By:Nyima Sillah
Christians in Gambia like others across the world last weekend observed Easter celebration in an unusual as the Covid-19 continuing to spread across the world.
In The Gambian majority of the Christians community glued to their TV set and mobile phone to listen to the sermon and prayers on Good Friday.
James F Mendy, a Peace Activist from the Christian community, told The Voice that it’s the first of its kind to celebrate Easter in such a situation.
He explained that Christians normally go to church on Easter Fridays to observe the station of the cross, and during that celebration in large but this year it was other way round.
“This year we had to stay home and follow the radios, Facebook page and television to watch the priest doing the station of the cross. This is unlike previous years when we used to gather in a crowd just to observe the day,” he explained.
He noted that Easter is a very important feast in Christian religion and not going to church on that day is a big thing. He added that some people also go to the village to spend the Easter where they will organize parties even tournament to have fun with their family members.
Thus, all of the above activities didn’t take place this year due to the spreading of the coronavirus pandemic which breakout in since early this year in the city of Wuhan in China and since then spreading across the world.
He added that everyone stays home trying to exercise the precautionary measures issued by the WHO and also to respect the declared government’s State of Public Emergency.
According to him, it is a tradition that ‘nanbouru’ is prepare to share with neighbours and while children to visit the family members, but this year it went different way compared to previous years.
Ana Gomez every year spends Easter with her family in Senegal, but this year, she said she cannot go because all borders are shutdown.
She expressed that “my Easter used to be fun but bored this year because I’m not with my family and also have to stay indoors.”
