Jocelyn and Michael.
     Thank you for your reaction to my comments on the article about
Georgetown written by Karamba.You are definitely right ,Georgetown is a very
nice place.I hold nostalgic memories of the town until this moment.
               Remember we are engaged in a debate of ideas and ideas only
remain as ideas once they are not transform to reality.I don't possess the
material recourses to make Janjangbureh (as Michael rightlly called the town)
a better place but I do have some ideas to contribute albeit they may be
inadequate.It is by the same token that I suggested that the topic could
debated by us all list members.Infact the debate should not only be confined
to Georgetown but all the riverine towns I mentioned in my comment.
                          I don't know how old you  are Jocelyn  but people
like Karamba and Jabou know what I am talking about.
               Georgetown was once really alife.The main street from the
Police Station to the edge of Boraba Camp was always busy especially during
the trade season.The stores were huge and full of goods.Apart from the big
trading houses like Maurel et Freres,Barhese,etc, there were the prominent
Libno-Gambian famillies like the Milkies, the Diabes the Mousas,etc.Every
Armitage student of this era remembers the big store run by Mamour where many
errands were run for our teachers.
               All these stores have closed.Many of the compounds along this
street have been  deserted.
        We know some the factors that brought about this situation.River
transport was the cheapest and most readily available form of transportation
during this period, so Georgetown and other riverine towns benefited from
this.But once this form of transportation began to lose ground to road
transportation this had a negative impact on the town.
    Georgetown,because of its early contact with our colonisers(the British),
had a long tradition of Western education.Successive generations of the
educated elite were moving to urban Gambia where the jobs were largely
located.
            Then there is the fact that the island does still have a bridge
on at least one of its crossing points.
        A reversal of some of these elements,I believe,could make
Janjangbureh a better place.
       I hope both you Jocelyn,Micheal and other list members will put in
your bit even though its a debate of ideas, as I said earlier ,someone may be
out there to make them real.

                                             KOLI TENGELA

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------