Long before children heard Mother Goose rhymes or “Jack and the Beanstalk,” stories were told in Africa about wise lions, wily snakes and how the world began. Storytellers passed along these tales orally, embodying ideas about ethics, human nature and the cultures from which they came.

Unlike collections of European fairy tales, myths and legends, which are familiar worldwide, compilations of African folk tales have only recently received mainstream attention outside Africa.

Why mosquitoes buzz in people’s ears
If you live in the rain forest climates of West Africa, you will be very familiar with the buzz of the mosquito in your ears on hot humid evenings. Even if there’s only one mosquito and only one person in an area as large as a football field, the mosquito always seems to find that person’s ear and buzz in it. If you’ve slapped yourself in the face because of a mosquito, you know what I’m talking about. Here’s the story that explains the mosquito’s attraction to the ear.

A very long time ago when Ear was a beautiful woman and ready for marriage, there were several suitors wooing her. There were big creatures, there were small creatures. There were fast and sleek creatures and there were slow ones. But they all professed their love for Ear and demonstrated their skills – and there was such an impressive array of skills that Ear had a difficult time making a decision. Then along came mosquito.


“I would like you to be my wife”, proposed Mosquito.


Ear was so offended by this affront. “Look around you!” she cried. “Of all the people and creatures in the whole world, what makes you think I can entertain such a thought?” Ear was distressed. “Marry you?!!” she continued. “You will be dead before the week is over. You’re not strong, you’re weak and I will never marry you!”


Ear was exhausted from this tirade and she fell into her seat, fanning herself vigorously like she was trying to get any image of Mosquito out of her head. Meanwhile, Mosquito was really hurt by all that Ear said. It was very embarrassing to be talked to like that in front of all the other creatures who were whispering to each other and giggling. Apparently, they all agreed with Ear. “Dead before the week is over,” thought Mosquito as he slunk away. “We’ll see about that.”


And from that day forward, whenever Mosquito sees Ear, he flies up to her and says “Emi re, mi o ti ku”, which in English means “Here I am, I am not dead.”


But who did Mosquito eventually marry? And how did she get attached to either side of Head? That’s another story I would like to hear.

Fine dining whenever you want to eat out in Senegambia.

A unique Gambia restaurant for both Gambian and global cuisine.
Come and enjoy our restaurant in The Gambia!

Directions Bertil Harding Highway, next to Senegambia Craft Market

220 4464022
220 6664022
gaya@qanet.gm
gayagambia@gmail.com
www.gayaartcafe.com/

Baobab Composition and Nutritional Value

Several authors have published about baobab food products. Data on macronutrients, micronutrients, amino acids, and fatty acids were collected from literature for pulp, leaves, seeds, and kernels of the baobab tree. 


The results show that baobab pulp is particularly rich in vitamin C; consumption of 40 g covers 84 to more than 100% of the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of pregnant women (19-30 years). 


The leaves are particularly rich in calcium (307 to 2640 mg/100 g dw), and they are known to contain good quality proteins with a chemical score of 0.81. 


The whole seeds and the kernels have a relatively high lipid content, 11.6 to 33.3 g/100 g dw and 18.9 to 34.7 g/100 g dw, respectively. 


The pulp and leaves exhibit antioxidant properties with a higher activity in the pulp than in the leaves. 


Reported nutrient contents of different baobab parts show a large variation, which may have arisen from various factors.

West African Proverbs

A talkative bird will not build a nest.

By crawling, a child learns to stand.

Earth is but a marketplace; heaven is home.

Everybody loves a fool, but nobody wants him for a son.

The teeth that laugh are also those that bite.

When the music changes, so does the dance.

Silence is also speech.

A lobster loves water, but not when he’s being cooked in it.

A rotten fish pollutes the whole kitchen.

If the dog is not at home, he barks not.

A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride.

Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.

If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for something

It takes a whole village to raise a child

By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed.

Hunger is felt by a slave and hunger is felt by a king. 

One cannot both feast and become rich

One falsehood spoils a thousand truths

The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people. 

