Last Friday, Kebba's life took an unexpected turn for the worst. His struggles for a dignified existence for himself withinThe Gambia was rudely shattered by the Gambia Tourism Authority (GTA). The one-storey wooden house that had served as Kebbas sheltered from the elements and doubled as his bird-watching vantage point was set ablaze without a day's notice by officials of the Gambia Tourism Authority.
 
 
I first met Kebba in late 1994 at the Black & White Beach Bar & Restaurant where he used to work part-time as a cook. Kebba is in his mid 40's and carries the dreadlock hairstyle so fashionable with Gambian youths working on the beach. He is an easy-going person who likes minding his own business and making ends meet through his own hardwork: sweating and toiling on the land and under the sun. Kebba was borned in Sukuta, Kombo North from a family of Islamic scholars where he studied Arabic and Islam. He also attained western-type education from primary up to secondary school level. In spite of the basic level of his formal education, Kebba speaks and write better English than many university graduates. He uses a rich and varied choice of vocabulary in the English Language when explaning to me of his travel experiences around the sub-region. He is an authority of the peoples and cultures within the West Africa sub-region. He is also fluent in
 French as a result of living and working in Senegal, Ivory Cost and Guinea Conakry. Kebba arrived on the Gambian beach scene in 1993 to be a different class among perceived bumsters. A bumster in Gambian-speak is generally referred to as a youth whose main pre-occupation is to meet and befriend Western tourists for the prospects of obtaining a better life for himself and his family. 
Kebba is a bird-watching enthusiast. There is a hardly a bird species within the Gambia whose feeding and breeding habits he doen't know. Among his many friends are European tourists who visit the Gambia annually just for bird-watching. Kebba describes himself as an eco-tourist guide but because of his self-respect and dignity he avoids hanging on the beach in order not be harassed or be subjected to detentions by some overzealous beach security guards. Instead of wandering along the beach scouting for tourist friends, Kebba decided to clear the shrubs a few hundred meters from the beach sand that dominated the lansdcape, single-handedly dug a well sand started farming and gardening. He explained to me that back in 1993 when he told some of his friends about his plans to cultivate crops and vegetables in the area, most were sceptical and a few thought that he was confused from from his travels within West Africa. His garden consists of
 tomatoes, a variety of peppers, aubergine, lettuce, Banana and crops such as cassava and corn. He has a small poultry which is exlusively for his own consumptions needs. He maintains a breath-taking and captivating scenery of a variety of beautiful flowers. Some market women living in the Kololi area acquire their supply of vegetables from his garden at a very favourable price to them. Kebba often tells me that he obtains great self-fulfilment and a feeling of providing service to the community from his produce that end up at the Serekunda market. I often tell him that he is one of my inspirations. 
I was therefore very much saddened to the point of crying when he told me on the phone that his abode was set on fire without any prior notice by officials of the GTA escorted by a heavy paramilitary escort. Just before the rains, he had completed some renovation work on his shelter to render it rain proof costing him thousands of Dalasis. . He is currently homeless and getting hopeless. The place he called his home for 15 years was set ablaze and completely destroyed within 5 minutes by persons acting on behalf of the Gambian State. Kebba is not a naive person but out of desperation, he wants the opportunity to complain directly to Yahya Jammeh about his ordeal and the injustice meted out him by the GTA. I advised him not to bother. The GTA and Yahya Jammeh are on the same side: For Big Business and Hotel Financiers. 
 
I thought you should know about the ordeal of my friend Kebba, a very hard-working Gambian whose hopes has been shattered. He has almost giving up hope and wants to travel out of the Kombos. I am urging him to wait till he atleast harvest his corn.
 
Bailo
 

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