Sareh Gido or wellingaraba commonly known as Sitta-Huma
village is located in the central Jarra District, Lower River Region in the
Gambia. This village was named after its founder Gido Bah and Sareh Gido literally means Gido`s village in Fullah. The village
is a Fula dominated settlement with few manjakos.
The name Sareh Gido
was later change to Wellingara literally
easy to come in Fullah. However, sellement
is commonly called Sitta-Huma, by
the mandinka villages who settled the area because at the initial site, there
was a big baobab tree at the centre of the village with a big hole inhabited by
bees which were very violent. Every year they used to spread out and bite
people especially during harvesting season,
this led to the assigning of the name sitta-huma to the village by the
mandinkas because of their experience with the bees.
The village is made up of twenty-four compounds, which are
further divided into three kabilos, namely; Bah Kunda, Dem Kunda, and Sabally Kunda.
The village is located near a valley that was once traversed by Musa Molloh
during his Islamic holy war ``jihad” expeditions. The founder of the village
was a renowned pastoralist who came there with more than five hundred cattle.
He travelled from the region of Cassamance into the Gambia in search of better
pasture for his cattle and travelled for several days before reaching his destination.
When he saw the area, he was overwhelmed with joy because of the attractive
nature of the pasture and its proximity to water source. He made up his mind to
settle in the area and sent for his family to join him there in 1890.
Later other people came and settled with him, and that’s how
the village grew. Initially the village was inhabited by disbelievers but due
to the spread of Islam in the area, many converted. The alkaloship of the village is with Bah Kunda family and the imamship is with Dem
Kunda family who were believed to have been well versed in the holy Quran.
Sitta-huma became widely due to the construction of a primary school and the
acquiring of the chieftaincy from Jappineh which lasted for thirty-two years.
Initially, the main economic activity of the village was
cattle rearing, because almost every family possessed some cattle to rear. With
time, when they experience a decline in the number of cattle they possessed,
they shifted crop cultivation, in order to meet their family needs. Now potato,
rice and groundnut are their major food and cash crops.
Due to high mortality, famine and other natural calamities,
the village shifted away from its original location to a few hundred meters
southwards to its present site.
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