Sabally’s
Leadership Academy (SLA) Founder and Former Presidential affairs Minister
Momodou Sabally, has advised young Gambians to be true to themselves in pursuit
of appropriate careers in the arts and other creative ventures.
Sabally
was speaking to students of The Gambia College on the topic “Arts and
Entrepreneurship for Development” during a symposium organized by the Arts in
Dynamics students’ group at the Brikama Campus on Thursday, April, 27, 2017.
“Be
yourself; there will never be another you! You’ve got a job to do; take the
first step, believe in you! Back up your vision with faith and you will always
find the way no matter how dark the tunnel becomes along the way,” he said. He
quoted the Gambian international footballer Ken Mansally, Sabally telling the
students, “If you are not determined and disciplined you won’t achieve
anything!”
He
further emphasized the need to embrace one’s talents and work persistently in
developing the requisite skills needed for self fulfillment and making an
appropriate contribution to national development. Sabally also asserted the
need to respect young people’s choices in terms of careers. Quoting Martin
Luther, he stated “A cobbler, a smith, a peasant, every man, has the office and
function of his calling, and yet all alike are consecrated priests and bishops,
and every man should by his office or function be useful and beneficial to the
rest, so that various kinds of work may all be united for the furtherance of
body and soul, just as the members of the body all serve one another.”
He
concluded by imploring the youth to be patient and persistent in their quest
for attaining their life goals, noting that one can only reap what they sow.
Quoting the late Gambian Music legend Musa Ngum, he stated “you’ve got to be
reasonable.
Other
speakers at the symposium were Gambia’s King of Kora Jaliba Kuyateh and the
Director of Literature, Performing and Fine Arts at the National Council for
Arts and Culture, Sheikh Omar Jallow.
