I
was born on the 14th of April 1957 in Jasobo Village in LRD
Gambia. I am married and have 3 children. I'm first born of my
father's 3 children and sole surviving child of my mother Faye-Nyamokono
Dampha.
My father Kabba Tilibonka Jammeh was, an Islamic scholar, dies
in Banjul in 1973 the year he would have graduate or "complete his
theology study" from a well-known Islamic school/institute "Majiliso"
owned by Foday Kabba Barrow of Kiang Bambako, in the Gambia.
Shortly
after my father’s death my uncle Fodayba B Jammeh who was police
officer at the time, took the role as the prime warden of me and my
senior brother Kebb
As
my age can be discerned above, I was not born when Fode Suleman Kante
(1922-1987)
of Guinea created N’ko Alphabet in 1949. Thirty- three years after the
inception of its alphabet, I stated to learn the written form
of my own Language in1979, when I already could read and write in
foreign languages, English and Arabic
On
the 24th of April 1979, at the age of 22, I started my long
adventure, seeking for a batter fortune. Jahiria Arab republic of
Libya was then the lucrative place for many African youths who
search for economic prosperity so I also decided to go there. After a
week and half car travelling, I arrived on Niger/Burkina frontier,
where I encountered my first obstacle in hustling.
The border guards
hindered me to enter in Niger, when I refused to bribe them. They had
asked me to pay unthinkable amount of CFA money, which they were not
deserved. They said that I had no entry visa. I was not surprised by
their demand because the bribery is un-written law, which majority of
our man-in-uniform applies on people before giving their so-called
permission even in a minor case like I just mentioned above.
As I was ready not bestowing them the entire amount they asked
me to pay, I tried a kind of persuasion by offered them just the
quarter of the amount they asked me. Despite all the appeals I made
to them, the greedy officers declined to let me in. "If you don’t pay,
we will deport you to the Gambia”.
Their "intimidating" words uttered in such arrogant manner had not
shaken my nerve but turned my mood into anger instead. I reminded the
commanding officer about the ECOWAS’s charter for the free movement of
its citizen. I told him that, as the citizen of ECOWAS, I don’t need
to have a visa to enter in any ECOWAS country. Had I known, I
wouldn’t say that. The moment I pronounced those words, sooner said
than done, the officer in charge urged the lorry driver to extract my
belonging "a travelling bag" from the lorry. Then the driver was told
by one junior officer to start the lorry and get off the site. The
lorry proceeds with the other passengers and left me, stranded at the
border.
On nor-man’s-land, I
spent the night on the border. The following morning I took a
past-by-car heading to Ouagadougou the capital city. From there I
continued to Bobo Dioulasu, the city where I disembarked two days
earlier. By the time of my arrivals in Bobo, I was financially
blank. But so luckily, one gentleman, acted as philanthropist, offered
me a free accommodation. With no cash or any valuable thing in my
recourse, I neither left with nor option than to take any kind of work
as the source of my living. I asked my gentle guardian where I could
get a daily-wage-work. He told me that he would discuses my case with
a good friend to him, a big inter-city merchant, who travels between
Abidjan-Accra-Bobo Dioulasu.
I was so encouraged by my guardian when
he told me the following words: My friend, he meant, "the merchant",
would like to have someone like you to travel with him to
Ghana. He needs help with translation. He travels to Ghana, now and
then, to purchase water pumps and other equipments, which are very
much profitable goods here in Bobo Dioulaso. When he travels there, he
used to have someone to act as his interpreter. He would surely need
you there, he added.
With my new
boss, I made my first journey to Kumasi in Ghana in September 1979 and
during that trip I noticed how my boss appreciated the little
knowledge I have acquired in English language. After few trips to
Ghana that gave less profits than he had expected, my boss suggested
Lagos Nigeria the biggest trading centre in the region. This time he
the boss wanted to engage in Honda CC125 motorbike business.
On November
16th 1979, my boss and I were departed from Bobo to Lagos.
After our arrivals in Nigeria, I helped him by acting as simultaneous
translator between him and shopkeepers. Together, we bought all what
he could buy, before I revealed what I had in my mind that I preferred
not to follow him to Bobo but to stay in Lagos. I promised to help him
again if he happens to come back and meet me in Lagos. We lodged in a
hotel in the heart of Logos business centre.
Few days after my boss
left, I got a job not where we were lodged but a nearby Hotel. I was
rather satisfied with my new job. Within the period of 6 months, I
secured the full confidence of the hotel manager, a British citizen. I
was promoted and transferred to another hotel in a small Nigeria/Benin
border town called Idiroko. There I became a deputy to the head
receptionist.
I held that post until 1983 the year the military junta,
General Mohammed Buhari, toppled the civilian government of Sheihou
Shagari and ordered the mass deportation of all illegal aliens.
