By: Nyima Sillah
Sheikh Tijan Jobe, a basket maker with decades experience has advised youths to venture into skill works to boost the economy of the country and reduce the unemployment rate.
Speaking to The Voice Newspaper, he said: “I have been in the basket making for decades. Thus, many people think that basket making doesn’t have any advantage. In previous years, you can find most of the basket maker in the remote areas because people in those areas often use local materials like local basket for different purposes.”
Jobe explained that “Basket making has been in existence for centuries but Gambians lack the importance of these skills. The industry has not been given full attention like other businesses. We need support so we could provide more job opportunities for youth and also create awareness regarding the use of basket across the country.”
According to him, youths of this generation think that the only job that could offer better salary is an office job. One of the reasons why some youth cannot still get a job is that they are too picky or selective with the types of jobs they want to do.
However, people use basket for various things even the offices and people use different designs of the baskets they make during wedding ceremonies, traditional marriages and some even present them as gifts to people.
“I sell different types with different prices also depending on the sizes of the basket. The prices start from D400 above because the work is hard, required full time and attention. We used to have orders beyond our borders but due to the pandemic, all of that has stopped,” he disclosed.
However, he said even though the pandemic hits them so hard, they still make few sales and get few requests from customers. “The Gambia has so many potential youths that are very creative, I believe if they take skill works seriously especially basket making,” he assured.
