By: Famara Fofana
The rains are here again. So, naturally, the famer folk are brimming with optimism like a people poised to receive manna from heaven. For them, this marks the commencement of serious business with pre-planting activities almost out of sight in most parts of our agrarian country. The rest becomes hard work, hard work and hard work to an extent some strange farmers are tempted to throw in the towel due to the sheer load of work they do. After all, no one wants to hire the services of anyone in return for a half-baked performance. By the way, that evokes memories of a ‘samaa-laa’ from La Guinea. Word was that he went AWOL in Jokaland many years ago at the peak of the weeding phase after he got overwhelmed by the mere sight of the tall and all-troublesome weed called ‘Jaajeh kalabaa’. That crawling plant can be a nauseatingly stubborn grass for any farmer to combat.
Just as the rainy season brings with it renewed optimism for those whose lives are chained to the soil, it can in equal measure also usher in a sense of apprehension and frustration for most pedestrians here in “Tubab Kunda” (metropolitan Gambia). For whatever reason, this is when most motorists seem to be deriving pleasure in spattering dirty muddy water on we the people of nought. The stock in trade of most drivers, it would appear, is driving past individuals walking by a pool of water at break-neck speed to a point one’s face is splashed with stagnant water.
What happens in such situations is an altercation that can turn physical. How do you expect someone dressed in their best attire en route to a very important function or work only to be forced to return home and change clothes because some money-chasing driver painted his or her garments with poto-poto-like graffiti on a wall?
Pedestrians in such instances cannot help but yell “hai driver lu la jot yow” (what has become of you driver?) or uncontrollably lashed at them by way of saying “danga doff hana'”(are you insane)? And instead of apologizing courteously, the usually impatient, middle-aged cab driver could be heard responding “mane doxolal sa soxla suma waaji nga mai ma suma jama” which translates take care of your business and give me peace. Knowing that they would never alight from the car, let alone fight, they can say anything they deemed fit even after plastering one with stinky water. “Tass”! “bang”! “fatt”! they would veer off, playing victim when they in fact are the offenders.
Having been at the receiving end of a similar situation somewhere around Nema Junction years ago, a helpless me said to myself that I would never ever give a helping hand to any driver, especially those in the commercial sector should I stumble upon stuck in a puddle of “poto-poto” struggling to eject themselves out of a shallow but murky waters.
Now that the heavens are opening up, it would become commonplace to find driver and pedestrian at loggerheads with one demanding answers after feeling incensed by the manner in which their plain white “garambubu” was dirtied beyond recognition. For the other person in control of the steering wheel, it is business as usual – all part of the daily rigmarole of raba-raba life in urban Gambia. Huh, the mere thought of flooding alone in certain flood-prone localities in the Greater Banjul Area is even more scary. But after all, this is seen as the period of “naymoo” or blessings.
May Allah give us abundant yields and save us from the perils that come with this period.
