Get to Know me and Why WiXad

" Life is a journey of no retardation, but of continuous evolving and discovery of your inner self through exploits" Unanimous. In essence, I wish to share my journey with you and why I joined this amazing community of great minds. Happy reading!

My name is Francis Gomez. I hailed from Jambanjelly village, Kombo South. I attended Jambanjelly Primary school from 2000-2006. Just like any average Gambian, I have a wonderful childhood with its own highs and lows. I ran under the rain, hunted for rats, quirrrels, rabbits and even lizzards, exploring good and evil without much clarity. I love and played football and athletics. We have a lot of books at home, so I started reading them randomly. It was a home library in essence. However, I didn't understand most of the things I read at the beginning until my second grade. But I loved the idea of choosing books based on their covers growing up. Some I stopped reading after first few pages. As I continue reading, my curiosity and interests increased. As a result, there are books that I read more than once from cover to cover. I thank my family for introducing books to me as a child and our primary school librarian, Buba Jammeh. He is now in America. God bless you Buba. He would give me books to take home, some I returned and others I kept. Today, I advice my students to return all borrowed books from school and public library, because I now know better.

As a child, I was given the name Ryan Giggs, a nickname I still answer to whenever I stumble upon old friends. My first football team is called Young Golden. I was picked on a bicycle whenever we have a football match. I live about eight kilometres from the central town and school. It was fun riding for matcehs and back. That feeling was fulfilling in every sense of the word. My connection to nature was manifested in my love for animals, especially dogs, parrots and rabbits. The names of my pets include Capon, Fred, Strong, Fortem, Power and Prostatis. Fortem and power are names of my parrots. May their souls rest in peace. The rest are dogs. Prostatis is my present pet dog, but not the wisest or favourite. My fabourite dog is Fred which died in my absence while I was away for treatment in Dakar aboutbthree years ago.

FORTEM STANDING ON MY DOOR

I then transferred to Presentation of Mary Basic Cycle school between 2007-2010 where I sat to GABECE examination. While at Presentation, I continued doing well academically. I also kept playing football and running during school sports activities, "Inter-house". At Presentation, we mostly play football on Fridays after school hours. Aside from sports, I was a member of Young Christian Society, YCS, Peer Health and S.E.S. clubs. Towards my ninth grade, I was selected to be the school Heaboy by a committed of staff. It was another humbling and fulfilling experience. I saw it as both an opportunity and honur to contine my leadership track record. Although, I was not the best example of a leader for obvious reasons at that time. My classmates reading would relate. I wished I knew and I did better looking back today. However, it is what it is and I'm grateful for that opportunity to have served.

Moving Forward, I gained admission to Nusrat High school in September 2010, having satisfactorily passed my GABECE, WAEC examination. Enroling in Nusrat was a dream come true at the time. It is an open sceret that Nusrat is one of the best Secondary schools in The Gambia since inception to date. That speaks for itself. I was in the Arts stream and introduced to new subjects for the first time like Government and History. Life at Nusrat was adventurous, fun, academically competitive and motivating. Almost every student is a dead winner, fighting for the top almost always. Every term is a different experience, no constant position and the expectation was high, especially from my uncle who is an educationist. Anyway, it has it's own pros and cons. I began to loose interest in sports and almost disconnected from a lot of friends and social life, although with good intentions. At this time, my classmates were my family and friends. Long distance childhood friends gradually faded away with few exceptions. That was my own understanding and orientation.

By May 2013, I passed out of Nusrat with an impressive 5 credits witiout Mathematics. The initial plan was going straight to the University. Law was my dream, I wanted to be a lawyer in order to defend the rights of the less privileged. Although, I was very sure of who is a less privileged person. Probably, my motives weren't right or so. Mathematics was a fundamental requirement for admission into The University of The Gambia. Since I was not ready to resit Mathematics, my uncle sold the idea of applying to Gambia College, School of Education for Higher Teacher Certificate program, HTC now Advanced Diploma. I quickly bought the idea and applied. I got admission and was in for a completely a new direction in life without knowing back then.

