27/02/2022
“kutu kata kese menbo jaba to”.
If you’re born in Africa, survival automatically becomes your objective in life; but fighting for survive has different degrees depending on your family status in the country’s political affairs. Youths in my society are never celebrated strugglers, even though none make silly plans. In trying to sail the ocean of survival, they always end up becoming an unknown heroes. In Mandinka Language it’s a clause used by strugglers
“Kutu kata kese menbo jabato” which interprets trying all possible means, yet can’t actualise dreams.
Youths from the Ghetto are considered relatively useless and cause to societies, but there’s none that have bad intentions. It’s because the nations cake is not evenly distributed; so with that, they need their own strategy to survive from bad labelings and social traumatisation.
No one wants to make money in the hard way, you will never see the sons and daughters of the top government officials in the mining centres sieving sands or breaking rocks for survival, nor will they be under the boiling sun arranging bricks for construction. Yet the top government officials keep saying in their speeches “ The Gambian youths are lazy”. Who’s fooling who here? That’s why some youths involve in petty scamming in the internet, some sell illegal herbs and others pick from different pockets to live the easy way of survival; now tell me is that different from looting the countries wealth and still get protected? But it’s the youths that always get prosecuted for their illegal acts.
In the never ending journey of struggles to live a better and celebrate life, some end up been jailed other’s loose their life in crimes, whiles some got mad along the way. All the ghetto youths wants is to rise, but the system always brings them down.
It’s really painful if you see a youth with the aim only for motivation to prevent them from actualising their fantasies. When will our youths be encouraged and celebrated for their struggles?