What is bad luck for one man is good luck for another. 

When you are rich, you are hated; when you are poor, you are despised. 

Wood already touched by fire is not hard to set alight.

A child who is to be successful is not reared exclusively on a bed of down.

A knife does not know who is its master.

A woman is like a blanket: If you cover yourself with it, it bothers you; if you throw it aside you will feel the cold.

He who is guilty has much to say.

If there were no elephant in the jungle, the buffalo would be a great animal.

If things are getting easier, maybe you’re headed downhill.

It is the wife who knows her husband

Marriage is like a groundnut: you have to crack them to see what is inside.

at …

No one boasts of what belongs to another.

Contact details and Reservations:
Luigis Complex for the best Gambian self-catering apartments, serviced flats, beachside accommodation, bed and breakfast, restaurant and eco-tourism excursions.
Relax and enjoy your Gambia Holidays with us!

info@luigiscomplex.com
www.luigis.gm/

Tel +220 4460280 

250g de pulpe de fruit de Baobab Bio

Baomix “La force du Baobab” PULPE DE FRUIT DE BAOBAB BIOLOGIQUE
– 44% de fibres
– 3 fois plus de calcium que le lait
– des propriétés naturelles antioxydantes
– l’aide à l’assimilation et la biodisponibilité du calcium et du fer
– retrouver et/ou conserver une bonne vitalité

UTILISATION : Pour préparations culinaires ou cocktails, dissoudre deux cuillères à café de poudre dans un verre d’eau, de jus de fruits, de thé glacé, de lait ou yaourt une ou deux fois par jour.

Découvrez aussi le petit déjeuner tonique en ajoutant à votre bol de cacao 2 cuillères à café de Baomix (en poudre).
BAOMIX NE CONTIENT PAS DE CONSERVATEUR OU COLORANT – SANS GLUTEN

COMPOSITION DE BAOMIX BIO : 100% de la pulpe du fruit de l’Adansonia Digitata (Baobab biologique)

UTILISATION : Pour préparations culinaires ou cocktails, dissoudre deux cuillères à café de poudre dans un verre d’eau, de jus de fruits, de thé glacé, de lait ou yaourt une ou deux fois par jour. Découvrez aussi le petit déjeuner tonique en ajoutant à votre bol de cacao 2 cuillères à café de BAOMIX BIO.

La pulpe de pulpe de Baobab Biologique au goût sucré et acidulé contient de la Thiamine (vitamine B1) et de la riboflavine (vitamine B2), essentielle à une bonne régénération des cellules souches de la peau ainsi  que de la niacine (vitamine Pp B3), efficace dans la régulation de nombreuses fonctions métaboliques. La poudre de pulpe est également très riche en minéraux, calcium, fer, potassium, magnésium, manganèse, phosphore, zinc ainsi qu’en acides gras essentiels.

2 cuillères à café de BAOMIX BIOLOGIQUE contiennent 44% de fibres dont 22,4% soluble et 22,6% insoluble. Les fibres solubles naturelles sont équilibrantes et fortifiantes pour la flore intestinale et participent à un bon transit.

Excellent complément alimentaire pour la diététique du sportif, 100 g de BAOMIX contient 7 fois plus de vitamine C que l’orange (300mg) et 3 fois plus de calcium que le lait (295mg).

Les propriétés naturelles antioxydantes BAOMIX BIO jouent un rôle essentiel dans la lutte contre l’excès de radicaux libresresponsables du vieillissement prématuré des cellules: une arme pour combattre stress et fatigues passagères. Les antioxydants contenus par BAOMIX sont les plus efficaces de la classe hydrophile. Ils participent à plusieurs processus métaboliques essentiels : – la production de collagène  – la biosynthèse des hormones (stéroïdes), des tissus conjonctifs et des neurotransmetteurs.

L’acide ascorbique contenu naturellement dans BAOMIX  BIOLOGIQUE augmente l’assimilation et la biodisponibilité du calcium et du fer.

