes a government and our loyalty should always be to the state.
If you take to the streets in Banjul, make sure you have covered your back by yourself because no one cares what happens to you next. This selfish tendency to protect our own while others suffer right before our eyes is the reason why they ride on our backs and in fact we happily bend for them to climb easily. If we stand up, they cannot ride on our backs.
Gambians were so self destructive, that in 1966, we voted against full independence because some politicians felt that if they were not going to be President then no one will be. If not for me then not for you as Youssou Ndour said: LEKO CHI NDABLY, NGELLAH BUCHI KHOUPA SOUF (If you are not eating, please don’t throw sand in the food and spoil it for the hungry. This historical reality is what palyed itself in the breakup of NADD.
There is nothing new in Gambia. We are only recycling history. NADD was a coalition of UP, NCP, and PPP, three rival parties that no one in their right minds especially the generation that saw the period 1951 to 1970 would have believed they will come together. PDOIS was a victim of historical circumstances. Adversity breeds strange bedfelllows.
This delayed our Republican status for 5 years. Perhaps only in the Gambia, have any nation refused independence and freedom throughout human civilsation. I am ashamed that Gambians chose subjugation to freedom and servitude to dignity. I am not proud of this aspect of our history.
Like the mandinka say: KAANO KA FATI YA KABIRING A DOMAN DING (chili pepper is always hot even when small). May be after all, we were never hot and cant be. But if we look at the wolof saying which provides hope we can do something. It goes: BUYE DI NA JOUR KHETTAH (You can rub against a baobab tree easily but try it to the fruit, you will itch the whole day). This means we can change the course of history. Just because our parents (baobab tree) did not is no reason why we could not be different (fruit). Sometimes you can reap what you have not sown.
Perhaps, and perhaps we were never meant to be a free people capable of enjoying life with dignity. Education is key. Those who don’t know what to do to help the country, I urge every member of bantaba or readership to sponsor one child’s education. The greatest threat to democracy is ignorance. The literacy level is so low that many Gambians do not know the difference between a state and a government.
Until such time, our backs will be bent for others to ride and we so happily look forward to it. This has nothing to do with the current party in power. The same trend will continue because we do not know what is rightly ours and such Gambia has become a sort of perpetual gynasuim where the elite can practice virtue if they so wish.
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 19:36:29
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Malian women removed Musa Traore when he killed innocent student demonstrators. The women of Mali sacrificed their lives; some died but eventually Musa left office. This sacrifice to die for others to live is absent in Gambian genes.
The Wolof saying: KEN DUMA REYE DESS comes to mine. It means i will not die for someone to live. The government knows this.
It will not happen because Gambians are more Catholic than the Pope. We believe God is there for only us Gambians. We quickly retire to predestination to justify our current state of affairs. God said he is a loving God so therefore hardship is from our fellow human beings.
Many Gambians leave because if you die no one remembers, if you are jailed no one cares and if you loose your job everyone runs away from you. You become a loner. Many stood up but no one cared. How many Gambians visited Waa Juwara after his torture and imprisonments. How many of us sent money to feed his family while he was in Jail on behalf of our liberty, how about his children's school fees medical bills etc. How about Shyngle Nyassi, OJ, Halifa, Omar Barrow, and countless others who stood for freedom and justice and paid the ultimate sacrifice of death. Yet no one remembered or cared.
People are arrested everyday or jailed and yet no one cares. They become a statistic and not human beings. Unless we put a human face to these numbers, and see theses people as fathers, mothers, uncles with hopes, emotions, desires and a whole lot of human characteristics, and owning our responsibility that nation building requires collective participation and being each others’ keeper, we will forever, live in fear and let human advancement pass right before our eyes.
Like the Mandingo say: NING MO BEH IKO MALA, IFANANG SI KONO MA. If i wash your back for you, you should be able to wash your belly yourself. A better saying is the Wolof proverb: KU MUNTA EG, MUNA BOSS KU DANU (If you cant climb a tree, you must be able to massage someone who risked climbing and fell down.) I see newspapers carry headlines on Deday Hydara but I am not sure how many Journalist remember that he was a father, husband and grand father to many. How many of us walk up to the family to find out if they had food on the table, children went to school or could afford paracetamol. Yet he died for us to taste liberty and sacrificed and denied his family the opportunity of having a parent or husband. The least we can do is to make sure his family is taken care of. He is not the only example.
