Serekunda: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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Serekunda was founded in the second half of the 19th century by [[Sayerr Jobe]], a [[Wolof people|Wolof]] man from [[Koki, Senegal|Koki]] in the Kingdom of [[Cayor]], in what is now northern [[Senegal]]. Jobe, whose family was part of the royal class, left Koki due to a power struggle. He went upriver to [[Barra, Gambia|Niumi]], then Banjul, before establishing Serekunda.<ref name="Janneh" /> [[Sukuta]] was the only nearby settlement, and the area was a thick forest.<ref name="Foroyaa" /> He delegated power to his seven sons before dying in 1896.<ref name="Janneh">{{Cite news |last=Janneh |first=Gibairu |date=19 August 2011 |title=Sayerr Jobe; Founder of Serekunda |url=https://allafrica.com/stories/201108191497.html |access-date=25 August 2024 |work=[[AllAfrica]] |agency=[[The Daily Observer]]}}</ref> The name 'Serekunda' is a corruption of "Sayerr Jobe Kunda". The street of his home was named Sayerr Jobe Avenue.<ref name ="Foroyaa" >{{cite news |last1=Jabai |first1=Sailu Bah Saikou Suwareh |title="Sayerr Jobe's name cannot be easily forgotten" Says a descendant |url=https://foroyaa.net/sayerr-jobes-name-cannot-be-easily-forgotten-says-a-descendant/ |access-date=29 February 2024 |work=[[Foroyaa]] |date=2 March 2015}}</ref>

Several villages, including Dippa Kunda, [[Latri Kunda]], and Serekunda, grew into the city of Serekunda.<ref name="Wiseman">{{Cite journal |last=Wiseman |first=John A. |date=1985 |title=Parties and elections in Africa |journal=The Journal of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=3–29 |doi=10.1080/14662048508447463 |issn=0306-3631}}</ref> Touray Kunda was established by one of the first settler families.<ref name="Foroyaa" />

=== Pre-independence ===

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Serekunda is a centre of the [[Tablighi Jamaat]] Islamic movement. The Markaz ({{translation|Center}}), a ''[[dawah]]'' centre in the Bundung area, is the country's main centre of the Jamaat. The Markaz is open to the public and congregates on Thursdays. Pakistani preachers preach at the compound. It is a two-storey building with an adjacent mosque that can seat 2,000 people, surrounded by [[barbed wire]]. It has a reputation for being secretive.<ref name="Janson 2005">{{Cite journal |last=Janson |first=Marloes |date=2005 |title=Roaming About For God's Sake: The Upsurge of the Tablīgh Jamā'at in the Gambia |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jra/35/4/article-p450_4.xml |journal=Journal of Religion in Africa |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=450–481 |doi=10.1163/157006605774832199 |issn=0022-4200}}</ref> Adherents from across West Africa convene in the city. Gambians who convert to the Jamaat often move to Serekunda and leave their families.<ref name="Janson 2012">{{Cite book |last=Janson |first=Marloes |title=L'Afrique des générations |chapter=“We don’t despair, since we know that Islam is the truth” : New Expressions of Religiosity in Young Adherents of the Tabligh Jamač in the Gambia |series=Hommes et sociétés |publisher=Karthala |year=2012 |location=Paris |pages=579–615 |doi=10.3917/kart.gomez.2012.01.0579|isbn=978-2-8111-0631-7 }}</ref> The term "Markaz" is used to refer to the mosque and the movement.<ref name="Janson 2013">{{Cite book |chapter=The Global Meets the Local: The Tablighi Jama‘at Contextualised |date=2013 |title=Islam, Youth, and Modernity in the Gambia: The Tablighi Jama'at |pages=69–98 |last=Janson |first=Marloes |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/islam-youth-and-modernity-in-the-gambia/global-meets-the-local-the-tablighi-jamaat-contextualised/6D1AFCAF8EE4D64EC9EFB4706AD75800 |access-date=2024-08-29 |series=The International African Library |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-62913-3}}</ref>

Tablighi missionaries from South Asia first came to the Gambia in the 1960s but were not successful until the early 1990s.<ref name="Janson 2013" /> Imam Karamoko Dukureh, the son of a marabout from the village of [[Gambissara]] who studied in Saudi Arabia, established the Jamaat in the Gambia.<ref name="Janson 2012" /> He returned to Gambissara in the 1980s and began to build a mosque with foreign donations. The villagers, who did not want a second mosque, got the government to intervene in 1993. Once Jammeh took power, his government approved the mosque, but he then prohibited it to gain support from village elders. The government demolished the mosque and arrested four followers. Followers bought land in Serrekunda's Bundung neighborhood and built a compound that Dukureh moved into.<ref name="Janson 2013" /> The compound was replaced with a brick building that gradually expanded.<ref name="Janson 2005" /> Dukureh served as the imam of the Markaz until his death in 2000.<!--page Since193--> As women werehave bannednot frombeen permitted to attend regular services insince 2003, five homes of women who adhere to the Jamaat havehost servedalternative asworship centresservices ofon itSundays.<!--page 196--><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Janson |first=Marloes |date=2016-02-27 |title=Male Wives and Female Husbands |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jra/46/2-3/article-p187_4.xml |journal=The Journal of Religion in Africa |volume=46 |issue=2–3 |pages=187–218 |doi=10.1163/15700666-12340084 |issn=0022-4200}}</ref>

