The Village Food Crawl and Accessibility Meetup Recap

[AlphaSays]

Caption: A group photo of members Gambia Federation of The Disabled - GFD scanning QR Codes to watch Google Maps accessibility videos and taking food photos tips

INTRODUCTION

The ‘Village Food Crawl and Accessibility Meetup’ was a partially sponsored meetup by the TAF Africa Foundation site, which took place on the 27th of February 2021. This is the first physical meetup I hosted in The Gambia whilst on school holiday through local guides in the Gambia, ever since I joined the program in 2016. Hosting meetups is always thrilling, knowing how educative, and fun local guides can be. In July 2020, I hosted my first hybrid accessibility meetup in Famagusta Northern Cyprus at the largest mall in my city called City Mall - Read Recap City Mall Accessibility and Map Editing Hybrid Meetup Recap. But, I have always wanted to host physical accessibility meetups in the Gambia with local guides and persons with disabilities. This is quite needed in the Gambia as places are not very accessible to persons with disabilities in The Gambia like Northern Cyprus. I firmly believe that it is essential to educate our society about inclusive access and the challenges faced by persons with disabilities. There is also a gap in the accessibility of technology to support persons with disabilities, particularly features on mobile phones and other electronic devices. In addition, policies centered on promoting inclusion in The Gambia are now being effected, slowly but surely. However, these policies that ensure greater accessibility focus more on areas like the tourism sector, restaurants, and some prominent locations in the country. More on this is available in the video below. 

THE EVENT (PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION)

Food is my second name as some would say and I recently started hosting food vlogs on my Youtube channel (Alpha Says) and the rest of my social media handles to help people find their hidden gems. This is because I intend to organize a food meetup in The Gambia, which I am certain would attract a lot of audiences. Gambians love food and which is why one should never say, “free food” unless they planned on hosting the entire community at their event. Because of this, we added ‘limited food, bring cash’ on the event poster, but everything was covered, and none of the attendees paid for their meals. I decided to infuse the food and accessibility meetup and called it “The Village Food Crawl and Accessibility Meetup” to make it more exciting and impactful.Caption: Attendees taking pictures of the foods at Luna

My reason for choosing ‘The Village’ is because it is a famous multi-purpose building complex located in Senegambia (The heart of the Gambia). It has shopping stores, restaurants, beauty studios, kids playing grounds, an art exhibitionCaption: The Village Complex View centre, and offices as well. It took us approximately 10 days to organize the Accessibility Meetup and I would highly commend the village management for their responsiveness, support, and coordination during the planning stage of the event, despite the short notice we gave them. About 5 days to the event, TAF Africa Foundation through TAF Africa Global approved to sponsor the event and they covered up to 70% of the budget, the 6 wheelchair ramps, 550 accessibility stickers (Wheelchair access, mixed accessibility quotes), meals and transport refund for the differently-abled attendees and media houses. I funded the remaining 30% from my savings to ensure it fully served its intended purpose. Another local Guide called Pa Modou Ann, also contributed by paying for part of the meals. Check out the photo album here and a List on Google Maps of the Village

The event started at 6:00 pm at Luna Lounge and went on till midnight. A total of 44 people came and they included some of the top digital creators, photographers, journalists, local guides, friends, colleagues and my schoolmates from Cyrpus. Caption: A group of attendees including local guidesSeven people from the Gambia Federation of The disabled community were also in attendance. We started by welcoming the people and then gave a short introduction to the Local Guides Program. This was done by providing papers with QR codes for the attendees to scan using their devices to watch Local Guides’ videos on food photography tips, and accessibility around the world. We then spoke about accessibility features on Google Maps, how we can champion this great cause, and how we can all learn about disability to subsequently contribute towards the cause by sharing knowledge with our network.

Magistrate Muhammed Krubally was our Guest Speaker. He is the Chairman of the Gambia Federation of The Disabled - GFD, founded in the early 1900s. It is the umbrella organization that represents the disability sector and brings together all Disabled Peoples’ Organizations - DPOs and Persons With Disabilities - PWDs in The Gambia. GFD’s core principle is to participate in and champion the national disability policy. These policies promote nationwide awareness against stigma and discrimination towards persons with disabilities, improve inclusion, promote equal rights to opportunity and also prevent them from exploitation. This Bill was passed by the National Assembly in July 2021 which Magistrate Muhammed Krubally and his team have been working on tirelessly. However, implementation of said Bill is still a major challenge according to him. During his speech, he highlighted the importance of such events, and the challenges they face on daily basis as persons with disabilities. He equally enlightened us about the current state of persons with disabilities in The Gambia and beyond. Caption: Magistrate Muhammed Krubally and myself posing after sticking an accessibility sticker at Dragon Red Restaurant

A TOUR OF THE RESTAURANTS IN THE VILLAGE COMPLEX

During the event, we had the opportunity to explore and experience the various restaurants located at the village complex, which was quite remarkable. Below is a list of said restaurants:

Luna Lounge-

Luna Lounge began operation in less than three months when we proposed to host the event at their space.Caption: Luna Seafood plate shot by Bintou Kuutti Mariama Kassam the Manager of Luna Lounge was excited about the idea and did not hesitate to approve the event. The staff of Luna Lounge were friendly, welcoming, and quite supportive to all our guests. They served us food and when we began eating, some of us apparently went to heaven due to how delicious the food was. Luna gave discounts and some free food for us to try their menu. Today, Luna is amongst the best and busiest restaurants in the village complex. See (Luna Google Maps and Luna Instagram) 

Mani Sushi-Caption: Mani Sushi Assorted Sushi and Signature cocktail

Mani Sushi was the second restaurant some of us tried and since sushi is not popular in the Gambia, just about 4-7 people ate there and it was the first time for some, now they’re all almost sushi addicts. Mani Sushi makes the best Sushi in the Gambia and is also the first place I ever had sushi from. We had discounts there during the food crawl and they equally have a team with amazing customer experience.