BAOMIX BIO  est particulièrement recommandé à toute personne désirant retrouver et/ou conserver une bonne vitalité : Séniors, enfants en phase de croissance, étudiants, sportifs, … Complément nutritionnel d’un bon équilibre, à ne pas utiliser comme substitut d’un régime alimentaire varié.

Gambia And West African Folktales

Sun and Moon are married and have children together. Sun takes his children out with him during the day. This makes moon very worried because it is far too hot for the children to be out during the day.

So Moon takes it upon herself to fix this. She makes her children only come out at night with her. Of course her husband Sun is very angry by this so he chases her across the sky. He has caught her a few times thus, this is when eclipses occur.



Fine dining whenever you want to eat out in Senegambia.
A unique Gambia restaurant for both Gambian and global cuisine.
Come and enjoy our restaurant in The Gambia!


Directions Bertil Harding Highway, next to Senegambia Craft Market


220 4464022
220 6664022
gaya@qanet.gm
gayagambia@gmail.com
www.gayaartcafe.com/

Gayenjorro Hair Plus Beauty School

We aspire to inspire. Whether you are interested in a career in cosmetology, esthiology, hairdressing and manicuring.

Our seasoned educators strive to develop your natural abilities useing innovative study courses to blend professional techniques with entrepreneual skills.

Professional Beauty Certification
Full Time, 20 hours per week

In our comprehensive programme, students will explore the latest styles and techniques in hair dressing, colour and braiding services, manicure, pedicure, massage therapy,waxing and makeup.

From a foundation of theoretical knowledge, students will practise and perfect skills and learn professional business building, retail knowledge, customer service, basic book keeping, health and safety, basic first aid skills, personal health and hygiene, sanitisation and income enhancing abilities.

Barclays Bank Goes Offshore In Ghana

A new tax haven created by Ghana could attract tax dodgers and drug traders seeking to launder money unless safeguards are introduced, warns a report launched today in Accra.
The report, Taxation and Development in Ghana, co-funded by Christian Aid Ghana, says the potential detrimental effects of the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) could be felt across the region. The centre has been set up with the help of Barclays bank.


‘The risk of illicit funds finding their way into the offshore financial centre is particularly acute given the extensive cocaine trade in the country and the massive flows from oil that are expected in the near future’, says the report. Large oilfields were recently discovered off Ghana’s coast.


If the Ghanaian government is committed to the IFSC becoming fully operational, the report argues that it should first produce and disseminate credible, well-researched evidence about the potential benefits and risks for Ghana. In addition, officials working in the Central Bank, Registrar General and tax agencies should be extremely well versed in the relevant laws and should work closely together to minimise the risks.


Furthermore, the Government should introduce special methods to monitor inflows of funds from regional oil producing states, potentially in conjunction with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, because such funds are of notoriously questionable origin.


The report goes on to warn that unless Ghana co-operates in the global fight against financial crime, it is at risk of being added to the tax haven blacklist set up recently by the Organisation for Co-Operation and Development.
Other sections of the report are devoted to Ghana’s sources of tax revenue and the need to increase them in order to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign aid.


The report estimates that Ghana currently loses around 50 per cent of the corporate tax revenues it is due each year (that is, it loses some  109 million /125 million Euros) to tax dodging by multinational companies. A major part of the problem, it says, is that most tax officials lack a thorough understanding of companies’ complex tax avoidance schemes.


Mining companies are highlighted as a particular problem, in that they impose major environmental costs but contribute very little to Ghana’s tax revenues, despite their large profits in recent years. For instance, the report states that between 2002 and 2006, mining firms as a group paid a maximum of 2 per cent of their turnover in corporation tax, and a minimum of 0.5 per cent.


The report blames the low contribution of mining on a combination of tax evasion by some firms and their expatriate employees and on the failure of tax officials to properly enforce existing law, some of which they say is too complex.


Another problem highlighted by the report is the failure of Ghana’s tax collection agencies publicly to disclose (and even, perhaps, to evaluate) the effects of the generous tax incentives the country offers foreign investors.
Asked recently about the haven’s potential for abuse, Barclays Bank said: ‘Barclays has been operating in Ghana for more than 90 years.


