In the beginning
Our Story began in a small village in The Gambia, an village with around 200 inhabitants, consisting mainly of plants and trees.
Our story was written in the small village of Mandinaring,
Our home,
Our playground,
Our family. A place we called “Home”.
We played on its trees, ran free on its grounds, explored its alleys and farms.
Found adventure in its bushes.
We danced with the plants,
The darkness invited a lot of story telling.
We sat around the fire under the big tree on the Ceesay family’s courtyard and listened to stories and tales.
We woke up in the mornings to the melodious sound of the birds
The beautiful and bright sun, painted on the beautiful canvas of the sky. Its light reflected on the walls
We didn’t know hunger, we ate from what the nature had to provide. We didn’t buy fruit, we picked it in the fields of our Neighbours.
Sometimes the landowners played chase with us…
Get ready to learn many valuable lessons from my journey. My journey from Gambia to Senegal to Switzerland. How these different cultures, countries and people have influenced the person I am today.
Background
Me and my brothers grew up in a small village located in The Gambia. Mandinaring is situated near the western region of The Gambia, not far from the country’s coastal areas.
Mandinaring is a collective of smaller villages rather than just one unified settlement. the villages often revolve around extended family groups or clans, creating a deep sense of unity and mutual support.
The people of Mandinaring were the richest people, not in terms of wealth. but health, happiness, love, peace, tranquillity, time and family, nature, food. they lead a happy lifestyle.
My dear readers, these are your values, these are what you must seek, do not sell your values to attend wealth, because wealth is a burden that will consume you and make you a slave.
Do not be a sheep and live your life according to the standard people or society set for you. Just because someone has a car does that mean i have to buy a car?
The key to happiness to have porpose, you will never be happy for you live according to standard of peoples, for you will be able to please them.
If you don’t have a car they say you’re poor, if you buy a car they say you’re a show-off, selfish, stupid, money launderer.
The village clans
There used to be about 10 clans in our village, among which the Manneh-Kunda(compound) were the largest and the first settlers in this rural area. Which gave them the right of ownership to most of the land in the area.
Then there were the Ceesay Kunda, who originally migrated from Casamance, then the toure Kunda, Barry Kunda, I think they migrated from Futa in Senegal, because Futa is the region of the Fula tribe.
And then the Keita Kunda, which was our compound, we had no connection to the people of the Village, we had no relatives there. But the people there became our family.
Family background
The Keita are the descendants of king Soundiata Keita from Mali. So the Keita are originally from Mali, but his descendants have spread throughout West Africa. thus my elder settled in Gambia for years in the district of Bologkono (Boh-lohk-koh-noh) in the small village of Saruja.
Saruja is one big family and when I say that I really mean it. For generations our elders have married among each other in the village, which was effective because you don’t want to send your daughter away to a distant village.
So this has been going on for years, to the point that everyone in the Village is related to each other in one way or another, so were my mum and dad, they are distant relatives, not direct relatives.
In the journey of self-discovery, it is important to accept and love yourself for who you are, to know and acknowledge where you come from, your people, your culture and your traditions.
To be ashamed of your own is to be ashamed of yourself. You wander the earth seeking a sense of belonging and acceptance from others than your own. Your heritage is that of your people.
It is okay to share and appriciate each others culture and tradition.
Childhood
Soon after, my Dad started travelling to work in neighbouring countries. We moved to Mandinaring with Our mother, my younger brother (Musa 1), my two older brothers (Tayyip 5) and (Abdullah 7) and myself (Kemo 3).
When we came to the village, we lived in a sand house, Basically a house made only of sand. The house did not even have a proper door, nor did it have a proper roof or electricity. As I said before, the area was very much underdeveloped. So there were still wild animals lurking around, like hyenas, snakes, insects ect…
But with the protection of God and a loving mother nothing happened to us, we woke up in the mornings to find death snake in the house. She raised us in very healthy enviroment, i think the results speak for themselves, we love you mom. Rare to see from African parents but we and our mum are like bestfriends.
