Executive meeting minutes, November 14th, 2010

Date: Sunday, November 14, 2010.

Time: 16:00 GMT

Chairperson: Alh. Sellou Jallow

Secretaries: M.B. Krubally

Attendees: Momodou Sellou Jallow, Ousainou Krubally, Cherno B. Jallow, Pa Johm and M.B. Krubally

Note: Wuyeh Sanyang and Alh Saibo Drammeh are currently on vacation back home and Bakary Jallow is also back home visiting his family post the passing of his father Mr. Musa K. Jallow.   

Agenda:

• Formal opening of the meeting
• The President Mr. Pa Joof’s message – the state of BA
• Reports and updates from Sports & Cultural Officer Mr. Ousainou Krubally on his recent trip to Basse and the state of BA on the ground (Digital Camera and Registration status)
• BA – Financial report
• Next general meeting
• AOB

I.      The Formal Opening of the Meeting & the state of BA:

Alh Sellou- Opened the meeting with routine greetings. He mentioned that although we had not had a meeting for a while there has been constructive discussion via email. He mentioned that our president Pa Joof was not in attendance because he was travelling. Alh Sellou continued by pointing out our failure to follow up on a previous agreement for members of the executive to send in weekly articles to be posted on the website.   He however mentioned that some major events like the passing of Bakary’s father, the birth of his daughter and other factors contributed to the failure of this program. Alh Sellou pointed to the fact that a lot of good things are happening in our community but we have not done a good job in keeping the general membership informed. He closed by stating that we have not used the talent we have within us. He suggested that we reach out to the tech savvy folk like Wuyeh Sanyang and Hassan Touray. 

Ousainou Krubally – Agreed with Alh Sellou that the website has been very dormant. He suggests that we look into how we can assist Pa Joof in helping keep the website fresh with new information.    

Cherno B. Jallow – Che agreed with Alh Sellou on the note that we have not been keeping the general membership informed. He stated that he never knew the pictures were published until a few days later when he visited the site. Che recommends that we send out an email to the membership whenever new articles or pictures are uploaded on the website. This he said will help increase traffic on the website which will in turn increase exposure and membership eventually. Che once again offered to help upload information on the wbsite. 

M. B. Krubally – To Che’s, Ous Krubally and Alh Sellou’s point, MB agreed that we have not done a good job in keeping our membership informed. MB offered to reach out to Pa to train Che and him on how to upload articles and pictures on the website. 

II.      Reports and updates from Sports & Cultural Officer Mr. Ousainou Krubally on his recent trip to Basse and the state of BA on the ground (Digital Camera and registration status):

Ousainou Krubally – Reported that BA’s message has been received by Basserians in Basse.  He however commented that there appears to be division among the youths in town. A faction of BYA appears to have formed a new group adding to three group including BA in the small town of Basse.  

He added that the finals went well and the pictures have been posted on the website. Ous stated that even the elders of the town now know about BA and he was in company at the central mosque when a prayer session was held for the success of the organization.  

Continuing on his update Ous spoke about the final BA trophy he plans on setting up for the year. He shared information about the Memorial Trophy. He mentioned that he had made a poster of deceased Basserians who contributed or participated in Basse sports. Ous informed us that he shared the poster at the last trophy finals in Basse and it was received well. The Memorial Trophy tournament began October 30, 2010.   Ous is looking for individual sponsors for this trophy on behalf of BA. He currently has one donor who pledged D5000.00. His goal is to raise D10,000 to be added to the trophy. 

Regarding the Divisional team, he informed us that the team has been registered and set to go. The registration documents have been forwarded to Alh Sellou who is working on getting some sponsorship for the team.   Ous again mentioned that he has shopped around for a full soccer set for the divisional team. The total cost of this set runs around 270 Euros and he is looking for donors if BA is not willing to pick up this tab. 

In closing Ous mentioned of the efforts he made to contact some of our senior Basse brothers in the Kombos. He met with a few whom were very glad about the initiative BA is taking on. He plans on writing about his visits and how some of these brother contributed to the foundation of the now strong Basse naweetan/sports. He plans on working on an article about the famous Basse Naweetan team “Jattas”. Ous is also working on organizing a test match between the Basse divisional team against Sukuta FC. Some of the brother Ous met and spoke about are: Salifu Kamara, Sidibeh, Kindi Boy (cannot remember some of these folks real names), Babu Sawanneh, Cherno Jallow, Bapachanna Jallow, Haruna Jobe, Sarjo Mendy, Peter Baldeh, Solomon Lusat, Foday Manneh, Yusu Keita, Papa Keita, and many more.  He also pointed out that the digital camera BA bought was handed over to Dawda Sankareh. The registration issues was briefly touched on with the understanding that Mr. Hassan Touray and Filly Sabally are working on addressing this issue.

Cherno B. Jallow/Alh. Sellou, Pa Johm and M.B.Krubally – Thanked Ous for a job well-done and also encouraged him to keep up the good work. Alh Sellou also suggested that we look into contacting brothers like Solomon Lusat who is very well connected with younger Basserians in the Kombo area. MB offered to reach out to Solomon Lusat to see if he can encourage him to join BA and help move our agenda forward

III.      Mosque Project

Ous Krubally – Ous commented that there still appears to be a difference between the contactors and Dawda Sankarey BA’s project manager on the ground. Dawda is holding on to the remaining D3000.00 of the contractor’s pay for fear that they might not complete the project once they receive their full pay. He also added that the mosque committed has mentions their desire to tile the top of the mosque to stop the water leak into the mosque during the rainy season.

M. B. Krubally – Asked Ous to kindly follow up with Dawda for the following information:

• How much money did Dawda receive at the start?
• How much money does he have at hand? 
• What is the estimated cost to complete the current project?

Samba Johm – Agreed with MB and stated that we should first find out what is left of the funds and then conduct and assessment on how to move forward. He also suggested that we work on conducting a townhall meeting in Basse. He added that we need the bond with the folks on the ground to strengthen BA.  

General – It was agreed upon that we will not take on another project until the “abulution center” project is fully completed. 

IV.      Scholarship Funds – Should we continue to sponsor the 150 students we paid school fees for last year?

Ousainou Krubally – Stated that the students are waiting to hear back from BA if we intend on continuing to pay their school fees or not. It was generally agreed that we had previously discussed looking at this project on an annual basis on how to move forward. Alh Sellou will reach out to Michael Secka and the head teachers for an analysis of the scholarship program and a suggestion on how to move forward. We will continue this discussion once we get a report back form Michael Secka. 

V.      Financial Report – None of the financial officers was in attendance. Alh Sellou was asked to get us a breakdown of the fund balances in the different regions we have money at. MB will reach out to the financial officers if they can put together a spreadsheet that will help us track the total BA funds. 

VI.      AOB –

• MB – Asked Pa Johm on his progress in working with the media to help communicate BA’s agendas and help reach Basserians around the world especially in the Gambia. 
• Samba Johm – Is still working on reaching some of his media friends. He will update us at the next meeting. 

Next Meeting – It was agreed to look at hosting a general members meeting on Sunday December 12, 2010. Once confirmed a communication will be sent to the general membership. 

Meeting was adjourned at about 17:45 GMT