By Amie Sanneh
Personalities were last Saturday honoured and recognized for their selfless service in the fight against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the Gambia.
The Global Media Campaign to End FGM, Safe Hands for Girls and the Gambia Press Union, with funding from Human Dignity Foundation, organized an award night to honour those personalities. The winner of the overall media personality went away with a brand new Laptop, Camera, Recorder, Bundles and a Trophy. The Community Radio Stations were also given bundles to help ease their work in the area of Internet Connectivity.
All the other awardees went away with a trophy.
The awardees were as follows:
Overall Best Media Personality – Sarjo Camara Singateh of Foroyaa Newspaper;
Best Print House – The Point newspaper;
Best Print Personality – Sarjo Camara Singateh of Foroyaa newspaper;
Best Photography and Video Journalist- Modou Lamin Dumbuya;
Best TV program – State of Multi Media;
Best Radio Personality – Sise Sawaneh of GRTS Radio;
Best Radio Station – GRTS Radio;
Best Media House – The Point Newspaper;
Best Community/Rural Radio – Paradise FM Basse;
Best Community Radio Personality – Momodou AH Bah;
Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary General of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), Saikou Jammeh, said the media has done and achieved a lot in the fight against FGM. He however noted that eradicating harmful cultural practices is not easy and does not happen overnight. Mr. Jammeh described the media as the most powerful tool of Communication that can contribute greatly to end FGM. “As media practitioners, we disseminate information, we pass knowledge to the masses and that’s a very powerful weapon in our arsenal,” he said.
Naimeh Hassan from the Global Media Campaign said the award night is meant to celebrate those journalists who have been raising awareness on human rights issues like Female Genital Mutilation for the past two years. She said the Global Media Campaign came into the country two years ago with Safe Hands for Girls and other organisations and has since witnessed unprecedented achievements in ending FGM in the Gambia.
Mam Lisa Camara from the Safe Hands for Girls recalled, that two years ago they promised to hold an award to honour journalists who are part of the struggle to end FGM in the country. Lisa, the award chairperson, promised media practitioners that they will hold another award next year, if funding is received from their donors.
