By Talibeh Hydara
When the Chinese Embassy in The Gambia informed me that I have been selected to cover the 2024 FOCAC Summit in Beijing, I was ecstatic. It was only a year since I returned from a four-month programme in China, which eventually inspired a good number of articles I wrote on China-Gambia relations.
I started keenly following FOCAC in 2018 when The Gambia joined the forum, two years after resuming diplomatic ties with China. I already wrote about the developments FOCAC and BRI brought about in my previous articles.
The truth is, I consider myself a writer first over everything else and having the privilege to write about the Two Sessions, the OIC Banjul Summit and now the FOCAC Beijing Summit— all in the past year alone— has been an incredible experience. And as always, I will be writing about every little thing; serious, funny and surprising. For all three mentioned above, China is the perfect place.
China has a beautiful embassy in The Gambia. Unfortunately, it doesn’t issue visas, so you have to travel to Dakar for your application process. I was delighted to see on QTV Ambassador Liu Jin revealing that next year, Gambians will no longer require to travel to Dakar for visa application. Music to our ears! Fortunately, I am familiar with the process since I was there 18 months ago. Last year, when Momodou Lamin Choi and I went for our visas, we took the Karang route. It was fast with no hitches at all. This time, however, Choi and I decided to take the GTSC bus to Dakar.
I set the ball rolling at the office that Sunday. As always, I got there early and edited a few inside pages before heading to the GTSC station. The bus was comfortable, fully air-conditioned and spacious. In all the times I have been to Senegal, I have never boarded a bus. I strongly believe a long journey requires a fast transportation, so getting on a bus and crawling nearly 400km to Dakar always put me off.
We departed at midday and to my shock, instead of heading towards Banjul, the bus driver headed straight for Brikama. I had no idea the afternoon bus takes the South Bank Road. It was already too late. Everything was fine until we reached the border in Farafenni. There were two passengers on board who had issues with their documentation and the Senegalese border security refused to allow them entry. Worse, the individuals were traveling with two kids. We spent at least two hours in Farafenni before departing. I have never felt so exhausted traveling. And somehow, the rains just refused to stop which also delayed us further. By the time we reached Dakar, it was already midnight, meaning we spent 12 hours on the road when, actually, a seven-seater would get us to Dakar in less than six hours. I wished and prayed that was the last of our troubles on the journey but, unfortunately, that was just the beginning.
Like the first time, we spent the night at my half-brother’s house in Pikine, a popular urban area in Dakar region that looks just like Brikama; trash everywhere, stagnant water and foul smell wafting up from gutters, apologies to my half-brother. The bus dropped us somewhere I am not familiar with and we hired a taxi to Bounti Pikine. As typical of African commercial vehicles, the car roared to a halt and needed service. Twice the driver would get out of the car when it stopped and pull something under before it restarted. When Choi asked him what was the problem, he replied in his deep Senegalese accent: karamal-bila qua, whatever that means but we used the phrase throughout our stay in Dakar to cheer ourselves up whenever we faced a difficulty, and we faced a lot of it.
It was clear the trip was rushed from the beginning. We had no time to put everything in order. For example, as ridiculous as it may sound, I forgot to print the official invitation letter to cover the FOCAC summit, which is one of the most important documents for the visa application. Choi too forgot his passport size photos. So, despite reaching the embassy in Fann as early as 8am, we had to walk around in the streets looking for a place to print or take a passport size photo when the consular officer realised such items were missing in our envelopes. We strolled all the way back to around Cheikh Anta Diop University to get ourselves sorted and returned to the embassy. Unlike last year when we got our visas that very day, this time we were told we would get it the next day, which means spending another night in Dakar; not my favorite thing to do.
We met another young Gambian there, Muhammed Mbye, who was also applying for a visa to attend the FOCAC summit. The good thing was he came with a driver and gave us a lift to the historic African Renaissance Monument in Ouakam. We climbed the 208 steps to the bottom of the monument, hanged out there for about an hour and decided to just take a walk. We then had this long exhausting walk from Ouakam to Mermoz, and on the way branched to a mosque on the beach where we prayed and had a delicious lunch. It’s a fishing community and the smell, the birds, the sea reminded me of Tanji in The Gambia. When we were tired of walking aimlessly along the streets in Dakar, we hailed a taxi and told the driver our destination. When he charged us 7000 CFA, we knew straightaway he wanted to cheat us, having noticed a Gambian accent. It was a deal breaker. In fact, instead of hiring a taxi to return to Pikine, we joined a public transport, 43. It was a long way back and we stood for nearly two hours on the bus but we arrived.
Next morning, on a Tuesday, we set out to Fann again to pick our visa. We said our goodbyes to our host and parted ways. After picking our passports, we received a call from our friend in The Gambia who wanted us to spend one more night in Dakar to pick along his colleague’s travel document. We had already told our host we would be gone after picking our passports but Muhammed stepped in. Generously, he took us to the famous Residence de la Paix, Peace Residence and paid for our night stay. It’s a good place; very populated and lively. It was supposed to be peaceful like the name says but we didn’t have peace at night because there were bugs on the bed. What a treat!
That evening, we went to a local WAVE outlet to withdraw some money since we would stay one more night and would have to do a bank deposit to collect the travel document. We explained to the WAVE agent that we had money on our Gambian WAVE account and we would want to retrieve it in CFA. He told us it was possible but he would first need to download a Senegalese WAVE on my phone. I handed him my phone and he connected it to his WiFi. To our dismay, he first deleted my Gambian WAVE account which had the money before proceeding to download the other app. So, no money and no WAVE account to do any transfer. In that moment, I thought the Village People had succeeded. We needed that money to buy food and do the deposit next morning. My sister, who lives in Dakar, had to come to our rescue by sending me CFA into my Senegalese WAVE account which we withdrew.
Next morning, we hired another taxi to a United Bank for Africa branch in Parcelles. It was a quick journey between the bank and the embassy in Fann, where we returned to pick the travel document and headed to the garage. This time, there’s no way we would take a bus back to The Gambia. I would rather walk on foot than take a bus. We took the seven-seater and it was a smooth journey via Foundiougne, crossing the beautiful Nelson Mandela Bridge which is the longest bridge in West Africa, a stellar example of infrastructure development emanating from FOCAC. Personally, I wish (even though it’s a big wish) The Gambia could get a similar project from FOCAC to finally bridge the Banjul-Barra crossing point. It would boost trade and enliven movement of people across the country and the sub-region.
In our first visit to China in 2023, we went via Brussels. Five hours to Brussels and nine hours to Beijing. Even though it’s not short, it’s quite straightforward. However, this time, it’s Banjul-Accra-Addis Ababa-Beijing, with a stop in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Traveling in or through Africa is a nightmare. We departed Banjul at 6am Saturday and arrived in Beijing at 5pm Sunday, of course factoring in the fact that we crossed different time zones. For the first time in my life, or as long as I can remember, I slept on a moving vehicle, train or plane. The record has been broken. I was knackered by the time we reached the hotel. I felt like my soul was placed in a dead body. Staying in the same district brings back memories of 2023 and now, unlike last year when I viewed CITIC Tower afar from my balcony, it’s much closer to where I stay.
However, despite all the struggles to get here, it’s good to be back in Beijing after a year. FOCAC summits always deliver and I am excited to see how this one pans out too. But, the next time I visit China, I wish for only two things: get my visa in Banjul and never take the Addis Ababa route again.
