By: Yunus S. Saliu
Ostend Banjul City Link in collaboration with the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) on Tuesday commenced a five-day training for the Banjul City tour guides at Crab Island, Banjul.
Over 30 youths were selected for the first phase of this vital training, which forms a part of the Ostend Banjul City Link EU-sponsored project meant to prepare them for tour guiding in the city of Banjul.
Declaring the weeklong training open on behalf of the Mayor of Banjul Rohey Malick Lowe, the Banjul City Council CEO, Mr. Modou Jonga, described the training as a timely and very important intervention.
“It is a fulfillment of the aspirations of the National Center for Arts and Culture and Banjul City Council,” he added.
CEO Jonga commended the Ostend Banjul City Link EU-funded project team for this initiative, saying the participants will see themselves as indeed very lucky to be part of it. He urged them to see themselves as a reflection of the value of the city of Banjul “because you are our ambassadors”.
“So make the best use of the training to create employment opportunities not only for yourselves but for all the actors within the city,” he stated.
Mr. Hassoum Ceesay, Director General of the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) noted the importance of the training to the center, saying a few months ago the NCAC completed the Banjul Heritage Inventory Project with UNESCO. During the inventory, he went on, the inventory team went around Banjul with the councilors and the support of the BCC to go to all the heritage sites in the city, and “what next now is to protect them and interpret them.”
DG Ceesay promised participants more training sessions before the tourism winter season begins to prepare them adequately for the task while making them understand that the tour guiding training is part and parcel of the Banjul City Council and National Centre for Arts and Culture plans to improve the skills of the youth in the city.
He, therefore, thanked the Ostend Banjul City Link project under BCC for partnering with the NCAC.
Governor Ebrima Jawo, the Executive Coordinator of the Banjul City applauded the training, saying it’s a very good initiative funded by Ostend Banjul City Link under the EU-funded program.
He underscored that Banjul is a cultural home and has always been a tourism destination.
“We have a lot to offer to every visitor that comes to visit this city because it is a tourist attraction city,” he added.
Governor Jawo, therefore, urged participants to take the training seriously because they are the face and mouth of the city, who will interpret and give correct information to the visitors about Banjul.
Mr. Mamat Sallah, Deputy Director of Monument affirmed that all the participants undergoing the training are citizens of Banjul and that they were selected during an interview.
He noted that after the completion of the training, they will have an information office at Crab Island, where visitors can get more information about the city, adding that the participants will be attached to the NCAC to help prepare them practically for the task.
Ousman Jobe, EU Project Coordinator welcomed every participant while outlining the project’s aims and objective of building the capacity of the youth of Banjul.
He advised participants to continue studying the history of Banjul without letting their knowledge be limited to only what they were taught during the period of the training.