Tower and Town, October 2020

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Sukai Jobe

Sukai Jobe was one of three female members of the first group from Gunjur to visit Marlborough in 1986.

The arrival and community welcome of a group from Marlborough in 1985, led by Alan Lance, Anita Bew, Nick Fogg, Nick Maurice, Mike Polack and students from St John’s School, and subsequent visits by Pat Lovelace, Patrick and Sam Woodhouse, Henry Pearson and others were my very first encounters with the Marlborough people.  The then-Alkalo (Mayor), the late Alhajie Sabaki Touray and the entire community of Gunjur, welcomed the first group, a bus load of extremely popular guests that made a tremendous and significant, lasting impact on the entire community and not only people in Gunjur but many people in Marlborough and beyond.

One such impact left by the first group is the five-classroom block which stands at the Gunjur primary school. That first group were traditionally entertained on their arrival in the ‘multipurpose centre’ in the middle of Gunjur by the “KANYELLENG” group of women dancers and drummers.  

They then dispersed with their Gunjur hosts into the dark night with no street lights, running tap water or green grass. It was the year of the “BANJUL BELLIES”, but it was a remarkable experience for both hosts and guests. Some guests never returned to Gunjur but many did.

In 1986, I was lucky to be part of the first group of 15, with only three girls chosen, to travel to Gunjur’s link community of Marlborough. Never before had either hosts or guests had such an experience. It was a significant, life changing experience and impact for all. It was summer but many of us where chilly in the air-conditioned bus ride from Heathrow.

The countryside, the never dark evenings and the neat landscapes were amusing first impressions, as well as the peaceful cool, calm and collected atmosphere. This game changer trip to Marlborough significantly influenced my whole future. I was inspired and motivated to get good grades in school and to achieve higher living standards for me, my family and my community. Thus, I travelled back to UK in 1998 when I attended the London School of Management Education for one academic year before travelling to the U.S.A. to get married.

I was inspired by the several young teacher volunteers from Marlborough like Sally Lovelace, Simon Lane, Simon Chandler who had given up their lives in U.K, to volunteer in the Gambia. With all the weather and other challenges that they faced, they motivated and inspired me to thrive in different/ difficult conditions.

Racism was not an issue in Marlborough or, maybe not recognised because, we simply were not familiar with it. The children at a preschool in Chippenham surely had never seen a black person and asked innocent questions like “why is Mr Bojang so black? Does the dark skin come off during a shower?” “Can we touch it?”

Such issues are everywhere. In the Gambia tribalism, like racism in the West, America, Asia and the Arab world is prevalent and a huge barrier to progress as a world and nation. It’s due to several factors including ignorance, insecurity, and lack of wisdom. One has to recognise it and embrace wisdom to react appropriately. It is how we react that significantly impacts on racism and racists. The only significant and known racism I encountered was in 1996 ten years after the group visit. At the bus station on Swindon highway, on my way to an invitation to a meeting at the Town Hall in Marlborough, a group of young teenagers were quite abusive but I simply ignored them and then the bus arrived. The significance of living in Marlborough taught me that only a very few whites are racists and this is mostly due to their own insecurity, ignorance, misinformation and background.

Summing up, I have worked in U.K. as a student with agencies in various institutions like cover staff, support staff, mail sorting, Macdonald’s, Coventry garden, and cleaner. In U.S.A I have worked in plastic factories, Macdonald’s, and since 2009, settled in a career as a carer caring for people who need my support and getting paid. The impact of the Gunjur Marlborough link on both sides of the aisles cannot be measured in size or quantity. We can only be grateful to its initiators and members of the Marlborough Brandt Group. Thank you for a significant life time exposure and its impact.

Sukai Jobe