Tower and Town, October 2020

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Lamin Touray

Lamin Touray has been the Chair of the Kombo Sillah Association, the Gambian diaspora organisation which supports Gambians in UK who run into difficulties and also provides assistance to Gunjurians at home.

I have very fond memories of my first trip to the UK. In 2000 I was a first year student at a teachers’ training college - the Gambia College. I was selected as part of a group of 15 to travel to Marlborough on an exchange visit. It was the wish of every young person in my village to be on the trip. I was grateful to be on the list at the first time of asking. A childhood dream was coming true.  

Weeks and months of preparations followed the selection process. Unfortunately, I couldn't initially be with the rest of the group as planned. Negotiations to have my end of year exams before everyone else were rejected by the College authorities. The group left me behind in Gunjur. My air ticket was amended to allow me to sit the exams and join my team in Marlborough a week later. I arrived at Gatwick airport on Friday 30th June 2000 and was met by Alan Lance. We drove for just over two hours and arrived at my hosts for the next three weeks - Anthony and Pauline Berryman, on 1st July 2000. I was up early the following morning to join my team for a weekend camp in the Brecon Beacons in Wales.

It was a trip like no other. I got to know all of my team members more than ever before. That was the highlight of my visit. That was an essential element of the link as well - getting to know each other to clear class and social barriers. 

The rest of my stay was spent on school visits across Wiltshire and the surrounding counties. I had the singular honour of working with journalist Nigel Kerton at the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald in Marlborough. It was a sharp contrast to the kind of news gathering I was doing as a young freelance journalist in the Gambia. 

Then I was on the plane with the rest of my friends heading back to the Gambia. There was a party to welcome us home to our beloved Gunjur. I went on to finish College and was posted to Gunjur Upper Basic school as a teacher. I taught for 18 months and moved over to TARUD as a project manager for a pilot scheme, SMILE - Smallholder Improvement for Livelihood Enhancement. 

It was here that I decided to move out of my country of birth. The stakes couldn't be higher. I had a job that was well paid in the Gambia and was married with a six months old baby boy. Life was getting increasingly constricted under the prevailing dictatorship of President Yayha Jammeh, for those of us who were journalists. A lot of my colleagues had left the country. Some were attacked by strange men believed to be state security personnel. Some were imprisoned. One was killed and another disappeared without trace. Media houses were fire-bombed and printing presses burnt down. No one was spared. Civil society organisations like the NGO I was working for either shut up or became praise singers of the government. 

On the eve of Christmas 2005, I arrived in the UK not knowing when I would return home. Emotions were mixed. On the one hand, I was happy that I had left the country but on the other, I was terribly sad at leaving my young family behind. 

My journey to the UK might not have taken place without the link between Gunjur and Marlborough. I see it as the most successful community link between a developed western country and a developing, so-called, third world country. Overall, the advantages of living in the UK outweigh any disadvantages. From work ethics to self-discipline and a general perspective on issues, the opportunities that I have come across might not have been the same had I stayed home.

Based on the kind of orientation that I had gone through to prepare us for the exchange visit to Marlborough, I found it easy to fit into the British society when I visited for the second time five years later. It's worth noting that by this time (2005), there were thriving Gunjur communities in Bristol and Leeds and all of those helped to give me a great and positive experience. 

I have come across racism in the UK in two forms - openly and covertly. I have lived in predominantly white areas in Birmingham where mainly younger drivers will yell at me as I walk to the corner shops. Juxtapose this with the streets of Gunjur where people of different races (there are eight different ethnic groups living in and around Gunjur) are warmly embraced. I work for Dräxlmaier Group, a German company, contracted to build dashboards and interior finishings for Jaguar Land Rover.  

In the workplace, you feel like you're overlooked for promotion because of the colour of your skin.  When it comes to employment, I think the USA has more black people in white collar jobs than in the UK. Moving forward, this must be addressed to create a fairer society. 

My short and medium term goals are to prepare the ground work for sustainable horticulture. There are gaps in the supply chain that offer real opportunities for self-employment. I want to be around to make the most of that opportunity. 

Lamin Touray