LET US LEAVE BEHIND ALL HINDRANCES THAT TAKE US APART.
Let us throw over board all racial, tribal, ethnical prejudices. Let us live more with another and for another and let´s understand that all our joy and pleasure and peace finds meaning only in being linked to one another.


Omar Sillah, Student and Muslim Peacemaker from Gambia infront of the Vatican, Rome

Omar Sillah was born in Gambia in 1975. As a descendend from the Jahankas he belongs to a lineage that is known for its strict adherence to the Islamic faith and is considered as one of the religious and spiritual power houses of Islam in West Africa.
2006 the Vatican offered him a scholarship which he accepted. For 3 years he studies at the Institute for Studies of Religions and Culture at Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. During his stay he searches contact with people of different religions and focuses on peace. Upon his return to Gambia he intends to establish a "Center for Interreligious Dialogue & Tolerance, Reconciliation and Conflict Resolution" in his country.

In Gambia,contemporaries consider some of Sillahs ancestors as saints and suffis. For instance his grandgrandfather Foday Mahmuod Sillah as well as his nephew Chorno Sillah and Mba Jimmo are some of the most highly revered people of (Sene-)Gambia. Thus people travel from far and near to get their blessings, prayers and consultation.

From his wise grandfathers Omar learned to practice silent prayer and contemplation - sometimes even during night time, when every one else sleeps - to find inner peace and strength to keep up his efforts to work for reconciliation.