Gainako Newspaper

..............."ROUSE"
..........The Idiosyncrasies of Youth
........................................By Momodou Laama Jallow.......................Posted January 20th, 2007

Here is another story from our vibrant associate and Gainako's shepherd, Mr. Momodou Laama Jallow.
In the fictional story below, "Rouse" , Laama takes us into a window of our collective past as youth's
growing up the Gambia in the image of Paco and his friends who were young, restless and determined
to faced the world . A journey that eventually brings to memory what is called "childhood " days
where the famous attaya vous were an integral part of the Gambian social fabric. Some even called
these vous- places of "higher learning" where most of us graduated with lot of specialties ranging
from "nafseh", Jamaica", "Babylon", "Reggae Music", et cetera, et cetera...

This piece is amongs the many that the author wrote that provides great insight and reflection on the Gambian
vibrant youthful experience. A past that is at times nostalgic, emotional and certainly memorable.
(Below we reproduce "Rouse"-The Idiosyncrasies Of Youth as authored by Laama, and please read:)

Rouse! At first it was a whisper, and then Dicks turn around and look in the direction of his mate Paco
making sure he heard him right. Boys! Rouse! , he repeated slightly raising his voice. Suddenly everyone
dispersed and ran in different directions. The taxi driver froze for a moment in disbelief before realizing the
whole rouse was to avoid paying the trip fare. He made a futile attempt to give chase but because it was
dark and the area was unfamiliar the taxi driver soon abandoned the chase. Half and hour later the boys
converged at their favorite spot on the street corner laughing at the whole episode before dispersing home
for the rest of night.

This whole saga started much earlier that evening. There was a great basket ball game at lawn in Banjul
between two great rivals. Walidan versus Dingareh. There was great hype between the two teams and
that weekend basket ball was "The program in town". Paco and his boys wouldn't miss this for the
world. After the game around 1:30 a.m. the crowd mainly Banjul residence began to slowly disperse.
Paco, Dicks and three other friends stood on the curb on Independent drive contemplating how to get
back home to Serekunda. Earlier, during the commotions of buying tickets for the game, Dick's wallet was
stolen. He did not realize the theft until late in the game. Now the basket ball game is over and since all
four friends were banking on Dicks for the fare home they were all stranded. No money and being this late
the chance of catching a free ride to Serekunda was getting quite difficult. The few private cars that passed
by were either fully loaded or choose to ignored their frantic waiving. After an hour waiting on the curb
with no free ride the prospect of spending the night in Banjul becomes frightengly obvious by the minute.
Even though most of them have relatives and friends in Banjul but knocking on someone's door this late
was not a pleasant option.

Then suddenly a taxi came and the driver said Serekunda? Town trip? Paco without even conferring with
the rest of his friends agreed and jump in the front seat. Dicks and the rest huddled to the back. Apart
from the inconvenience of the cramp space at the back of the taxi a-Renault L4 commonly called "Elkat",
the twenty minutes ride was uneventful until they were about to reached their destinations. Paco suddenly
asked the driver to stop by the school under the excuse that he needed to relieved himself urgently. At this
moment Dicks and the three other friends joined him on the side walk when he whispered the word
"Rouse" -a code word used by the group only in exigent circumstances.

The next morning while hanging at Batch's place drinking tea "Attaya" arguing about the previous night's
ordeal Tam a member of the crew who was absent the previous night in Banjul proceeded to admonished
Paco and his friends and warn of divine retributions unless proper amends is made. Quizzed about the
nature of these amends he suggested the money equivalent to the fare needed to be donated discreetly to
an old man preferably in the neighborhood. As the crew began to consider this proposal, Tam further
added that he is the only one qualify to performed this atonement and that no one needs to be present
when he hands out this money. At this point Paco realized the cunningness in Tams proposal and the
possibility of being a new victim screamed "No Way Tam"! Everybody joined in the chorus hooting and
howling. "Cheat!", "Cheat!" This eventually degenerates into a huge laughter as everybody realizes the
absurdity of the whole thing.

In the afternoon the Paco and his friends would jogged to the beach where were they would indulge in
intensive push ups developing their arms and chest. Next they would squat couple of time and then using
rope they will skip a dozen times developing the lower part of their body. After which they will relax in the
sand watching local fishermen and other sea faring vessel in the distant horizon. Finally they would get into
the water and swim about a mile from Kotu Strand Hotel to Fajara Hotel. Sometimes they will get fish
from the occasional fishermen in the area and organize a barbecue using make shift grill using dry sticks,
leaves and discarded corrugated metal sheets.

At night they would meet at Koto's house where they will listen to the reggae music of Bob Marley,
Frankie Paul, Jacob Miller, UB-40 Burning Spear, Bunny Wailers and many other artists. At times even
memorizing the lyrics of these songs. Talk of "Babylon" and the dream of someday going to Jamaica was
a constant theme of their discussions. Other times they would watch video of any movies they lay their
hands on. Sometimes their discussions would center on Politics with everyone weighing on the problems
of the "System", a parlance for local politics, often these usually expands into philosophy, history, religion
and government. The works of Socrates, Plato and the great Africans statesmen Kwame Nkrumah,
Sekou Touray, Patrice Lumumba were a regular theme. Koto used to keep a huge poster of Marcus
Garvey in his living room and collections of books that was a real treasure. His greatest attribute was he
encourages Paco and his crew (His boys) as he commonly refers to them to read as widely as possible. A
regular fixture of the books on his shelve was, The Prince- by Nicolo Machiavelli and How Europe
Underdeveloped Africa- by Walter Rodney.

Sometimes if it is weekend and no work or school the next day Koto will let Paco and his friends hanged
until the the wee hours of the morning before dispersing home. Other times depending on their budget they
will buy chicken sandwich at Pa Jagne famous fast food restaurant or simply buy fresh bread, milk at the
local bakery. This mixed with water they will eat as "Ponse"- a dinner supplement. Other times when none
of his crew has any money they usually convinced their mate Joe to enter the family garden and get as
much fruit as possible to eat before dispersing home.

Other days they would camp at Jim's make shift gym in Kanifing. Here they would indulge in intensive
weight lifting exercise. Paco and his boys usually meet and mingled with other boys from Kanifing and
surrounding neighborhood. Collectively they would train together on bench presses, dumb bells and other
weight lifting routines. In doing so exchanged ideas, tips and techniques on how to better conditioned their
bodies. Occasionally they would exchange stories about the exploits of the great local body builders
"Louis"and "Lokay". Other times they would share magazines about body building featuring the great
African American Lee Harney, and Arnold Schwarzenegger famous body building champions.

Other nights when it is really hot and there is no electricity, they would camped at Magic's house on top of
the single story building where the elevation is higher and the breeze more refreshing. The view on top
coupled with the threat of mosquitoes virtually absent makes this spot not only alluring but rather an ideal
retreat for the boys. After drinking tea "Attaya", they would lay on their backs savoring the quietness of
the night and gazing at the constellation of stars. Here each member of the Paco's friends would for a
moment be lost in his own thoughts oblivious to the world around him before eventually falling asleep with
such youthful indifference to what tomorrow will brings.

Momodou Laama Jallow
North Carolina, USA

...� Copyright, 2006-2007: Gainako On-line Newspaper. Site Maintained by Gamway Computers