Editor,

I do not claim the talent of Yousou Ndour (when he sang ‘quarte-quarant-quarte’) but I too do have a song for my dearest motherland on the attainment of forty-four years of nationhood. As I write this piece, I am thousands of miles away; in Abuja, Nigeria on the day my country celebrates its independence.

My feelings can only be likened to my situation on Valentines Day, knowing my dearest J.T Sarr is miles away across the Atlantic. Yet my heart is right there in Banjul with the school children marching in honour of our 44th independence anniversary. Pape Diouf has rightly put it in his song, ‘Partir’:  “Picha ba cha kow, hol maanga cha soof” (the bird may be in the air but its heart is on the ground).

Now this sonnet is the song I sing for The Gambia on this very momentous day:
Motherland Gambia, to me you’re dearest
Home of Kunta, you are peerless
To God be praise for your independence
That now we decide how to spend our own pence Land of peace and joy, priceless
Today you are forty-four

Of that I feel truly proud
As the skeptics of your survival gape in awe
Your beauty will I bring to the fore
Small in size, your heart is large
Making you home to one and all

Fatou’s mbahal is Yama’s dinner
And Yama’s chooraa, Fatou’s breakfast
And for this I will always bask
O Mother Gambia, how endearing you are to me
And more so to many more a son and daughter of yours

Let us then unite and keep moving in sync
For the attainment of our common good
I was but a kid when these words were being chanted on our national air waves.

But they still keep wringing in my ears some thirty years down the line:
“One Gambia, one people, one nation”! As the lion of Kenya told his people,
“we are not as divided as our politics suggests.
It is a beautiful homeland that we share, and this multi-facetted beauty we should all continue to nurture.”

Among the many verses wrote about my country, I count the following piece one of the sweetest. This song about The Gambia is said to have been composed by Mrs Peter Carvey, wife of one Mr Carvey who (I was told) was the head of the Teacher Training College in Yundum in the mid 1960s:

Fair are my fields in the sunrise
Wide as the ocean they lie
Birds sing songs
Chorus of horny fill all the arch of the sky
Flock all unnumbered are gracing
Flowers all unnumbered are there
Beautiful, bountiful Gambia God made thee fruitful and fair.
This is a fitting song indeed for a peaceful people.

We may be struggling to reach our socio-economic goals but we do not lack much if we would look deep into the verses above. Indeed, America’s famous philosopher, Emerson, was right when he said that enough provision has been made for the support and delight of man “on this green ball which floats him through the heavens …this ocean of air above, this ocean of water beneath, this firmament of earth between.”

Let us then continue to “strive and work and pray” as instructed in our national prayer for the common good to be realized by the grace of Allah. On this great day of ours, I raise my hand in salute to HE, Professor Alhaji Dr Jammeh, his government and the people, and friends of The Gambia. To you all I say Al Saamadeh! God bless the Gambia.

momodousabally@hotmail.com