UNIVERSITY OF THE
GAMBIA
LAMIN DANSO
MAT #2130185 SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
Q. IDENTIFY A VILLAGE IN ANY PART
OF THE GAMBIA AND DESCRIBE IN DETAIL ITS SITE AND SITUATION, SOCIAL STRUCTURE
AND DOMINANT ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES.
[FARATO
VILLAGE]
FARATO CENTRAL MOSQUE ESTABLISHED
IN 1982 AND RECONSTRUCTED IN 2017.
INTRODUCTION
Farato
village was settled in 1951 in the Kombo South District of West Coast Region,
Brikama (Administrative Headquarter). Farato has an approximate population size
of about 21,000 people (VDC, 2017), made up of diverse ethnic groups: Fula,
Mandinka, Wolof, Sarahule, Serer, Laobe etc. According to Aja Fatou Sowe, the
current and sixth Alkalo of the village, “Farato was founded by her late father
Mamadou Fatou Sowe who migrated from Kerr-Cherno in Nuimi”. Mamadou Fatou Sowe
a cattle herdsman in search of pasture for his animals came to what would be
Farato with his wife and two sons namely: Nyabou Sowe (wife), Kebba Mamadou
Sowe and Konyagie Mamadou Sowe some 66 years ago. Mamadou Fatou Sowe was later
followed by Mbegie Mbye-Sowe also from Kerr-Cherno in Nuimi but his stay was
short-lived as he returned due to the demise of his mother. Other notable
arrivals were Suwareh Kunda, Jawo Kunda, Badjie Kunda and Samba Kunda.
According to
Aja Fatou Sowe (Alkalo), the name Farato originated from a “Fara” (Mandinka)
tree that stood at a junction that led to Sowe Kunda some 200m off-road. As a
herdsman, visitors and clients mostly from Busumbala, Brikama, Bafuloto and
Jambur at the time are directed to branch-off at a junction where the big
“Fara” tree is located and move eastward to Sowe-kunda, hence the name Farato.
But notwithstanding, according to Baba Ceesay,
the current and second Imam of Farato “on the colonial map of the Gambia,
Farato was named as Medina-Suwareh Kunda”. This was probably due to the fact
that the first compound to settle on the Serrekunda-Brikama Highway was
Suwareh-Kunda of Sulayman ‘Poliso’ Suwareh who migrated from Faji-Kunda. He was
among the Gambian contingent that fought in the Second War and due to his
bravery in the battlefield; he was allowed to return with his gun. He later
worked as a Field Force officer and hence the name ‘poliso’ and he retired with
the rank of a Sergeant.
SITE
Farato is
located on fertile lowland with relatively flat topography that was ideal for
animal grazing and agriculture. The physical location of Farato started from
the eastern site of the village at Sowe-Kunda which was some 200m off-road. But
with increase in the settlement size, they moved to their current location on
the Serrekunda-Brikama Highway. Prior to that, the first four settlers of
Suwareh-Kunda, Jawo-Kunda, Bajie-Kunda and Samba Kunda settled along the Serrekunda-Brikama
Highway forming a linear settlement pattern; out of the four compounds, it was
Jawo-Kunda that first settles the western site of the highway. The early
settlers of Farato were confronted with water scarcity, as there existed only
one well that was dug by Mamadou Fatou Sowe for his cattle. The well was
utilised for both domestic uses and drinking of cattle. With adequate rainfall,
crops such as rice, millet, fendi, cassava, maize etc. were abundantly
cultivated and the yields are always good. According to Ebrima Badjie, in
1962-1963 “there was a serious drought and almost for two years there was no
enough rains for crop production. Families depend on their food reserves
especially dried cassava before the government come to their aid with rice, oil
and milk powder supply”. Due to low population at the time, large plots of
virgin land are cleared for rice cultivation for some two to three years and
later crops like maize, millet and groundnut are cultivated on the same piece
of land at a time when the land is fully cleared of bushy stubbles. Shifting
cultivation was a dominant farming practice as well.
Early
seventies onwards new settlers gradually came in to settle in the different
parts of the village, but most of the earlier settlers settled along the
Serrekunda-Brikama Highway. The booming of Farato for settlement coincided with
the alkaloship of Konyagie M. Sowe the second alkalo of the village who
encouraged many people to come and settle in the village as he was very much
generous in giving out land to new settlers.
It must be stressed that the site of Farato was not chosen based on
security reasons but instead for purely agriculture.
SITUATION
Farato is
centrally located relative to settlements which were established earlier than
Farato. Bafuloto in the east, Jambur in the west (prior to the establishment of
Sinchu-Gidom), Busumbals in the
north and Brikama in the south. Farato is easily accessed from all these
settlements that eased the interaction between these settlements. Earlier on
Farato was living under the sphere of influence of her neighbouring settlements
for basic services. Brikama provides administrative, health, education,
commercial functions to Farato even now, though it has reduced significantly.
