By Fatou Saho
As part of their efforts to promote Gambia’s heritage, the National Center for Arts and Culture has certified 25 tour guides on Gambia’s heritage recently as they commemorated African World Heritage Day.
This day is internationally recognised every May 5th to celebrate the unique cultural and natural heritages of Africa under a selected theme with this year’s being: “Educate and skill Africa for the 21st century”.
However, the NCAC has formed an in-house theme: “Safe guarding Africa’s Heritage through Education” and were able to train the 25 tour guides for them to understand Gambia’s heritage and help people.
The Director of NCAC, Hassoum Ceesay, expressed gratitude to the Banjul City Council and Banjul-Osten city link for their partnership towards heritage development in Banjul. He said they will work with the trained guides to celebrate the rich urban heritage of the Gambia and highlight potentials that inheres in heritage, as a source of employment, income, hope and identity.
Mr. Ceesay added that, the process will be archived by several activities such as: to promote heritage in the media, public debates and design heritage education activities to promote understanding and appreciation of cultural and natural heritage.
The deputy Mayor of Banjul, Aziz Dabakh Gaye, said, “it is important to note that Banjul’s 208 years of existence as a settlement of economic, political and administrative hub for the Gambia, means it has a rich urban heritage which has long not received due attention. This is unfortunate because the rich Urban heritage of the city has the potential to positively transform lives of youth and women through employment”.
Meanwhile, he commended the NCAC for their partnership with his council towards heritage conservation and valorisation, as he vowed, that: “my council shall be investing in a new era of youth empowerment, that is youth employment through heritage interpretation and entrepreneurship”.
