He was a close friend to my uncle Dodou Touray and used to camp after work at my family compound in junction, Serre kunda near the police station. I have been in shock hence my late addition to his pedigree. My Joof was the poor persons champion. At Nusrat his arguments and fights were always for the underprivileged and he would challenge even the Principal if he believed injustice was committed not even minding if he was going to be fired. Badara helped settle, with his meager Salary, many student fees who were doing well in class but had financial issues. He gave us free lectures after school when we were preparing for our O'levels and included students from Muslim high school who he believed could not afford private lectures. To quote Shakespeare in Julius Caesar "when the poor had cried Badara had wept". He took the Nusrat drama team to Dakar for a competition at Cour Saint Marie and we dramatized Julius Caesar on stage dressed as Romans, we brought down the roof down with many in the audience in tears, no contest. He was a family man, a role model, a great citizen and a humble gentleman. When I worked outside the Gambia and came on holidays I once bumped into him walking on the side road in London corner and he was going all the way to Bakoteh, I offered a ride and he laughed and told me Yus I chosed to walk sometimes to feel what many are encountering in this heat, that was Badara. As he always told us " there is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the floods, leads on to good fortune, omitted , all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries'. He took the tide, that was my teacher. He taught us that literature was LIFE and when you get it you understand the full spectrum of what runs the world and how to live your life. Recently, I attended a meeting at his office and he said Yus what are you doing here ,I thought you were in Zimbabwe , I said no teacher I am back and working at PURA . He said aloud that's one of my students and he warned me openly " you better do well coz if not then that's when I will consider I have failed " I'll be watching you so don't let me down . He also identified My Njie of Oryx/Atlas as one of his star students from Nusrat. Mr Joof was a warrior and a passionate and loyal citizen of this land and above all he was someone I am proud to call my TEACHER coz that's what made him glow and his heart pump. I will find time to write a more detailed eulogy for him. I know I will not be able to do justice to it but he deserves all the accolades made on this forum and more. BRAVO and ADIOS Joofa nyohobai "jambarr gha".
