Gainako Newspaper

Gainako’s guest this week is none other than our gallant comrade, Mr. Momodou
Laama Jallow, a Gambian in his mid-thirties now a resident of North Carolina,
USA. In his piece of December 21st 2006, Mr. Jallow reflected on the Gambian
“nerves” syndrome, a term not new at all in Gambian communities. In fact, the
word became a borrowed word and now finds itself in all our spoken dialects.

Mr. Jallow argued that then it was search for greener pastures, but now added to it is unfriendly
political ground. One doesn’t need a lecture to catch the moral lesson of the piece, in that our
attaya-vous in the Gambia are places where many gained their degrees in the subject matter. In
what has frustrated a lot of youths then and now, also made many ambitious and successful. Nerves
is the real deal, and today in our Gambian culture, it means “ambition or determination” and it
lived through its dynamic stages.

Mr. Jallow is a successful web-designer and a businessman whose contribution to our political
awareness is noted well. He is behind many operating online newspapers, notably Gainako Online
Newspaper. Don’t hesitate to contact him on any of your web-design and site improvement
works.
(Below we reproduce the whole piece that Mr. Jallow sent to our editorial desk.)

In the summer of 1984, a group of Gambians on short holiday from Oslo, Norway came with a swagger
and attitude that forever changed my generation. Amongst these pioneers were Batch, Babs, Papa
Sumbundu, Small Jabo, and Bunge. These semesters as they become known brought in money, cars,
clothes and above all a lifestyle that is enviable. Their actions during that summer changed the Gambia
psyche forever eventually etching their names into our collective national consciousness. They inspired a
movement that culminated to a massive exodus of youths on a scale unparallel in Gambian history.

These semesters introduced a new vocabulary changed the Gambian lexicon, old Gambian words began to
have a new meanings and sometimes even an added flavor. Words like Semester, Babylon, Oslo, Betta,
Langens, Topato, Lala wahalni, Douga, Fajeh, Tajj, Nyai etc, etc takes on new meaning and become
operative words that embodies the whole notion of the Nerves movement. But what is Nerves? How does
this word come to define a whole generation of Gambian youths? What are its root causes, its effects and
consequences? And what happens to"nerves" after close to a quarter century?

Origin of the word " Nerves "
Legend has it that in the summer of 1984, a youth in Banjul was so taken by these semesters in their fancy
clothes, expensive cars, gold chains, the money and the life style remarked that the overwhelming feeling he
experience get his NERVES up. Hence the origin of word nerves. The word eventually evolved into the
embodiment of the longing to travel, to explore, to hustle, to study abroad, to go beyond the Gambian
shores, to try new opportunities and above all to return home and make a difference to yourself, your
family, friends and your community.

Root causes, Effects & Consequences
The Oslo boys in the summer of 1984 reveals that there is greener pastures outside The Gambia and with
fortitude and determination one can carve out a better life. This summer also makes obvious the fact the
Gambia does not offer much in the way of economic opportunities for its bourgeoning youths population,
that the old order of things no longer suffice and Jawara's government theme of "The Gambia no problem"
has become a fleeting illusion. Hence no surprise that a decade later in 1994 when members of the AFPRC
staged a coup the toppled the Jawara's government Gambian youths rejoice in overwhelming numbers

The nerves phenomenon is an interesting chapter in Gambian history. Even though Gambians has been
traveling Europe and America well before 1980's but what makes the nerve movement unique is that this
phenomenon affects all class of Gambian society. Both rich & poor, educated & illiterate, urban & rural. It
eventually took on biblical proportions. It led to families mortgaging their properties, lands, life savings,
family heirlooms on a huge scale just to send their youths away to try their luck outside. There has been
great success stories of people making tremendous differences in the lives of their families and friends as a
result. However there were also big disappointments some even with tragic consequences.

Nerves after close to a Quarter Century
After close to 25 yrs of this phenomenon the exodus still continues unabated despite increasing difficulties to
travel the western world. While the nerve movement of the eighties and nineties were primarily spun by
socio-economic reasons today there are increasingly a steady number that are driven by the political climate
of the Gambia. This trend will continue until the underlining causes are address.

While the final chapter of the "Nerves Phenomenon " is yet to be written by historians its pros & cons still
continues to be debated. What is certain is that the Nerves movement is still alive and kicking in the
Gambia. This movement is akin to Moses biblical exodus to the Promised Land with one fundamental
difference. To the Gambian Nerve community there are many promised lands and more than one Moses
to lead the faithful.

Momodou Laama Jallow
North Carolina.

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