How about the 10 students who died in 2000. How many poor Gambian students did we Gambians sponsor to make sure that these students did not die in vain by providing scholarships to needy students. We can’t bring them back to life, but we can help educate others so that their memory and ambitions will live in others for generations to come. This patriotic duty to defend the state and not the government is sadly a myth and an untried adventure in Gambian political evolution. A state precedes a government and our loyalty should always be to the state.
If you take to the streets in Banjul, make sure you have covered your back by yourself because no one cares what happens to you next. This selfish tendency to protect our own while others suffer right before our eyes is the reason why they ride on our backs and in fact we happily bend for them to climb easily. If we stand up, they cannot ride on our backs.
Gambians were so self destructive, that in 1966, we voted against full independence because some politicians felt that if they were not going to be President then no one will be. If not for me then not for you as Youssou Ndour said: LEKO CHI NDABLY, NGELLAH BUCHI KHOUPA SOUF (If you are not eating, please don’t throw sand in the food and spoil it for the hungry. This historical reality is what palyed itself in the breakup of NADD.
There is nothing new in Gambia. We are only recycling history. NADD was a coalition of UP, NCP, and PPP, three rival parties that no one in their right minds especially the generation that saw the period 1951 to 1970 would have believed they will come together. PDOIS was a victim of historical circumstances. Adversity breeds strange bedfelllows.
This delayed our Republican status for 5 years. Perhaps only in the Gambia, have any nation refused independence and freedom throughout human civilsation. I am ashamed that Gambians chose subjugation to freedom and servitude to dignity. I am not proud of this aspect of our history.
Like the mandinka say: KAANO KA FATI YA KABIRING A DOMAN DING (chili pepper is always hot even when small). May be after all, we were never hot and cant be. But if we look at the wolof saying which provides hope we can do something. It goes: BUYE DI NA JOUR KHETTAH (You can rub against a baobab tree easily but try it to the fruit, you will itch the whole day). This means we can change the course of history. Just because our parents (baobab tree) did not is no reason why we could not be different (fruit). Sometimes you can reap what you have not sown.
Perhaps, and perhaps we were never meant to be a free people capable of enjoying life with dignity. Education is key. Those who don’t know what to do to help the country, I urge every member of bantaba or readership to sponsor one child’s education. The greatest threat to democracy is ignorance. The literacy level is so low that many Gambians do not know the difference between a state and a government.
Until such time, our backs will be bent for others to ride and we so happily look forward to it. This has nothing to do with the current party in power. The same trend will continue because we do not know what is rightly ours and such Gambia has become a sort of perpetual gynasuim where the elite can practice virtue if they so wish.
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dbaldeh
USA
934 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 21:29:35
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Kon, you cannot put it any better. It all comes down to who we are as people. "Everyone for themselves, God for us all". This must change before we can realize anything better. If God is for us all, then we must be for ourselves together.
Often a people live the kind of life they so derserve. Nothing can change until we change our way of life. We are so good at the blame game and that is exactly what is going on. We are all guilty of pointing fingers instead of doing our part.
These are crucial conversations that are begining to take place. Once we figure out where we are as a people, we should be able to map out some tangible solutions. Am not sure how long it is going to take us to change our society, but a journey with thousand miles begins with a step. Am optimistic that someday, some generation will look back and appreciate the fact that we atleast begin the conversation. Let us come up with tangible suggestions as to what we can do with immediate effect. Look out for suggestions, but for now let's us get on board as many people as possible. Great dialogue...
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Baldeh,
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
Visit http://www.gainako.com for your daily news and politics |
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dbaldeh
USA
934 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 21:29:35
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Kon, you cannot put it any better. It all comes down to who we are as people. "Everyone for themselves, God for us all". This must change before we can realize anything better. If God is for us all, then we must be for ourselves together.
Often a people live the kind of life they so derserve. Nothing can change until we change our way of life. We are so good at the blame game and that is exactly what is going on. We are all guilty of pointing fingers instead of doing our part.