Since I had a working permit, I was not directly affected by the
deportation. A big blow came to me, soon after the new regime ordered
the printing of a new Naira notes. All my savings became in vain,
after the juntas came with degrees that a new Naira notes would
replace the old one and the old one would be changeable in the period
of 30 days only. And only the money that has been deposited in
the bank was changeable with the new notes. For none Nigerian citizen
like me, who had the valued resident permit, were allowed to deposit
or yank out only 2000 Naira.
In
nationwide, the panic broke out when it had been announced that the
amount of new Naira notes, which had been printed would not be enough
for all those who wanted to yank their monies, the new notes. The
peoples had been scarred to lose their monies in banks. Before the
coup, I had saved (2000) two thousand Niara in bank but still had
(5000) five thousand Nairas saving elsewhere than in bank.
As I could
not save more than the tow thousand Nairas I already had in bank, I
gave the (5000) five thousand to my Nigerian friend/co-worker, in
order to deposit it in his name. As I wished, he indeed deposited my
money. But out of the five thousand Nairas I handed over to his
ownership, I got only 600 from the guy. What a friend! According to my
friend, as I was thought he was, the bank allowed no one to cash more
than 200 Naira every month. That was not true. He just wanted to cheat
me.
Whenever I asked him if we could go jointly to the bank, he
threats me saying: You are not a Nigerian so going to the bank
with you and claim your money would result your deportation. I fully
understood what his trick was all about? I abandoned both my money and
the town and moved to Lagos again where I subsequently decided to go
to Egypt and study instead.
I left for Egypt on
Wednesday October 10th 1984. Before I left Lagos I was
advised not to lodge at any hotel in Cairo city but go directly to Al-aqhar
Mosque where I could temporally lodge free in charge. After few days
in the Mosque, my roommate informed me about the rules. As an aspirant
student, one has to be register as soon as possible, he said. And on
Monday October 15th 1984 I was enrolled in "Al-Azhar"
Madinat-albaus. Few months after I registered, I asked a fellow
Gambian student how I could get a part-time work. Lacking any form of
scholarship, I wanted to combine both the study and a work.
Not because my desire for
the full time study is less but I simply could not cope to live in the
Mosque. I told my compatriot that if I could get a part-time work, I
would combine that with the study, in order to be able to rent a
single room. My friend told me that most of the jobs, here in Cairo,
which is available for foreign students, are labourer’s works. Waiting
for my chance to get a part-time work and whilst having the money
which I should have paid the hotel with, I was so keen to have someone
whom I could jointly rent a room with. One Friday, after the Friday
prayers, a man came to the mosque, entered in a compartment next to
us. He came there to visit a friend. In their conversation, I heard a
voice, most likely, from the guest asked his host that if he knows
anyone who is looking for a room. I went directly to the apartment and
asked for the man, who was looking for join-room-tenant. I told him
that I'm interested to rent a room. He gave me his address so I moved
in an ordinary house. In the house, we were 4 tenants. Each of us had
his own bedroom but shared one Toilet/Bathroom.
One day,
one of my roommates just wanted to inform me where he would be going.
He said to me, I want to rush to somewhere for an evening course. The
course was "N'ko wuralla karango" Nko evening course. Later in the
evening, when my roommate came back, he showed me the script he
started to learn. I asked him what is required to be participant in
the course. Nothing at all, he said to me. I asked if I could follow
him when going there next time and he assured me to following him to
the N'ko School in the following week. My friend took me to the
school where I "formal" got my very first lesson in N'ko.
On the 6th
of October 1986 I left Egypt to Sweden and that was my second attempts
to leave the mother continent, Africa. The first one was 6 months
earlier, on the 3rd of March. The destination should be Tel-Aviv in
Israel. Despite I was given an entry visa by Israel embassy in Cairo,
I was not allowed by Israelis border guards to enter in Israel. That
was on the day before the inauguration of the 1986 African cup of the
nations, football tournament, held in Egypt. Worked as timekeeper, in
the British company, which built Cairo underground system, I was able
to accumulate the money for my trip to Sweden. As I have mentioned
above, on the 6th of October 1986, I arrived in Sweden,
which became and still is my second homeland after my cultural country
the Gambia.
The man who "formal" taught me N'ko, in Cairo, was (Nkaramo) Dr. Baba
Mamadi
Diané, now N'ko professor at the faculty of the language at Cairo
University. From the day I first learnt its Alphabet, twenty-four (24)
years ago, I have been an exponent member of N'ko, the written form of
my language. So far, I wrote two books in it and my third one is
expected to be publishing soon.
In
October 2001 I was invited by Cairo University to participate in the
seminar on culture and the languages in African. It was on the
occasion of the 30 years anniversary of the establishment
of the faculty of the language at Cairo University. I presented a
paper on Manding languages and its speakers. Karamo Kabba Jammeh
æÔú
