By Lamin Cham
As part of its Memorandum of Understanding with The Gambia Academy, a music and educational outfit initiated by Gambian Kora queen Sona Jobateh, Alport Banjul yesterday hosted the star and her students at the port. The visit featured a guided tour of the port, a cultural performance by the academy and an inspirational speech by Sona Jobateh herself.
The Gambian international Kora queen began by registering her own positive personal experience about the improvement of operations at the port in recent months.
“Historically, myself, and I think anybody involved in any business here in The Gambia probably has come into contact with the difficulties of getting products and services into the country because
you never know when you are going to see those items arriving. We cannot plan, or strategise when we have to be at the mercy of whether or not those ships will actually dock in the country. I have gone to the lengths where I mostly have ended up sending items to Senegal and then having to undergo the very difficult task of having to bring them by road, a process very frustrating and struggling,” she said.
However, according to Sona, all that changed when the consignment of equipment for the academy from Europe, such as sound systems arrived just within three weeks last month.
“In fact, it was actually just a little over two weeks, a completely new thing given that we had to postpone an event in late May because I already thought we would not get the items on time. So I could not believe that the items actually arrived at the academy before I did,” she said.
The International Kora queen said she thought that the speedy arrival of the goods was just luck.
“But I am realisng now that it was not luck. It was Alport. So, I want to congratulate everyone and of course, the initiatives coming from Alport and I want to give recognition to every single Gambian who is also here representing and working here in the port,” she said,
Sona said she always support initiatives such as the work of Alport.
‘I always support any initiative that can be brought to this country to strengthen the economy, empower-the people; bring opportunities for our people to develop in different sectors. So we are here obviously today live at the port, right on cue,” she said. The staff of Alport led by acting managing director Salih Levent Kaçar, thanked the super star and her academy. Alport said this event is a step forward in its drive to promote culture, education and national development.
