Greeting New York and Saul Mbenga:
There is only ONE ALD planned this year just like LAST YEAR! I continue to
be baffled at the continued queries and posturing on the issue of the number
of ALDs. It seems that Saul Khan's statements a while ago continue to be
taken seriously. All they contained was a mixture of facts and false
assumptions based on someone who never bothered to make the necessary
inquiries before making such grandiouse pronouncements on the list.
Saul Mbenga, who told you that there was not a unified ALD? Who told you
that there was more than one ALD last year? (this from your private mail to
me.) Perhaps if you had read Mr. Khan's posting carefully, you would have
noticed that his statements centered around events which occurred in 1997
and 1998, and even there he grossly erred! There is no mention of 1999 and
the present - why? For someone whom I have perhaps met only twice in two
years, I am surprised at the manner in which he seems to speak with such
authoritative voice relating to my activities. I do not want to delve into
his 'analysis' at the present time due to time constraints, perhaps I will
do so later.
If you read my posting on the outcome of the ALD committee meeting a few
weeks ago, you would have seen names and groups from the various sectors of
our community. Notably absent was Saul's Group the Gambia Support Group and
The Gambia Foundation. While the latter did not attend that meeting,
Ousainou Mbenga did call to apologize for not being able to attend due to
prior engagements but has continued to give his input and suggestions to me
and other members of the committee. As a matter of fact, just an hour ago
(10:30 pm) I returned his call. He informed me that he had gone to the park
at Layhill today (sunday) but no one was there. I then informed him that two
weeks ago, the soccer team had decided to move to the park at Blair Middle
School in Takoma to begin practicing with the Senegalese team.
There was another meeting pertaining to the Rally which was held the day
before the ALD meeting. Since Saul Khan and most if not all who attended
that meeting are reading this posting, they will attest to the fact that I
called upon all of them to attend the ALD meeting the following day. I also
pointed out that it was important for them to realize that Gambians
unfortunately are too prone to believe their perceptions of reality even if
the reality is quite different. Hence the need for all to attend the
meeting. Do you know how many of these individuals attended?
But we trod on. Look at the bright side brother. The ALD is not being
sponsored by any individual organization but by all those interested in
participating. The spirit of friendship and mending broken ones is very high
over here. This is just day one in our journey to bridge the rivers that
separate us. Tomorrow is another day full of promise inspite of the
perceptions.
The Program for this year will be posted shortly!
See you on May 26 - May 28
Latjor
>
>Gambians residing out of state and would like to attend ALD are confused
>about the different organizations and planned events during this coming
>ALD.
>I thought, Gambians at the hey day of the massacre of students in the
>Gambia,
>made it loud and clear on this forum that it's time to forge a collective
>umbrella organization in DC, with representatives from various states. Most
>of us remembered ALD during the 80's and early 90's, when it use to be a
>family event for Gambians residing in the USA. As discussed on an earlier
>posting by Saul Khan, we know that we have an organizational problem, We
>know
>of snitches, wannabe's and rabble rousers amongst our midst, on the other
>hand, we also have real/genuine 'Gambians at heart' organizers, who would
>like to see us in a family setting. I therefore, call on those
>genuine/progressive organizers to reach out to the various
>groups/organizations, out of respect for our murdered children and Omar
>Barrow; their corpses must be rolling around in their graves. Please, let's
>capitalize on the situation as the ball is in our court, either we utilize
>our God-given rights, energy and brains, or we'll loose it....HA...HA...HA
>or
>I TOLD YOU SO as YAHYA JAMMEH & TOMBONG would say.
>
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