In October 2013, I started my three year college program. The Gambia College developed me to be a professional public servant with the primary responsibility of teaching. There is a dormitory on campus but I commute to and from school daily. Some of my friends and classmates lived on campus, especially those from rural Gambia and relatively far places like Westfield and Banjul. My worldview gradually began to change which is normal. From meeting new lecturers, students and exposed to seemingly weird ideologies and philosophies like never before. I continued my leadership track and served as the Vice President of Gambia College Press, Assistant Secretary General of S.E.S club and Christian Koinonia leader respectively. Amidst the highs and lows of an African Collge, I survived with a meagre stipend. Still, the idea of studying law was fresh in my mind.

Fast forward, I apllied to the University in 2016 after completing my Gambia College program. I applied for Development Studies instead of Law. The plan was to do a Departmental transfer to Law after the first semester. I successfully completed my first semester and apllied for Departmental transfer and awaiting approval by the Dean of Law. Unfortunately, I had to defer for the next semester due to pressure from the Ministry of Education on the grounds that I need to get confirmed before I could be eligible to pusrue my undergraduate degree. So I did that and continued teaching.

My official college graduation ceremony was on 17th May, 2017. A remarkable day in my life, a day I earned my first professional certificate after high school. I was happy and celebrated with friends and family. Barely few days after that, I fell at home and dislocated my keft knee. A very minor accident by the way. Little did I know that It was the birth of an identity shift. I spent the next three years geting that knee fixed, but to no avail. Edward Francis Teaching Hospital did the best they could do with little improvement. People recommended several traditional experts on local orthopedic with huge past history of success. I tried about four of them and it seems to be getting worse. My family the requested for biopsy which was not available here. So it was conducted and results taken to Dakar for analysis and sent back. I was now diagnosed of a Malignant Giant Cell Tumor, Low Grade. Unfortunately, there is no oncologist to perform the surgery in The Gambia. By the time I got my medical report and left for Dakar, it was late for surgery medically. The "mysterious tumour" has grown beyond remedy by surgery; huge parts of my the bone was affected. In fact, it was going to go beyond this point after 90 days according to Senegalese oncologists upon reviewing my latest X-Ray and MRI results. The best thing to be done, was an immediate amputation. Difficult right? You could bet. Yea, that was the sad reality. Even my family members refused the sign the consent form for amputationro be carried out. I encouraged them to, knowing it was not the end of life, but the beginning of another chance to live again if only you know what I mean by this.

On 2nd July, 2019 I was amputated in Dakar and assumed a new identity and name, Disabled. The most trying moment of my life since birth was right here before my naked eyes. Remember, I just celebrated my college graduation and had already secured admission to the university. But guess what, I now lost my left leg, an important part of me. This incident has a lot of implications for my life moving forward, especially after returning to The Gambia. I have seen how peope with diability are treated in this country. Will I be treated differently? Not certain, but optimistic. However, I was ready to take up tihis challenge and contine to live an active life to the best of my abilities.

I left Dakar for The Gambia December 2020, two days after Christmas. Because of my new orientation and exposure to mew friends, going back to the university was no more a plan. I decided to be an entrepreneur. I was willing to learn and and even fail, but will not quit until I get there. Although, my uncle saw it as a suicidal mission. You should know where he is speaking from. As always, he succeeded in convincing me to contiune my studies. That is how I went back to UTG. Although I am not complaining, but I am pursuing my entrepreneurial dream alongside. Certainly not easy as you don't expect it to be. Due to the shortness of the stump, I'm not comfortable with my prosthetic, artificial leg. That is why I walk with crutches for convenience and safety. Today, I am the only student in the University of The Gambia walking with crutches. I know what it means to be different from others by physical appearance. The good news is we are not our physical appearances, but the contents of our individual minds and hearts.

I conclusion, I wish to share with you why I joined this amazing and thriving platform, because of their liberalism and open-mindedness. I met the CEO through the GCCI business plan pitching competition. I contacted him a few days after that, he explained what Internet village is and WiXad is all about and I was in for good. This platform will help anyone showcase your talents and ideas without discrimination. I believe in my ideas and have found a platform to help me bring it to light for the benefit of mankind. I want to add value to the lives of people in The Gambia and beyond. So far so good, no platform like Wixad is accommodative for my ideas, hence my membership. I want you too to join us and make this country a place by becoming a member of this growing community of great young minds. The first step is by visiting www.internetvillage.us and register.