Gambia: Folktales and Fables, Book One - Let Us Read and Write Wolof and Leebone Lupaane By Cornelius Gomez

14 March 2014
book review

Mr Gomez should be applauded for being the pioneer in writing and documenting our traditional folktales and fables and for his passionate support for the codification of our national languages, especially Wollof. For the past two decades, he has been a common appearance on national TV narrating his stories to the children and even adult viewers, thereby once again making the art of storytelling vibrant and relevant. Now, he has gone a step further by putting some of the hilarious and interestingly spell binding into a book form. We are here this morning to launch book one of the series.

Mr Gomez is also a fervent advocate of the use of our national languages, and he also has faith in the potential of our national languages to upgrade our nations socially, politically and economically. This faith led him to study Wollof grammar at University in Senegal, in the 1980s. He could have studied history or geography; instead he majored in Wollof grammar and has ever since firmly believed that when promoted our local languages can be as effective as the European foreign languages. Let us Read and Write Wollof and Leebone Lupane are two books which should be read and seen in this context of a passionate advocate of our national tongues calling for due respect and consideration to be accorded to them. I wish to encourage all Gambians to therefore, promote and protect our national languages through use, and to learn how to write and read in them so that they will not die. Mr Gomez has shown us the way, and we must be grateful to him for this pioneering work.

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