Kombo South: Friday 24 July | Yero S. Bah
The outbreak of the coronavirus around the globe has alerted local, national and international authorities due to the possible threats that the global bug poses to the people but especially in countries like the Gambia where the national health system is fragile and largely inadequate.
As a result, the Sifoe Village Development Committee (VDC) is keen in sending the right messages about the pandemic in the Kombo South settlement following the confirmation of the existence of the highly contagious virus in the Gambia by the national health authorities in March when the first comfirmed Covid-19 case was announced in the country.
According to Lamin Demba the Sifoe Village Development Committee Chairman, his team embarks on community outreach exercises, and sensitisation about the coronavirus, mobilization of contributions or funds from locals and the distribution of sanitary martials to the villagers’ irrespective of their nationality or political affiliations since the confirmation of the first covid19 case in the country.
He said that, the VDC has distributed the state food aid to all the residents of the village without discrimination saying it is a state owned food aid and everyone ought to be given a token of the food ration. “We are not taking this covid19 lightly in this village.”
Meanwhile, in response to the fight against coronavirus, Mr. Demba explained that they have had an interstate dialogue with the border villages in Casamance on the virus and have even instituted a two-man team who are stationed at the Gambian border who usually liaise with the Covid19 national health team in Banjul for anybody who crosses the Sifoe-Casamance borders for possible medical check-ups or quarantine in the Gambia adding that it is necessary to implement such measures to curb the spread of the virus in porous borderlines between the Gambia and Senegal.
Despite these measures in these trying times, the VDC Chairman noted that the Gambia and Senegal are one-and-the-same reasoning that both people have relatives in both countries and share common heritage. “You can’t separate these two nations and their citizens.” Demba pointed out.
He however, charged that people must be vigilant in order to safeguard the safety of the people in the Gambia and Sifoe in particular adding that as leaders in the village they are entrusted with the affairs of the community and they must do their best to fulfill that trust from the villagers.
In a separate but similar VDC development venture, he disclosed that, they are working on desalinating their rice fields in partnership with agricultural experts and other neighboring Village Development Committees (VDCs) within the satellite communities saying the salt has intruded into their rice fields and it has rendered the fields less productive in recent years.
He further explained that efforts are underway to rehabilitate a local culvert footpath that is situated between Domondir village in Casamance and Sifoe Village in the Gambia, noting that the footpath plays a vital role within the two localities.
The Sifoe VDC Assistant Secretary Ansumana Sanyang, dilated on the upcoming tree planting exercise which they are organising in partnership with the "Daughters of Gambia" scheduled for August 8th 2020 in Sifoe saying it is purely meant to beautify the Kombo South settlement with ornamental trees as well as contribute to the mitigation efforts against climate change.
He invited the people of the village to be united and always work hand-in-gloves to develop the village and to make the environment greener for a better life assurance in Kombo South and Gambia at large.