Jambur is another neighbouring settlement where most of the youths of Farato
attended their Primary School in the 1980s to late 1990s. Furthermore,
according to Imam Baba Ceesay, “Jambur was the place where the people of Farato
did their national voters registration and voting prior to Farato being
classified as a voting centre”. Busumbala, Jambur and Bafuloto all provided
land to Farato for agricultural purposes and in turn, Farato at the time also
provides fresh milk, sour milk and cattle to her neighbours through commerce.
Later on as
the settlement of Farato grows bigger, the need for a Primary Education was
eminent. Under the alkaloship of Mbemba Ceesay, the 4th alkalo of
Farato; in collaboration with the people of the village they built two
mud-block classroom with an office at present day MingDaw Upper and Senior
Secondary School to start primary education. Unfortunately, they could not
provide the roofing of the building and later requested for help from the
government (1st Republic) but to no avail and the building
eventually collapsed. Later on in the year 2000, the government of the 2nd
Republic constructed a Primary School at the border between Busumbala and
Farato, hence the name Busumbala Farato Primary School. The school provided so much interaction
between the two neighbours as children of both communities share the same
classroom and further strengthen their relationship. With the help of the
Taiwanese government, Farato got an Upper Basic School (MingDaw) with a Health
Centre through Muhammed Gaye (Oustas Gaye) the coordinator of the project. The
same project was extended to Bundung and a Health Centre was built there as
well. At some point, the Taiwanese severed ties with the project coordinator
and wanted to transfer the ownership of MingDaw to the community of Farato but
the elders of the village said they do not have the expertise to run the school
but opted to take ownership of the Health Centre and MingDaw was transferred to
the government together with the Bundung Health Centre which was later rename
as Jammeh Foundation for Peace Hospital. In 1999, when the Ministry of Education
closed Foster Senior Secondary School in Brikama, the then Grade Eleven
students were brought to MingDaw Upper Basic School to continue to Grade
Twelve. MingDaw then started to enroll students in Grade Ten in year 2000,
which marked the start of the Senior Secondary School within the same premises
with the Upper Basic School. The students from then Foster Senior Secondary
School completed Grade Twelve in 2002 and MingDaw Senior Secondary School formally
graduated her first badge in 2003.
These
developments marked a major turning point in the development of Farato and it
further increases the settlement’s sphere of influence. MingDaw Upper and
Senior Secondary School provide education to all the neighbouring settlements
and beyond as students are enrolled from: Brikama, Jambur, Busumbala, Bafuloto,
Old Yundum, New Yundum, Kibariko, Makumbaya, Lamin etc. added to that, Farato
also has a market, millet milling machine, shops of various kind, Poultry Farm
(EMPAS) Taxi Garage, a Police Station and Church (Catholic & Anglican) that
provides services notably to the settlements of Jambur, Bafuloto, Makumbaya,
Busumbala and Sinchu-Gidom. Farato’s sphere of influence has now dominated for
that of Jambur as Farato provides more functions to Jambur compared to what
Jambur provides to Farato.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Farato has
an open-social structure with the alkalo has the village head (Political), the
Imam as the religious leader (Islam) and two Pastors (Christianity). According to
the alkalo Aja Fatou Sowe, Farato village “is divided into seventeen wards,
each headed by a male except that of Farato Airport, formally Farato Nema-Su
that is headed by a female Isatou Njie”. These head-of-wards assist the alkalo
in administering services to the people of the village in term of land
ownership, documentation etc. They also take care of social issues that happen
within their various wards and reliably inform the alkalo for solutions or
redress. The Imam in the other hand, also liaise with other Imams of the
various Mosques of the village to carry out religious social functions and
preach about Islam in their Friday Sermons. According to Imam Baba Ceesay, the
Imam of Farato Central Mosque,” Farato has 18 Mosques approximately and the
Central Mosque was built in 1982 by the people of Farato through collective
efforts”. Farato has two Churches, Good Shepherd Church (Catholic) and God
Tabernacle Church (Anglican) both Churches propagate Christianity and has
moderate followership.
The various
ethnic groups have their peculiar stratification and all are generally free to
carry out their various activities without restriction of any kind.
DOMINANT ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
Farato at
the onset, agriculture was the dominant economic activity as the entire village
at the time were into agriculture (subsistence) and animal rearing. This was
made possible due the availability of fertile land coupled with low population size
at the time. As the population gradually increases, land for crop production
became scarce in conjunction with low soil fertility; this has shifted dependence
on agriculture as a major economic activity in Farato.
With
improvement in communication and increased population, business is one of the
most prominent economic activities in Farato in the areas of wholesale, retail,
petty trading, welding, sewing, pharmacy, petrol and diesel filling stations,
transportation, timber trade, carpentry, forex bureau etc. these provides
income to the majority of people, either as an employee or self-employed. Most
of these businesses are located on the Serrekunda-Brikama Highway.
Next to
business as an economic activity is formal employment in the Civil Service, Non
Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Private Sector etc. almost every compound in
Farato has someone who is employed in the formal sector of the Gambia.
