Sibanor
Sibanor is one of the biggest settlements in this region. It is among the many villages within this area which has been rendered dreary by the disappearance of the characteristic excitement this route has been known for, thanks to the deplorable nature the road has been in. But ongoing construction work on it set off an air of unyielding optimism among the people of this area.

The expectations here go beyond just having the road back on shape; other development initiatives a people need to make life as acceptable as possible are much on the minds of the people of Sibanor. But natives like Western Region governor, Lamin Sanneh, are consciously gracious of the strides that have already been taken so far.  This government, he told the Observer crew, has set the pace for the extraordinary trend of development taking place in this country. Governor Sanneh recounted numerous development packages the people of his region have benefited from since the advent of the July 22nd Revolution.

Already the village has access to clean and safe drinking water. And an edifice which will serve as the new police station for Sibanor, replacing the current old structure, is presently nearing completion. This project constitutes a fundamental part of the security of this part of the country. The head of the police engineering unit, ASP Lang Fofana, who is himself supervising the work, described the building as one of the best, if not the best in the sub region, on completion. "The idea is to house the entire security units within one building, under one command structure - from immigration, drugs squad, NIA to the police, and it all gears towards efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery," ASP Fofana told the Observer crew.

According to the police public relations officer, ASP Sulayman Secka, the new station will provide security for the people in the entire area from Kalagi to Mandina, where there has been a noticeable absence of police stations. This, according to PRO Secka, is especially important in the light of frequent report of cattle rustling and other criminal activities. Accordingly, there are plans to erect many of this kind of structures across the country.   

The people of all the other villages in this part of the country, who had hardly thought of being exposed to developments like the luxury of having schools to educate their children, have gotten a share of the national cake. Like Sibanor, the village of Ndenban in the Foni Bintan Karanai, has got an upper basic school for the first time in its history. And the stories that characterise the days before the establishment of these schools are more or less the same.

It was hardship upon hardship, and so many people from this part of the country today remain rueful of a historical wrong imposed on them by circumstances. In addition, all these major villages have access to portable water, giving the people the chance to have clean and safe drinking water.  
Smaller villages like Killy, which do not have the population to maintain an upper basic school, have at their disposal lower basic schools, and the nearby bigger villages serve as their point to accessing higher education.

Looking at the pattern of distribution of schools in this area, it confirms repeated assurances by the Gambian leader of his intention to make sure that no Gambian child treks more than 5 kilometres to access education. The villages of Sutusinjang and Bulluck, in this same part of Foni, all have portable water.

Kafuta   
As the first major settlement after Foni, Kafuta is believed to be the largest village in Kombo East. Its largeness, however, could not convince the authorities in pre-22nd July era to provide it with some of the most basic of necessities. Kafuta is part of a cluster of villages in this area, the other ones being Faraba Bantang and Pirang, which benefited from the establishment of upper basic schools just within a year into the Revolution. The sheer haste with which these schools were established is a clear demonstration of the sense of urgency with which the then new government took the issue of fixing the country's then kaput education system, which was then seriously wanting in ambition and deficient in substance.

Kafuta also has one of the health centres erected across the country to cushion the awful situation surrounding unavailability of health services in key places like these. Kafuta Minor Health Center was built in 1996, and, according to Neneh Sanyang, nurse in charge at the center, they cover about five villages, including big settlements like Pirang. With an ambulance on standby in case of the need for referrals, which are sent to Brikama Health Center, Kafuta minor health center provides some kind of an assurance for the people of this area, with small health posts dotted across in all these villages.
In Faraba Bantang, Senior Master Lamin Saidy, described the establishment of an upper basic school in the village as a 'great opportunity'. "Before the school was upgraded into a basic cycle school, our children used to leave their homes at very tender ages, making them find their new environment extremely difficult to cope with. But now, by the time they complete grade nine, they are mature enough to be able to cope with any situation that comes their way,'' Saidy, a native of the village, said.

Presently, the story in Pirang is dominated by the recent pledge of D3M by the Gambian leader, for the construction of the village's mosque, which, until its demolition, served as some sort of a death trap. Construction work on that mosque is already in progress, as the president has already handed over half of the money he had pledged.

