By Tijan Masanneh Ceesay
Gambians in the United States will next weekend stage the second edition of the All High Schools Reunion in Atlanta, Georgia.
The annual event brings ex- students from different Gambian High Schools who now based in America together for the weekend to raise funds to assist the various High Schools in The Gambia where they attended school.
In a brief conversation with our correspondent, the Coordinator of the event Yama Njie said the event is very special to the group.
“Not only do we come together to celebrate our friendship and unique rivalries, but also we raise funds to assist projects in our different schools of the yesteryears,”, she said, adding that that the response from the Gambian community in the diaspora has been quite encouraging.
The three-day event will also honor the late Honorable Justice Solomon Njie with the Eric H Christensen Memorial Award in recognition of his commitment and contribution to Legal Jurisprudence and as a teacher.
The President of the group Mr. Momodou Ndow, underpinned the significance of the event with the following comments: “The All High School Reunion group was born out of desperation, if I may characterise it as such.
After seeing the examination results from WAEC last year, we got convinced that the quality of education in The Gambia has hit rock bottom. The results were dismal and we were desperate to help somehow.
We felt there was a major breakdown somewhere, and we wanted to see how best we can help. That’s when the idea of bringing all the high schools together in a joint effort to raise funds came up.
Last year was our maiden event and this will be our second annual.
Education is the most powerful weapon for meaningful change and progress, and The Gambia is not very well armed as we speak.
Therefore, we should all take it upon ourselves to try to give back and help change this disappointing trend.
The advancement of knowledge can only happen through quality education, and we must all do our part to give back, no matter how little.
We must invest in human capital! Our goal is to try to give back as much as possible to help improve education, and we count on all concerned to help us in this endeavor.
Education is empowering, and The Gambia needs that now more than ever!”
The event start on Friday July 19, with joint collaboration event with Atlanta Gambian Emergency Relief Association.
AGERA, which will stage graduation ceremony celebrating all Gambians who graduated this year.
This will be followed on Saturday July 20 by the Father Gough Memorial inter schools football tourney the final of which will be on Sunday Jul 21. There will also an interschool athletics events as well as one designed fro children.
Last year, Saints won the track and field events but Gambia High School has promised to revenge this year. The secretary general of the group Alhagie Mamour Njie promised an exciting and memorable event this year.
