ONE GAMBIA, ONE PEOPLE, ONE NATION: A message from the Deaf!
Heeno International (HI) is honoured to be the main sponsor of the International Day of Sign Language and the International Week of the Deaf in The Gambia this year. On September 29, 2018, the bright colours and cheerful faces of more than 300 Gambians matched the joy of the occasion. They marched on dust, mud and tarmac for about three and a half kilometres from Westfied to Kanifing. The police band rammed their drums, clapped with metals and blew their saxophones and trumpets. What a bright, beautiful and happy day for the men and women of silence in their world of isolation!
They were the members of The Gambia Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, who, most efficiently, organized the event and invited a band they could not hear the sound of. At first I asked myself why they invited a band, but then I realized that it was an excellent idea, for it was not the deaf who needed to hear, but the Gambians who could hear who needed to listen. A message was in the metals of the neatly uniformed young police men and women! The band looked and sounded good and the common citizens from all ethnic groups and religions in The Gambia looked even better!
As I watched them pass, in a video sent by Lamin Sanneh, HI's Human Resources and Logistics Manager, I asked myself whether the overwhelming majority of my compatriots, who could hear, did hear the sweet message conveyed by the police drums and metals, on behalf of our nation's deaf and hard of hearing. I asked myself whether the vast majority of my compatriots, who were not even aware of the event, did hear the message: "One Gambia, One People, One Nation!" I would not blame "the could nots", but would certainly blame "the would nots" if they did not hear the sweet message of that day and this week, echoing loud and clear: "One Gambia, One People, One Nation!"
KaramoNMSonko
They were the members of The Gambia Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, who, most efficiently, organized the event and invited a band they could not hear the sound of. At first I asked myself why they invited a band, but then I realized that it was an excellent idea, for it was not the deaf who needed to hear, but the Gambians who could hear who needed to listen. A message was in the metals of the neatly uniformed young police men and women! The band looked and sounded good and the common citizens from all ethnic groups and religions in The Gambia looked even better!
As I watched them pass, in a video sent by Lamin Sanneh, HI's Human Resources and Logistics Manager, I asked myself whether the overwhelming majority of my compatriots, who could hear, did hear the sweet message conveyed by the police drums and metals, on behalf of our nation's deaf and hard of hearing. I asked myself whether the vast majority of my compatriots, who were not even aware of the event, did hear the message: "One Gambia, One People, One Nation!" I would not blame "the could nots", but would certainly blame "the would nots" if they did not hear the sweet message of that day and this week, echoing loud and clear: "One Gambia, One People, One Nation!"
KaramoNMSonko