Our Father
Our father was a hardworking father who provided enough for us to live a comfortable life. Our family would be considered a middle class family in The Gambia. In the early years of my life, my father often travelled to Senegal and Guinea on business, coming back from time to time for holidays and then travelling on.
Two years after we moved to the village, our father decided to leave for Europe in the hope of finding better job opportunities, shortly after our youngest sister Kumba was born. He somehow managed to get to Switzerland and settled there, working very hard to provide a good life for us.
thus we werent able to spend most of our childhood with him, we are very gratefull for the work that he put to provide for us.
Our Mother
Our mother was all we had since our father was away. our mother became father and mother to us. she was a pious, loyal, honest and generous woman, a great mother, everyone in the village loved her, she was down to earth.
during my father’s trip to guinea with a humanitarian aid organisation, a young girl was entrusted to him for care, by a family who wanted a better life for their child (zamila), who was then entrusted to my mother for care, my cousin also lived with us. so my mother had to look after a total of 7 children, plus 5 more who joined us a little later.
My mother brought us all up as her own children, she never favoured us over the others. sharing your house, food, clothes, blankets and bed with strangers as a child was not easy at first, but it taught us humility, Generosity, love and care.
We became as close as real siblings, all the children in our house called our mother “mum”. Our mum was the mother of 12 children, all of whom loved her and still do. our mothers genrosity was known to the entire village, she was generous to her friends and enemies.
okay lets move on now, so with my father being abroad my mum made sure to setup a financial structure that enable her to build us bigger house in our compound right opposite the old house
Siblings
I have 4 brothers and one sister, actually I have 4 sisters in total, but the other 3 are stepsisters.
–Abdullah
My oldest brother is Abdullah, Abdullah is a big man with a big heart. He was like a wind that no one could predict. sometimes he takes the form of a storm, sometimes he is the most peaceful wind. abdullah is a great craftsman, a very skilful craftsman. He was the wind that carried us and showed us the way.
–Tayyip
My second eldest brother is Tayyip. Tayyip was quiet with a heart as soft as a sponge, he was like a gentle wind that only turns into a storm when provoked. He is the athlethe of the family.
–Musa
Then you have my younger brother Musa. Musa was just a chill guy, a introvert, he didnt like trouble and fighting. He was the smartest among us.
–Kumba
Kumba is our youngest sister, she was lively, talkative, spoilt and she had every right to be, because if you have 4 brothers, you have nothing to fear from this world.
While I was named after our grandfather, she was named after our grandmother. thus I’m the least close to her in the family, for obvious reasons. i was the meanest toward her.
It was all just harmless bullying. for example: she used to cry when we told her “you are not a princess.” Anyway it was just the brothers’ way of expressing their love. we all loved our sister very much and looked after her.
–Kemo(me)
I was the middle child, I was also the trouble child. writing this article made me think a lot about my childhood. I realised that the young me just wanted to be relevant, I wanted to fit in. I was not the craftsman, nor the athelthe or the smatest of my siblings.
I was independent individual, i was outgoing, i was very stubborn, but i was fun to have around. i was very entertaining and funny. I was down for anything and i was very cunning. I had a quick mind, that enabled me to come up with stories and arguments to get us out of troubles.
To the point that everyone wanted me to become a lawyer.
I tought i had nothing to offer in comparison to my siblings, but i also had my own unique gift which was my mind.
Quick story
There was a time when I always disrespected Tayyip and tried to pick a fight with him, but one day my mum got fed up with me and sent us outside and locked the door so we could sort it out ourselves, and I got beaten up by my older brother.
So did i learn my lesson? no. it wasnt a fair fight anyway, he was two years older than me.
conclusion
Each of my siblings where special in their own way. We spent our entire childhood together, we slept in same beds, we wore each others clothes, we ate from the same bowls, we went to school and came home together we played together.
To be continued…
