Which Country would you like to visit
If I have the opportunity to visit a foreign country for two weeks, I would not hesitate to choose Gambia—a country lies in West Africa.
I began to notice this tiny country at the time I was reading the novel – Roots. It tells the story of an African-American family and a descendent finally found out his roots in Gambia. I was quite impressed by the characters, plots and interesting African life styles described in the novel. The book gives me a totally different view about Africa and it was my first time to take a close-up look into an individual African country.
In the past when I think of Africa I think of poverty, disease, and poor people, but never had I realized how amazing Gambia is until I finished reading this novel. They have lovely traditions. Every night, people from the same tribe would gather together. Adults could talk about things happened in the daytime while kids enjoy the stories told by the elders. Teenagers go hunting every day and compete for the most harvest. They never write down their history, but the historians would take the responsibility of passing it down by telling the following historians these huge historical events. Everybody leads a happy and serene life and live in harmony with the nature. I can imagine the vast grass, wavy lake, cheerful herds; it is a fairyland far from conflict, controversy and war.
How can anyone be not attracted by Gambia after knowing a little bit about it? If Pushkin had had the chance to visit this fascinating country, he would probably say “Oh, Gambia! How violently its name plucks at everyone’s heart!”
I have been dreaming to visit Gambia and joining those villagers, sitting under a big tree, listening to the stories, hunting the animals and being enlightened by the historians. How I wished to go there!