See (Mani Sushi Google Maps and  Mani Sushi Instagram)

Burger Beyond-Caption: Burgers and Beyond Restaurant front

Burger Beyond makes amazing burgers and great slushy. The manager was so excited when I told him about the event and he gladly offered us three free burgers. My siblings love burgers so they decided to have a meal there. I added this place on Google Maps back in 2018 when the name was Jay’s Burger. 

See (Burger Beyond on Google Maps)

Dragon Red-

Caption: A photo of Dragon Red Pineapple pizza shot by Yusupha FatajoDragon Red makes amazing pizza and is perhaps the only place to get good pizza from. They make great Asian foods as well. We had a great deal there and got about 3 large pizzas. The ladies who work there are just incredible and super friendly. The only concern however was that their hygiene standards were not satisfactory. All hopes are high that they might improve on these moving on. Yusupha added this place on Google Maps during the food crawl because my edits never got published since 2018, surprisingly and I relented.

See (Dragon Red on Google Maps)

Caption: O’delice assorted pastries on display shot by Bintou Kuutti

O’delice-

The name of this restaurant sounds as beautiful as their pastries and the place is amazing for breakfast and has a French touch in almost everything. They had initially offered us discounts on what we ordered but when everyone went in and loved their food with all the photos and contents generated, they did not let us pay. The owner and staff were so nice, we enjoyed this place too.  

See (Google Maps O’delice and Instagram)

.

Cassey’s Café-

Caption: A photo of Cassy’s Café & Restaurant English and French breakfastThis café is a favorite of many Gambians and tourists. It has great outdoor seating and the indoor is pretty small like all other restaurants but with a great aesthetic. They have great food options and you can never go wrong with their pastries. They set up a nice round table as we walked in to quickly take pictures and grab what we wanted to try. This way we didn’t have to stay long to prevent their customers from having seats. Their chocolate brownies were so good, we had some assorted cakes with pastries they wanted us to try in addition to the reasonable discount they gave us. Cassey’s Café has the best online presence in the village with great branding.

See (Google Maps Cassey’s Café and Instagram)

The Vineyard Multi Cuisine-

Caption: A photo of chicken in hot pot at VineyardThe Vineyard Cuisine is the only Indian restaurant in the village. It is however on the first floor and does not have a lift including wheelchair access. It is the most spacious restaurant with a private room for meetings, birthdays, and dining space. It was the last restaurant we went to at around 10:00 p.m. They had famous Indian Cuisines such as Chicken and lamb curry, biryani, chicken tikka masala, captain fish in garlic sauce, chicken lollipop, and pizza. We were given a 35% discount on our total bill which was so helpful and kind of them. They’ve opened a new branch at the Senegambia strip entrance called ‘Saffron the Spicy Kitchen’. I added that place on maps as well.

See (Google Maps Vineyard Cuisine and Instagram)

CONCLUSION

This was a beautiful experience of a lifetime and we enjoyed every moment of it. On behalf of my team, I would like to thank each and everyone who supported us to make the event a success. This is definitely something we would love to do again with a bigger audience.

Caption: A group photo from of Gambia Federation of The Disabled - GFD members, Luna Lounge Manager and TAF Africa Foundation Coordinator

[Ewaade_3A]

Wow! The photos of the food are stunning!

The village complex is beautiful,  it looks like something from the British Era 👌

Is this place located in a beach or close to it?

I know much if the Gambia is anyway...

Alpha, is this same meetup you told me about? Oh Yes, it is! Your title did  not reflect you did such a charitable thing. Well done, Alpha. Your pose with that ♿️ sticker and your big, bright, beautiful smile of accomplishment is the best @AlphaSays 

Alpha wrote:

"It took us approximately 10 days to organize the Accessibility Meetup and I would highly commend the village management for their responsiveness, support, and coordination during the planning stage of the event, despite the short notice we gave them. About 5 days to the event, TAF Africa Foundation through TAF Africa Global approved to sponsor the event and they covered up to 70% of the budget, the 6 wheelchair ramps, 550 accessibility stickers (Wheelchair access, mixed accessibility quotes), meals and transport refund for the differently-abled attendees and media houses. I funded the remaining 30% from my savings to ensure it fully served its intended purpose. Another local Guide called Pa Modou Ann, also contributed by paying for part of the meals."

[AlphaSays]

@Ewaade_3A it's a beautiful place, I will certainly take you here whenever you have the chance to visit the Gambia. 

Yeah very close to the beach actually, just about a 3-5 minute walk. Yes, it's the one I told you about. Thank you so much the brilliant comment and always supporting me. Appreciated.