Accordingly, the people of Pirang had forwarded numerous requests to every corner of the country when it reached the president. To the surprise of the villagers, the president's offer of D3M far exceeded their initial request of D600, 000. According to the contractual agreement between the people of Pirang and the contractor, the new mosque will be up for use in six months' time. And in the words of Tumani Sanyang, a member of the mosque construction committee, the president's gesture is a demonstration of "Muslim brotherhood." "Our prayers are such that God knows what is fitting for him. We pray that he remains ahead of us for a long time to come," Sanyang said.

This gesture by the Gambian leader to the people of Pirang is just one of many, many aids people across the country benefit from the president's unquestionable lust for support to religion. Accordingly, in terms of education, throughout the whole of Kombo East, there was no upper basic school. Children from the villages of Kafuta, Pirang, Faraba, etc, were all trekking to places as far as Brikama and beyond, to attend school. The upgrading of Pirang Lower Basic School into a basic cycle school therefore put an end into years of adversity for both children and parents in this area.

Already, the Western Region has been earmarked to host the country's first ever university, the premises of the University of The Gambia, which will be constructed in Faraba Bantang. In terms of health delivery services, all the villages in this area used to depend on Sibanor, some 30km away, or Brikama, 9km away, for medical services. And now, Pirang also has its own health facility, a clinic by standard. It operates 24 hours.
There is also Kuloro, another major settlement in Kombo East, which has portable water supply thanks to the APRC government.

Mandinaba
Mandinaba Village, by virtue of it being a point of transit into neighbouring Senegal, has been a potentially economically viable settlement. The completion of the Mandinaba - Sellete Road project recently, enormously increased that prospect.

The road, clearly one of the finest in the country, runs through a number of other villages - Toubakuta, Basori, Talokoto, Jiboroh and Jiborohkuta, before the border with Senegal.

The positive effect of this road on the lives of the people along this stretch, as some of those who spoke to us revealed, is tremendous. Besides, travelling through that road before its construction, there was this feeling of embarrassment entering into another man's country and realising the difference in terms of good road. "As Gambians, we have been freed of that embarrassment,'' said Lamin Bojang, a frequent traveller through that boarder. All the villages on the Gambian side of that border have access to portable water, much to the delight of people like Musa Jatta of Jiborohkuta.

Musa is the son of the Alkalo of this village. He recounted that before the construction of the road, it would take a vehicle travelling to Brikama, for instance, close to an hour, thanks to the awful nature of the road. Today Musa rides through this route in just 12 minutes. Quite a difference! Apart from discomfort related to the bad road then, there were material damages.

Many drivers were of the habit of refusing to take their vehicle through this route, leaving villages travelling through it all the while stranded. The few that ventured did so at their own costs. According to Musa Jatta, there were frequent accidents especially common with lorries. Drivers, he said, kept on raising fares at their will. In the compound of the Alkalo of Jiborokuta is parked a broken gele gele, victim of the road before construction. Although Musa seemed unable to come to terms with the situation, all those bad days are now behind them, and the thought of that serves as a good assurance for him.

Musa also commended the APRC government for its foresight in relieving them of the burden of struggling to get access to clean drinking water. "There used to be only two hand pumps for a whole village with a population of at least 5,000,'' he told the observer crew. And he added that then, some of the people travelled some 2km or more only to join seemingly endless queues to fetch drinking water. And for the first time, the people of these villages have been provided with access to high education at the level of upper basic schools.

The structure housing Jiboroh Basic Cycle School existed before 1994, but as a lower basic school. It was upgraded by this government as part of its crusade of bringing much needed educational opportunities to every Gambian.

A border village, Jiboro is located in the southern part of Kombo East, some 9 kilometers from Mandinaba.  Children from villages like Jidda, Niji, Duwasu, Tubakuta, talokoto, Basori and many more, all attend school in Jiboroh. Even students from nearby Senegalese villages of Dioululu and Seliti do attend school in jiboroh.

The Observer July 22nd Bus crew takes a break at its base. The tour continues on Tuesday.

This publication is directed by
Pa Malick Faye

Writers:
Kemo AM Cham
Amadou Jallow
& Sheriff Janko

Photos:
Famara Drammeh

Driver:
Musa Sanno