For the sake of our pride And that of our ancestors Who jumped from ships into the sea of sorrow Because they knew death was better than bondage The pride of our ancestors Who suffered in the hands of foreigners Cling, Clang the shackles cried For freedom from their bloody ankles They tried to break the shackles That were already anchored to the soils of our land Pulling us down to the roots of the mango tree Guiding us back home And now we dance To the rhythm of the palm trees In the song of the wind Whistling sweet words in our ears Reminding us of the beauty of Africa, my Africa The home of...

The silence is suffocating.......we must speak up! Sexual and Gender-Based Violence is a cancer deeply rooted in my society and fueled by the culture of silence. Children being a vulnerable group are not spared by this cancer. It is experienced in the form of rape and other forms of sexual abuse, child marriage, FGM/C etc. More often than not these heinous acts are perpetrated by persons close to the victim, who the victim generally trusts, mostly family members. The Gambia has laws against sexual and gender-based violence. Some of these laws are quite progressive; the Sexual Offenses Act 2013...