Yaya Jammehs decision today to close the borders between Senegal and Gambia reminds me of Dec of 2005 when I was travelling between Dakar and Farafenni. It was in fact on a day when Senegal was playing in the African Cup of Nations and I left DAKAR late evening in a commercial vehicle. We arrived at POSTE KEUR AYIB at around 1am just to find the border closed. I asked a man with a donkey cart to help me across the border and he told me Yaya Jammeh gave orders to the crazy military to shoot any one who crosses the border after midnight. I offered him some cash and begged him to help.He then offered to only help on the condition that I stay in front and lead the way. As I held the donkey by the rope leading the way, i remember hearing some of the Senegalese saying Mae khana ki daffai kharu. The man strictly warned me to stop moving if we were flashed with lights, and he was damn right. Just a few minutes as we entered into Gambia, lights came flashing into our faces and we stopped moving and that was when the show started. The bastards got us at gun point and took us in for interrogation. The poor man told them straight up that it was my decision to cross the border. They went through all my stuff and threatened to lock me up. But after a lengthy threatening discussion, they all realized they were good friends with one of my brothers. They asked for some cash but I did not give them any. My family was shocked how I made it through. I could have been killed in the process but I refused to sleep at a border that was a few km from my home. The realities of what is happening in a country we all once called home is sickening and hard to imagine. I cry for Poor Gambia and her people.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:51:55 +0000
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