Ebrima Ceesay,
You go brother! What a knock-out! If only words can express your sincerity,
what a Caesar you would have made for The Gambia! And even that would be an
understatement because you went pass words by backing it up with stern
actions. Now, how noble is that? Let's just say in wollof " Jerejeff
Jambarr", or perhaps like we say on the L, 'keep up the good work! '.

Do NOT be at all discouraged by any critic if their critism is unworthy
and unconstructive. You will be proned to their insidious tactics for as
long as you keep telling the truth like you just did. Pessimism and
complacency is setting a lot of us gambians back. Some of us just like to
comment on science-fictioned opinions of issues that simply requires
action rather than superfluous misconstrued commentaries that a lot of us
spend our precious time debating on and on, just sitting on it, and never
implement any form of action. Well, that's gonna have to change if we truly want to make something happen.

The likes of the great Dr King did not simply formulate plans but acted
upon it doggedly. Sitting in a cozy recliner philosophizing and penning
one's disgust against the enemy is quite fruitless and somewhat idling if
one doesn't act upon viable tangible means. If some of us can't come to
terms with our social problems and change their dispirited psyche, we will
continue to be haunted at our own peril by these besetting dilemas over
and over again.

The fact is so much being said and so little being done. So if you don't
have something constructive to contribute to the struggle, please don't
bombard some us who would rather do something and not simply chew on it
with ill-natured loser-type pessimisms. Instead, quoting Momodou Camara's wise saying , " start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible".


So Ebrima, those of us who appreciate your hard-work welcome everything
you're doing, all that positive energy, to make the lives of others better
some day. Am sure many, even those who disagree with you now, will thank
you for it when the dust settles. Just remember, IT JUST AIN'T EASY BEING
A GAMBIA! Lord have mercy! Man,I tell you, you just got to keep on keeping
on! (o-:)

                                                 MR MAKVELI! (O-:)




From: Ebrima Ceesay <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: A Letter to Rep Johnny Ford
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Jan 27, 2001


Sister Jabou:

Will you please print this letter and post it to Rep Johnny Ford's address
in the US.

Brother Ebrima

___________________________________________________________________


Representative Johnny Ford,
82nd District (Bullock, Lee, Macon),
State House Room 523-B,
11 S. Union Street,
Montgomery,
Alabama 36130

27 January 2001



Dear Representative Ford,

I am writing to you on behalf of many Gambians throughout the world and in
The Gambia who are dismayed by your decision to hold the next World
Conference of Mayors in The Gambia in June 2001.

Please allow me first of all, to introduce myself to you.  I was an Editor
of the Gambia Daily Observer from late 1994 to the end of 1996.  I was also
the BBC Correspondent in The Gambia during this same period.  In these dual
roles, I was in a position to analyse events as they unfolded in the country
following the military take-over by Lt. Yahya Jammeh on July 22nd 1994.

Given the persistent and ever-increasing harassment and persecution of the
independent media in The Gambia, I left my home country at the end of 1996,
and have been resident in the UK since then.  I am currently undertaking
Post-Graduate research at the Centre of West African Studies at the
University of Birmingham, UK, and I have remained in close contact with The
Gambia and events there.

My present research relates to the Military and "democratisation" in The
Gambia from 1994 onwards, but this work is in the wider context of Third
World Politics and in development issues in Africa and Black Britain.

The reason that I have spent time introducing myself to you, is to enable
you to understand that I (amongst others who will contact you) am competent
to address issues relating to The Gambia, both following the military coup
and in relation to wider political perspectives.

It is good that African Americans, or Africans born in the Diaspora, are
returning to the African continent to retrace their ancestry and culture:
links between the African continent and the wider world should be enhanced
at every opportunity.  The connection is there at a very deep level:  from
the earliest days of the enslavement of Africans to labour in the western
world, to the present day.

Black people throughout the world should be looking to connect with each
other, and to rejoice in our brother/sister-hood.  Distance is an issue, but
the bonds which link us together can never be severed:  they go beyond
nationality and territorial boundaries:  they are the bonds of heredity and
blood tie.

By working together in sincerity and openness, we can do a lot to uplift the
plight facing black people throughout the world.  Blacks have come a long
way:  there is a marvellous history of black achievement.  However, we still
have a long way to go, and we should be forging further links and
connections through organisations like yours which are set to serve the very
best of Black interests.

There is a lot we can do mutually through the promotion of education,
economic investment, sport, arts, music and culture, science and technology,
medicine etc.  We need each other today more than ever, and we should be
focusing on ways in which can foster our mutual interdependence.

However, it should not just be about intentions and wishes -  the abstracts:
  it is more to do with being practical, sincere, determined and dogged.  We
need to cut back on the romanticising of Africa and our African-ness.  There
has been a tendency for some Diasporan-born Africans to do this: to
mythologise their African heritage and to romanticise the continent both in
the past and present day.

There is nothing romantic about the poverty, repression, tyranny, famine,
war, economic stagnation and corruption which characterise much of today’s
Africa.  Our continent is in deepest crisis and it is time we all started to
face the realities of African life for Africans there.  We need to be
working on ways to improve the lot of ordinary African citizens.

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