Kalilu Jammeh to launch book on Friday

Another Gambian writer, Kalilu Jammeh, is planning to launch his book on Friday, 11 March 2011.

The book, entitled ‘Journey of Misery from The Gambia to Spain’, will be launched at the National Museum in Banjul.

Speaking at a press conference held at the National Museum in Banjul on Monday, Kalilu Jammeh, author of the book, said his motive of writing the book is to inform his fellow Africans about the dangers of illegal migration.

In the book, the author tries to educate people about the risk of travelling through the back ways via the high seas to enter Europe.

“I myself took this journey and I encountered a lot of difficulties and I don’t want others to pass through the same experience. I think the only way I can help is to write about this dangerous journey to enlighten my fellow youths, especially the Gambian youth,” he said.

Mr Jammeh said that about 65 per cent of those who undertake the journey do not reach their destination and hardly return home.

According to him, some of them end up involving in criminal activities, prostitution, and money laundering, just to name a few of the vices they are vulnerable to.

According to Mr Jammeh, some die of hunger, some as a result of snake bite and some find themselves mad along the way.“This is why, I have the interest and I was motivated to write this book,” he said.

The media, he said, usually reports only a small portion of the journey. “Thousands of people lose their lives before getting to the last end of the journey,” he says.

In many cases many families would never know the whereabouts of their loved ones again; but there are some youths who also survive the journey but never want to tell their stories of it.