For five years, they went through the ordeal of securing the release of their brother Alhagie Mamut Ceesay who was kidnapped and later killed in The Gambia.
Sisters Juka, Olay, Amy, Mamaram and Jay Ceesay decided to use the life-quake engendered by the loss of a dear one to give back to the world by sharing their experiences instead of embracing victimhood.
Alhagie Mamut Ceesay, brother to the comeback sisters was a Gambian-American who lived in Texas.
Ceesay and his friend Ebou Jobe returned to The Gambia in May 2013 with the goal of launching a business, but wound up getting kidnapped and killed in brutal fashion.
In the premiere of The Sisters Show, Olay Ceesay recalled: “My brother was kidnapped for five years and we didn’t really know his whereabouts. And as sisters for about five years we all took it upon ourselves to basically find out what we could do. It was a very, very emotional, low point in all of our lives. But we do not sit back and play as victims. We decided, took it upon ourselves to figure out what happened to our brother and during that time we all took the fight using different methods.
So a couple of my sisters, Amy, Juka and Jay basically were the ones that, their focus on the media. Mama and I were more like in the back end and through that journey of using the media, they’ve determined that actually the media is a very very powerful channel in terms of getting across to people. And so after all of that, we were talking about the events that happened and how we were able to inspire a lot of people, because a lot of people reached out and they could not figure out like, ‘how do you stay strong during such a very difficult time of your life?’ And of course I would say it was the family support that helped us all connected and get through that very difficult part of our lives. And so that inspired us all – that with such a tragic moment we have to bring something good out of it and that’s what better way to use the media to inspire women all across Africa, women that are in the US as well [to] share our knowledge, share our experiences. We all have different professions.”
For Juka, the experience of shared loss over a period of five years brought them closer together as a family, while strengthening their resolve to give back to the world.
“We think there is a void we can fill in media to show young girls all over the world especially young girls of African descent, young girls that are different ethnicity all over the world literally, to know that you could do anything that you set your mind to, whatever your purpose is, whatever your calling is. For us that is one of the reasons why we’re coming with this show,” she said.
