By Arret Jatta
The Arda Jumboo on Saturday held a day-longcultural competition at Kinderdoff Botrop Technical School in Brikama.
The competition was staged among different ethnic groups on the theme of Promoting Traditional Art Forms, Local Language, and Interethnic Peace.
Mariama Khan, the president and coordinator of Arda Jumboo said: “This competition is about peace, love, and unity.” She also stressed that the competition was about education and encouraging one another to uphold the values of integrity, fairness, justice, and compassion as necessary values for enhancing communal peace and building a cohesive society and a prosperous nation.
“Many people I spoke with, even at random interactions, have lamented the almost complete breakdown of inter-personal and social trust in The Gambia. Many view that we live in what looks like quite a broken society, which has become deficient in moral values. They say honesty has become alien,” she bemoaned.
Ms. Khan further lamented that truthfulness has become obsolete.
“Truthfulness has gotten out of fashion. Fairness and justice no longer matter and compassion has become foreign in our day-to-day interactions in the homes, in the streets, at workplaces, and in society as a whole. Because a society that does not uphold the values of integrity in most of its dealings shall never proper,” she underlined.
The Arda Jumboo president emphasized the importance of the cultural competition which, she believed, would promote integrity in people, and integrity in society.
“Art has the power to unite. Therefore, our traditional art forms are a great platform for enhancing peace, solidarity, and cohesiveness in Gambian society. Moreover, the use of our indigenous languages for us to appreciate the richness of our cultures and the opportunities they present to understand each other, to value one another, and to celebrate the beauty in one another’s backgrounds,” she added.
The Governor of the West Coast Region, Mr. Ousman Bojang, also emphasized the importance of cultural awareness as he delivered his address.
“As a human being, you should know where you come from and that is what culture shows you. We should unite and make Arda Jumboo an annualevent and also bring the Ministry of Culture on boardbecause this is an important event. And the office of the governor is here to partner with you for future projects,” he stated.