These are crucial conversations that are begining to take place. Once we figure out where we are as a people, we should be able to map out some tangible solutions. Am not sure how long it is going to take us to change our society, but a journey with thousand miles begins with a step. Am optimistic that someday, some generation will look back and appreciate the fact that we atleast begin the conversation. Let us come up with tangible suggestions as to what we can do with immediate effect. Look out for suggestions, but for now let's us get on board as many people as possible. Great dialogue...
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Baldeh,
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
Visit http://www.gainako.com for your daily news and politics |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 21:59:09
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Baldeh
I cant agree more. We need to stop the blame game and pointing of fingers. We are all culprits in the state of affairs at home. It looks like those whose families get appointed support the sytem no matter what. As soon as they are fired, they become an opposition.
Whilst other bury their dead, others are laughing all the way to the beach parties. This big contrast in Gambian life is very recent. We used to be each others keeper. Families are so divided that some are not on talking terms. Whole villages are not talking to each other whilst many are looking forward to a neighbors down fall. What goes around comes around. Its a matter of time for everyone to taste what others had gone true.
Like Ali Mazuri said, " If they come for me during the night and you keep quiet, they will come for you during the day".
Dictators start arresting during the night to test public reaction and if no one complains, then they are embolden and come during brought day light. The incident that happended at the Albert Market where a soldier ran for his life while being chased happened in the afternoon right before our eyes. If we stood up and said never, it would have stopped.
Let every Gambian say not in my name and not in my lifetime. It will stop. Power resides with the people. Individually, they cant fight all of us. They have two hands, eyes and one brain like each of us. I am not sure if they can turn night into day or make the sun rise from west and set in the east.
A captain who does not know his destination, any wind is good. The captain here is the Gambian people and because we dont know what we are missing out there, we treat governance as a hit and miss affair.
We must "....remain ever true to our motherland." |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 21:59:09
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Baldeh
I cant agree more. We need to stop the blame game and pointing of fingers. We are all culprits in the state of affairs at home. It looks like those whose families get appointed support the sytem no matter what. As soon as they are fired, they become an opposition.
Whilst other bury their dead, others are laughing all the way to the beach parties. This big contrast in Gambian life is very recent. We used to be each others keeper. Families are so divided that some are not on talking terms. Whole villages are not talking to each other whilst many are looking forward to a neighbors down fall. What goes around comes around. Its a matter of time for everyone to taste what others had gone true.
Like Ali Mazuri said, " If they come for me during the night and you keep quiet, they will come for you during the day".
Dictators start arresting during the night to test public reaction and if no one complains, then they are embolden and come during brought day light. The incident that happended at the Albert Market where a soldier ran for his life while being chased happened in the afternoon right before our eyes. If we stood up and said never, it would have stopped.
Let every Gambian say not in my name and not in my lifetime. It will stop. Power resides with the people. Individually, they cant fight all of us. They have two hands, eyes and one brain like each of us. I am not sure if they can turn night into day or make the sun rise from west and set in the east.
A captain who does not know his destination, any wind is good. The captain here is the Gambian people and because we dont know what we are missing out there, we treat governance as a hit and miss affair.
We must "....remain ever true to our motherland." |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 23:31:24
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quote:
Originally posted by dbaldeh
Kon, you cannot put it any better. It all comes down to who we are as people. "Everyone for themselves, God for us all". This must change before we can realize anything better. If God is for us all, then we must be for ourselves together.
Since when have you become a history student. That was Otto Von Bismack German Chancellor.  |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2006 : 23:31:24
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quote:
Originally posted by dbaldeh
Kon, you cannot put it any better. It all comes down to who we are as people. "Everyone for themselves, God for us all". This must change before we can realize anything better. If God is for us all, then we must be for ourselves together.
Since when have you become a history student. That was Otto Von Bismack German Chancellor. |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 21 Dec 2006 : 07:19:23
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I agree that the very strong sense of predestination in Gambian society has a strong force to hold people back and make them accepting of their lot.
Wanting a better life for yourself or your family isnot a sin, as long as it is not achieved at someone elses expense.
Self improvement is part of the human condition.
I don't believe in GOD, but even if I did, he wouldnt be a puppetier and me a puppet! I think you can believe in GOD and have free will.
In my experience Gambian people are far TOO patient! Life is for seizing and making the most of. We need to be proactive in making our destiny. |
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