Meaningful improvements occur through enough education and regulations. Mass improvement or uplifting is much better than gradual group learning in the shadows or with indifference. Considering the blessings of social media and alternatives to mainstream media, me and you should never wait on the governments on beneficial education related matters these days. Our questionable people and governments can even be pressured towards the needed actions. Needless to point improving our health, finances, and even longevity may exist with meaningful efforts. Food quality can be discussed from many angles, and the excuse mongers may forward excuses against great solutions. New Food packaging culture will boost our food quality beyond beauty. Other forms of food preservation may involve far beyond Packaging. So which countries will spearhead the needed regulations that ordinary me and you cannot enforce? Which influencers will make the pressure oriented videos for the public and government to act asap? Which Kind Lord will bless us beyond inspiration towards every good for trying to help over a billion people or the whole world. Mindset issues are also a huge problem in Africa, but I am confident that God can help us conquer with ease and may he do so.
New Food Packaging Culture: Sometimes it helps to give specific examples, especially where video contrasting may be lacking. Those of us in Africa and visit countless African markets cannot be blind to the fact of many unnecessarily exposed food for months. I will use baobab and beans as examples. Our elites may indifferently buy good looking beans from the supermarkets, but care demands we remember the poor and understand how certain things can revolve to affect even different continents. Since most of the vendors in these African markets are illiterates or with questionable mindsets, the best of us must at least suggest, including with videos. First, it starts with proper picking from the farms to the markets, but I will have to skip that part due to the nature of the sub-title.
How many times have you seen a big dusty bag of beans or baobab with creatures popping and creating countless ugly holes in our precious food? The culprit is ‘air’ or our refusal to properly seal certain food on time. The remedy can vary from modern vacuum sealing machines to achieve over 99% success, or using manual tactics and simple measures like candle sealing per kilogram as an example. I will not debate if every retailer should be forced to have such machines, but every retailer should be educated on the difference it will make. The best of the retailers will see it as an investment or sincere care to the valuable customers. We can also force every market to have at least three sealing stations and demand the retailers to adjust for time based standards. You can imagine the video contrasting between two vendors or two markets to understand a new type of African markets is seeded by Jarga Kebba Gigo.
Similarly, nature kindly gives us good looking baobab in an airtight container or protector, but once opened, it gradually degrades due to air exposure. Within months, it starts to look ugly and even those small creatures may be popping, urinating, and/or pooping on the food you may consume and give to your baby and tourists? I can hear the lazy minds or excuse mongers claiming, ‘but we do wash it or keep the old ways’. The Lord of Ihqrah (learning) is indeed the kind Lord who teaches us what ‘we and our parents never knew’, to give the grateful what we never had. From the presidents to the tourists, you may be drinking questionable baobab or xyz juice, but will you indifferently buy sealers and be ungrateful to Jarga and the poor? Maybe every compound, village, or district (county) should have these sealers more than your questionable cigarettes or xyz. I do not like over commercialisation or extreme Capitalism, so let the prices of these sealers further come down, or let us find alternatives. Should I start a factory or teach you which manual ways to compromise on air draining quality but still have air-tight sealing? Creating a solar or xyz powered heating element for the sealing is relatively easy, but vacuuming the air is slightly more complex. A manual vacuuming and sealing may give you 2 to 3 years of high quality food, while the vacuum sealing machines are claiming about 5 years. The honest reality will depend on the food, because Baobab may last ten years and I will still prefer using the fresh ones of within a year and sparing the older packaged ones to the animals or as plant food. Time stamps matter.
Preservation: Again, we can discuss different types of food Preservation methods Africa needs to learn, but dehydration is what interests me most. Should we go individually with indifference or help every village own multiple dehydrators? Again, it is just a heating element, a temperature controller, and what level of coating quality if we want to avoid plastic or choose which temperatures? Mangoes are great examples. We have too many wasted mangoes and other foods in the Gambia and in many parts of Africa. I understand Capitalism is slowly taking them to the west and beyond, but how do we help the poor in Africa with enough food? By educating and helping every village have multiple dehydrators, we can significantly improve lives and hope God helps us much more. Many villages have freezers and refrigerators, but such may depend on the country or even region.