During this time, we have earned a reputation for partnering with Ghana’s government to extend access to banking services, build a culture of saving amongst the Ghanaian population and promote the development of the Ghanaian economy.


‘The creation of the IFSC is another landmark achievement in developing Ghana’s financial services sector and Barclays is proud to have been able to partner with the Ghanaian government in this initiative. We adhere to the highest and most stringent levels of international regulation, rules and industry guidance for the financial services sector.’

Baobab Hair Products

Baobab Hair Gel


Composition:
• Baobab: Arbre d’Afrique aux vertus protectrices, gainantes et fixantes.
• Caramel: Colorant naturel brun.
• Huile essentielle d’agrumes: Favorise la beauté et la résistance capillaire.


Application:
• S’utilise au coiffage sur cheveux séchés.
• Permet une fixation naturelle à effet mémoire.
• Apporte un léger effet mouillé.

50ml

The Politics of Skin Color in Gambian Society And Beyond

A person’s skin colour goes a long way in determining their status in contemporary African society. This sad reality, defined by some as “colorism”, is evident in The Gambia where a man eligible for marriage seeks brides that are very light complexioned and potential brides favor grooms that are not only socially and economically prominent but also easy on the eyes, as far as skin tone is concerned. For all our talk about the evils of racism and inequality in South Africa, Europe and elsewhere, Gambians, like many other African societies, have long succumbed to the fallacy that “lighter is better”.

Gambians clamor to befriend Lebanese and other light-skinned friends as proof of their “standing” in society. They bleach their bodies to look like the glamorous white looking models that are broadcast in the media, thanks to globalization. They pray their kids are born light so that the “advantages” that can be garnered by this characteristic won’t slip away thus leading to their conscious objective in seeking partners who meet their “beauty standards”. It is such foolish self-hate that motivated the legendary and very dark complexioned James Brown to coin the phrase “Say it loud I’m Black and proud!”

Black women are the epitome of beauty and sensuality on Earth and although the lighter ones are also striking in their looks, it is the dark complexioned ones that are absolutely glamorous in their physical properties and who tend to be under-appreciated a lot of the time. In fact, until last month, some historians had steadfastly refused to acknowledge that Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt and lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, was of African descent. It shows the refusal to give credit where it is due as far as the contribution of Black women to beauty is concerned.

This has had an adverse effect on the self-regard of Gambian women, abroad and at home. They opt for artificial hair weaves instead of braids and what they end up looking like is not an exact representation of true beauty that is comfortable in its own skin. There are some, a small minority that still opt for the dreads, braids and Afros that the more racially progressive women of the 1960s and 70s wore with self-conscious pride. They are the last holdouts in an era where the ladies of our communities feel they cannot define their own physical features on their own terms.

Gambian men also unwittingly contribute to this neurosis. The premier example is the so-called head of state Yahya Jammeh, a very dark-skinned guy, who couldn’t find a pretty enough spouse within his borders but ventured all the way to Morocco to betroth a very light complexioned North African woman. If one where to be a fly on the wall during a conversation between Gambian men on what attributes they would love most in a woman, a lighter complexion would be atop the wish list. Gambian men fantasize about women with mixed ancestry. To them, this is the ultimate “trophy wife”. The wife that is so naturally “gifted” that she does not have to subject her body to the harrowing chemicals that are constantly applied in the process locally known as “Xhesal”.

In the US, there was an outcry by African American groups over a Revlon commercial starring the singer Beyonce Knowles due to the obvious altering of her skin tone to make her look more Caucasian than African American. This protest was led by parents of young children who were rightfully concerned the subliminal message was that Black men and society in general prefer women that looked like the digitally altered pop singer as opposed to someone like Grace Jones. In The Gambia, starting in primary school, rich, light skinned kids tend to hang out with their kind, they date within their social grouping and the exception to the rule is this: if you’re dark-skinned and want to join this exclusive community, you’d better be extremely smart or filthy rich. The maids and watchmen don’t count. They have no choice but to stick around.

