By Yunus S Saliu
The National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) Wednesday kicked-start a weeklong training program known as Combating Covid-19 Impairment Training at Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites, Juffureh in North Bank Region (NBR).
The ongoing weeklong training which started 21st through 27th October, is part of the project titled ‘Combatting Covid-19 Impairment at Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites in The Gambia through skills acquisition, community outreach and peer exchange.”
The project is fully supported by the German National Commission for UNESCO and German Foreign Ministry and implemented by the NCAC.
This weeklong training which covers the NCAC validated Combating Covid-19 impairment training modules for communities at Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites brought together 50 women and youths in Juffureh, Albreda, hosts of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in The Gambia.
Among the trainees/participants were further trained as Tour Guides of Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites Juffure/Abreda while the women and other youths were trained on sustainable livelihood skills in Juffureh/Abreda.
For sponsoring the project, Hassoum Ceesay, Director General of National Centre for Arts and Culture expressed gratitude to the German National Commission for UNESCO and German Foreign Ministry.
He explained that the project is meant to build capacity of people within the communities of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Kunta Kinteh Island to enable them to withstand the pressure and negative impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
He confirmed that since the starts of the pandemic there is no single visitors that come to visit the Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites. “And these communities depend on the large extent of visitors and tourists that come here, for the past seven months the earning capacity of the residents have come down drastically.”
So this project of the German National Commission for UNESCO, according to DG Hasssoum, is to help to reduce this negative impact of pandemic and improve the livelihood of the people through skills training.
Apart from helping to alleviate the negative impact of coronavirus epidemic from this communities DG Ceesay said it the project as funded by the German National Commission for UNESCO and German Foreign Ministry also is to give the youths in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites communities hope of using the opportunities availed thaemt by the Heritage Sites to earn a decent living rather than risking their lives going through ‘backway’ illegal travel to reach Europe “which has caused many Gambian youths and other Africans to lose their lives in the Mediterranean seas.
Also, he continued, the training is part of his Centre’s efforts to come closer to the communities that host the Heritage Sites “therefore we always want to associate with the communities through peer exchanges, communications, and through activities like this.”
The trainers of the Combatting Covid-19 Impairment at Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites in The Gambia through skills acquisition, community outreach and peer exchange” include
Ronald Williams ‘Effective Book Keeping for Sustainability in Community based Groups,’ Sheikh Omar Jallow ‘Using performing arts to add value to heritage site visitor experiences: festivals and song,’ Ebrima Jammeh ‘Understanding the Juffureh Destination Revamp Project’ Sainey Ceesay ‘Customer care: Handling visitors to heritage sites and producing quality souvenirs for packaging souvenirs for sale’ Hassoum Ceesay ‘Slavery, Kunta Kinteh, Middle Passage: historical facts about the Kunta Kinteh UNESCO Heritage Sites’
‘Roots: the book and novel’ ‘Fort Bullen: history, significance, a historical overview’ Baba Ceesay ‘Fort Bullen: history, significance, a historical overview, ‘Tips in Health and Safety for Tour Guides, The Process, and Significance of UNESCO World Heritage Sites’ and also ‘Batik and tie and dye: practical and theory’‘The Process, and Significance of UNESCO World Heritage Sites’ Adama Jatta ‘The Process, and Significance of UNESCO World Heritage Sites’ ‘Batik and tie and dye: practical and theory’