Mindsets: Africans must adjust where need be, and that must include medium to hard conversations. Life is about choices, not just luck. Stop illusory religious claims like what was predestined. Perhaps God predestines or judges based on our choices. When the marvellous Quhr-aahn in chapter 67 depicts a perfect Lord with perfect creation, almost bragging about perfection, mentioning life and death, imagine world testing, and imagine your position with your counterparts around the world. How are you on perfection, especially on working or while serving others? [Quran 67:4] Then look again, and again, and your sight will return to you dazzled and exhausted. ‘ The above verse can be seen as God’s perfect work or to contrast our works towards perfection. Do you believe in ‘exhorting each other to truth [or highest attainable perfection], as per ch. 103’? I do believe in tolerance, but I prefer perfection, especially on essential things like food. It is not always about poverty, but sometimes about priority and mindsets. Every retailer can be pressured to buy at least a scale. Pre-packaged food will also speed up sales, save us time, or feel free to double check the weight. From insulated hemp paper, edible plastic wraps, biodegradable plastic, and even non-biodegradable plastic can be options based on the products. Yes, I choose limited examples, but over fifty percent of the food products in the Gambia and which countries can benefit from new Packaging standards/culture? I do not think it should add a meaningful cost, because they are already giving us bags anyway, but a tiny addition for higher quality and other benefits can be called a deal.
Do not constantly echo ‘no one is perfect’, because millions or billions are trying to be perfect, at least when working, because they avoid sins between creatures. Do not defer where perfection or proper work will be gauged by angels or human cameras. From picking the seeds to plant to picking the ‘fruits’ our efforts may be diverse between continents or even the village, if the Trumpet of truth or re-education is blown. Who will make enough efforts to avoid stones and sticks from the picking fields? How many farmers will seal under cameras from the fields? After selling to wholesalers, which wholesalers will gossip on free times or make efforts in re-picking where need be? Do we prefer sealing from the farm or at wholesale level, or retail level, and which traceable methods to employ? We talk about the importance of transparency at government level, but our age demands transparency at every level. All workers must work well or culture of cameras and other methods be used to hunt, shame, or even punish any defiant worker. On one side, I am very soft, but once business or potential sins between creatures exist, I am Mr. Perfectionist, including educating and regulating where need be. Present ways versus dedicating some time to properly package food with gloves and under cameras can make huge differences. Just like the devils use questionable religious quotes to lower standards, we should use better religious quotes to raise standards and rescue the mistaken or misled ones. ‘Whoever does an atom’s weight of effort towards perfection will be rewarded’, as per ch.99 and 55.
We are lucky to be alive, and I want not just a happy long life, but to significantly contribute where I can. I do not want to leave sweet Africa for any continent, which means I want a better planet than earth or by building a marvellous new Africa for now or possible re-born. I do not mind travelling, but let my thoughts travel and make changes where presidents and ministers+ may steal my credits or be grateful…
We can try gentle courting, but I authorise you to pressure even the leaders where need be. You can imagine and make videos of indifference from your first ladies to help bring changes. Do not spare the opposition leaders, because they can educate and promise regulations, especially where elections are ever at the corner. By uplifting our health through preventive measures, we also save the government millions or billions, and avoid pain for ourselves and our loved ones. We can even pressure them through tourists they may not want to lose. Do I want the Gambia, Nigeria, Ghana, or xyz to lose tourists? No! But any country that refuses simple measures to improve our food quality is gambling tourists and I do not like that. By improving even our local ones as quality and care oriented, it also opens doors to trust us for more international business. Imagine a video that says: good Africans learn and do xyz, while bad Africans or xyz refuse learning and give excuses… video learning and contrasting, plus comedy, can make huge differences.
I know countless rich folks who may start to buy bulk in certain seasons to at least package well and re-bag in better ways to enjoy. Thanks to the inspiration through poor me, but remember the Lord of the rich and poor does not like indifference to the oppressed and the poor. Rich Steve Jobs and many rich folks suffered and died young for mysterious reasons. I am not anti rich, anti politicians, or anti-elite , but I hate the cruel or indifferent ones. We must share and pressure each other at the highest level to ascertain government involvement. I want to see mass uplifting and unprecedented positive transformation from our food, our looks, and even functionality. Take a good video of the present markets for the museums; educate to transform 25 to 75 % of the populace ; regulate towards perfection and the last video for the museum or to impress the Kind Lord of perfection or near perfection on earth and beyond. The Lord of all places knows who is sincerely trying to see significant improvements in every place, those resisting with excuses, and those who are varyingly indifferent. We do not change God or places, but we need a raise, change our position or level with the Lord of perfection . May the perfect and kind one bless the trying ones and bless Showlove Trinity: let’s learn, let’s work, let’s have fun.
By Jarga Kebba Gigo
An Activist and Transformer
Author of Juts Quhr-aahn