Lighter pigmented Gambians tend to be richer than their darker counterparts (exceptions should be made for the Fulani population which as a homogeneous group tends to be fair skinned). They get more favorable treatment in education and at the work place. They tend to be more popular amongst friends. They suffer less from mental health ailments. They are treated with more respect by visiting tourists or dignitaries, especially from Western horizons. The police are more likely to let a fair skinned offender go with a slap on the wrist than a browner culprit. Studies have even shown that in a gathering, lighter complexioned individuals are more likely to have their jokes laughed at than their opposite hued peers. These are not made up facts but rather the conclusion of various studies such as Human Behavior in the Social Environment from an African American Perspective by Letha A. (Lee) See.

The prevalence of such pigmentocracy within Black societies has been referred to as the “Brown bag test” where a person’s color has to be lighter than a brown bag for induction into prestigious sororities, universities, churches and other institutions that carried considerable prestige. In fact, film maker Spike Lee was so disdainful of the practice he satirized it in the 1988 movie “School Daze”. In the religious sphere, lighter complexioned marabouts are given more credit than their blacker colleagues especially if they claim to have some “Arab” ancestry or hail from Mauritania and other environs with a vast North African population.

Staying on the theme of the arts, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest most popular Nollywood stars are of mixed parentage. They are obviously light skinned and have African women going nuts over them. One is Majid Michel, of Ghanaian and Lebanese Parentage. Another is Ramsay Nouah of Israel and Nigerian descent. And let’s not forget the hugely beloved by the ladies Van Vicker, of Liberian, Ghanaian and Dutch Parentage. There was a time in The Gambia when young girls inspired by hit movies such as “Sholay”, mimicked the traits and behavior of the “white actresses” on the silver screen. Such has been the lack of affirmation for all things really black that it has taken on a sinister role in our self-perception as Gambians and Africans.

Of course, people don’t choose who they are (plastic surgery and other artificial measures notwithstanding) and these view points are not meant as an attack on the fairer-skinned members of our peace loving and tolerant community. Rather, a conscious effort should be made on parents especially those of impressionable girls and boys, that the durable keys to success are high self-esteem, hard work and excellence in academia and play, and a sense of self-respect and duty to the societies that they are members of; not perceptions of “beauty” or skin color. Skin tone politics will always play a role in The Gambia as it does in Cuba, an ally of the APRC regime, which claims equality but practices racism in the allocating of sparse resources. A potent measure that could dilute this blemish on our collective self-perception could be the pointing out of dark-skinned heroes such as Cheihk Amdadou Bamba Mbacke (Khadimu-I Rasul), Martin Luther King Jr., Sojourner Truth and that great liberator of Haiti Toussaint L’Ouverture.

Bio émulsion au masculin, pour le visage.

Dans La Crème de l’Homme, vous trouverez du Bambou aux propriétés reminéralisantes et raffermissantes. De l’huile bio de graines de Baobab, riche en acides gras essentiels aux propriétés régénérantes, qui aide à lutter contre les radicaux libres. Du Chanvre bio, raffermissant et réparateur, du calcium aux vertus antioxydantes, de l’extrait de Ginseng, stimulant et tonifiant. De quoi vous permettre de profiter de la vie en toute bonne conscience !

Vous retrouverez aussi : du jus d’Aloe vera, des huiles bio de Jojoba et Sésame, de l’Acide Hyaluronique naturel, de l’extrait de feuilles d’Olivier, des huiles essentielles de Cèdre, Santal et Marjolaine…

Cette Crème peut être additionnée d’une goutte de Solution + (sérum extrêmement concentré en actifs) Absolution, pour potentialiser et orienter son effet suivant le besoin du moment.
Le flacon airless a été spécialement pensé pour rendre ce geste très simple et ludique : le pot de crème forme une coupelle où il suffit de déposer une goutte de la solution choisie pour faire son mélange sur mesure.