Juventus Football club of Gunjur has honoured former club member, late Babucarr Boy Nenneh Jatta by naming a renovated children’s toilet at the Gunjur Lower Basic School where he was a student.
Babucarr Jatta, fondly called Boy Nenneh was a founding and instrumental member of Juventus FC. He played for the team as player, and as a player manager as well as one of the financiers of the club in the early to mid 90s. Having travelled to the U.K. for further education, Boye Nanneh continued to support Juventus both materially and financially.
Due to ill health, Babucar Jatta returned to Gunjur where he sadly passed away late November 2006.
Paying tribute to his uncle (Babucarr Jatta) shortly after his death in a poem he has written, Ebrima Scattred Janneh (EB) said of the selfless and people person Boye Nenneh:
“ Boyneneh, I know death is life’s common denominator
But I never though it will come so soon to you.
Boy, are you really dead
In deed, you are no more with us
Oh my God.
How can I fathom that you have gone forever
The thinking of which always make me cry,
When I first heard the news of your death,
Cross-section of my body spring involuntarily of denial,
And noble words of consolation fight for my attention.
It took me some time to belief my ears,
Knowing the psychological impact your death will have on the family
Gradually, I came to terms with the news of your dead
By convincing myself that one does not fix appointments with fate,
Fate grasps whom it wants, when it want.
When it moves in the direction of your desires,
It brings you plenitude,
Then one has to endure,
And I am trying to endure, though it is not that easy.
You were the hope of a hopeless family,
They saw in you a saviour,
Indeed you were their saviour,
How they are going to miss you.
I glow with uncontrollable laughter when I reminiscence some of your humours,
I miss your open generosity,
Your spangled mind, full of lights and rifts-
Holes you could drive a car through.
I always think of your altruism excessive,
Little did I know that you are going to leave us this soon,
Is that why you were dishing out to people what ever you get,
And sheepishly rush to peoples’ aid at whatever cost to yourself?“
Concluding the moving poem, Ebrima offered these words about Boyenneh:
“ You named yourself the Rock of Gibraltar during your foot balling days,
I wonder whether you know that you were also the Rock of Gibraltar to the family,
I recall your sisters in praising you;
Calling you the only brother (Barrinkey-Kilingno),
In deed you were their only brother.
How your early egress shattered their confidence,
And hopes for salvation from the evil jaws of penury,
That’s why our faces crumpled up like wet tissue,
And your octogenarian poor Dad and Mum, trying to reconcile
Their fundamental God with your bright life
And sudden, pointless death,
They could not come to terms with your early death.
Oh yes, they could not cope with the tribulation of your early demise,
How they are really going to miss you.
Some call you a Samaritan whose possession and being were every one’s.
Indeed, you are even more than that,
Because you go to extortionate levels to help other people,
This arguably caused you a lot, however,
May God reward you for your self-sacrifice.
Boyneneh, friend of the young as of the old,
A social being whose spirit used to be elevate with crowd (laugh)
You were blessed with charismas that exhilarate any boring gathering
And any sulking individual
You always crack unimaginable jokes to light up people days and faces,
I cry and cry any time I think of you.”
Juventus is one of several clubs and individuals in Gunjur who stepped up to renovate the delapidated toilets when photos emerged of the bad state of these toilets at Gunjur’s first ever conventional school where many had started their journey.
Juventus, Argentina, Sibindinto, Sangamarr are some of the clubs that took turns to renovate blocks of children’s toilets at the Lower Basic School at a cost of thousands of Dalasis.
The completed toilets will be handed over to the school in a colourful handing over ceremony on Sunday 27th November 2022, sixteen years after the death of Babucarr Boye Nenneh Jatta.
May the Almighty God be pleased with his gentle soul and place him in eternal bliss.
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