[[File:TrinSerr.JPG|thumb|alt=A brown church with a gate and a sign reading "Trinity Methodist Church".|Trinity Methodist Church]]▼

=== Minority religions ===

▲[[File:TrinSerr.JPG|thumb|alt=A brown church with a gate and a sign reading "Trinity Methodist Church".|Trinity Methodist Church]]

Churches include the Trinity Methodist Church and Saint Therese's Catholic Church.<ref>{{Cite news |last=<!--not stated--> |date=14 April 2010 |title=Divine Mercy hits streets of Serekunda |url=https://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/divine-mercy-hits-streets-of-serekunda |access-date=29 August 2024 |work=[[The Point (the Gambia)|The Point]]}}</ref> After the [[Baháʼí]] missionary Fariborz Roozbehyan arrived in the Gambia in February 1954, a [[Spiritual Assembly]] was established in Serekunda.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Anthony |url=https://brill.com/view/title/15368 |title=The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962 |page=97 |date=2011-10-28 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-20684-7 |doi=10.1163/9789004226005_005}}</ref>

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The Senegambia Strip is a short road that contains many restaurants and music venues.<ref name="Bastmeijer" /> It is the country's most popular site for beachside entertainment. It receives tourists from wealthy countries, whose spending is a major contributor to the economy.<ref name="Kachipande" />

The Serekunda/Banjul area has twenty hotels where 90% of tourists stay, and 84% of tourists book through [[tour operator]]s, {{as of|2008|lc=y}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hartmann |first=Rainer |chapter=Diaspora-Tourismus als Baustein einer nachhaltigen Tourismusentwicklung in Afrika |date=2024 |title=Klimaschutz und Nachhaltigkeit im Tourismus |series=Schriften zu Tourismus und Freizeit |volume=27 |pages=117–129 |editor-last=Tanner |editor-first=Monika Bandi |url=https://link.springer.com/10.37307/b.978-3-503-23769-2.07 |access-date=2024-08-29 |place=Berlin |publisher=Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co. KG |language=de |doi=10.37307/b.978-3-503-23769-2.07 |isbn=978-3-503-23769-2 |editor2-last=Wirth |editor2-first=Samuel |editor3-last=Roller |editor3-first=Marcus}}</ref> A beachfront area of [[Kololi]] has popular luxury hotels, including the Kairaba Hotel and the Senegambia Hotel.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Evans |first=Denise |date=7 March 2014 |title=Travel review: The Gambia off the beaten track |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/denise-evans-inspired-gambia-paradise-6784567 |access-date=5 September 2024 |work=[[Manchester Evening News]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Davies |first=Lizzy |date=4 December 2021 |title=Can Gambia Turn the Tide to Save Its Shrinking Beaches? |url=https://www.wired.com/story/can-the-gambia-turn-the-tide-to-save-its-shrinking-beaches/ |access-date=5 September 2024 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]}}</ref>

The Senegambia Strip has a large market for [[sex tourism]].<ref name="Kachipande">{{Cite journal |last=Kachipande |first=Sitinga |date=2023 |title=Sun, Sand, Sex, and Safari: The Interplay of Sex Tourism and Global Inequalities in Africa's Tourism Industry |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/884202 |journal=Journal of Global South Studies |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=1–37 |doi=10.1353/gss.2023.0007 |issn=2476-1419}}</ref> It is the country's center for sex tourism. Young men looking for money, known as "[[wikt:bumster|bumster]]s", provide sex for tourists. Residents of Serekunda believe sex tourism has become a norm and [[paedophilicpedophilic]] activities harm local youth. Many are concerned that European tourists take advantage of economic inequality by persuading poor Gambians to have sex for money. Politicians have proposed subsidising new accomodations or increasing penalties for foreign sex tourists.<ref name="Bastmeijer">{{Cite news |last=Bastmeijer |first=Joost |date=5 April 2024 |title="Si no tienes dinero para ir a Europa en barco, intentas llegar iniciando una relación con un turista": el turismo sexual que asola Gambia |url=https://elpais.com/planeta-futuro/2024-04-05/si-no-tienes-dinero-para-ir-a-europa-en-barco-intentas-llegar-iniciando-una-relacion-con-un-turista-el-turismo-sexual-que-asola-gambia.html |access-date=25 August 2024 |work=[[El País]]}}</ref>

== Infrastructure ==