By Kebba Ansu Manneh
The artist Mama Africa, whose real name is Isatou Fofana, disclosed that former president Yahya Jammeh demolished only a building but not the artist. She spoke to The Times in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the graduation ceremony of the Institute of Travel and Tourism of The Gambia (ITTOG) on Saturday December 1, 2018, at the Ebunjan Theatre along the Berthil Harding Highway.
“Coming from my past and what I have gone through is very very heavy, but I said I am the artist. It was only to demolish a building but not the artist,” Mama Africa recalled her ordeals with the repressive regime of Yahya Jammeh.
Mama Africa returned to Banjul in 2010 to kick start a tourism venture with a view to promoting arts and gallery after a long stay in Germany where she was making a name for herself. In February of 2010, she opened her own museum with a gallery at Batokunku some 25km away from Banjul.
However, the former President Yahya Jammeh, in 2015, ordered the demolition of The Mama Africa Women’s Gallery. The destruction of the Gallery caused a huge lost not only to Ms. Fofana, but also to all teeming and fervent arts lovers who were shocked over the decisions of the autocratic leader. “I have a saying that every bad thing will become good, so I was very strong and looking forward to what next I can do. I thank God that the demolition did not killed or made me sick,” Mama Africa stressed.
She revealed that even though her experience is that of a bitter one under the watchful eyes of Yahya, she is proud that her new project will takes off soon.
“I feel proud for what I have done today, and I feel every Gambian feels the same because what I have done, I did it for every Gambian. Every Gambian supported me when this demolition happened to me, they encouraged me and supported me to be able to do this,” Madam Africa expressed her delight in the support she’d received from Gambians in building her new gallery.
She told the Times that Gambians gave her all their supports during the difficult times. She noted the Gallery Project was born out of her desire to come back home to contribute her quota to tourism development, but all of a sudden her project was bulldozed to the ground by the Jammeh Government.
“I thank God and The Gambian people for all their supports. This is why I did a much better job than the previous one. I did it not for myself, but for my whole country. So, I feel really really great,” She stressed.
Mama Africa disclosed her plans to help train more young Gambian talents to bring them onboard to help them, teach them and show them to excel and succeed professionally in the tourism, arts, and music industries. She added that her wish is to see more Gambian youths trained for a better tourism industry.
She said tourism is not about the beaches only but about the culture and the arts, noting that culture and arts can sell better than the beaches as beaches are found in most countries.
“I feel very happy and grateful because it’s been a long time waiting for a day like today because I was thinking that no one was seeing me, but I think today was the time. I’m really really grateful and I’m really really thanking ITTOG for giving me this great award that I deserved, and I say thank you very much to all of them,” Mama Africa expressed her gratitude to ITTOG for awarding her a certificate of recognition for her valuable contribution to the development of tourism in The Gambia.
She thanked the Board and Management of ITTOG for recognizing her work, while urging the new graduates to have passion for their fields of interest if they are to make any headways in their careers.