Before I got into the business of building a school with Abdulay, I wanted to know more about him.
Lorenzo gave me the number of Eva.
I called Eva and learned how Abdulay came to have 5 drivers and a camp. Eva and Roberto from Madrid went to Gambia in 1998, used Abdulay as their driver, and built a guia-gambia.com website for him when they got home. Eventually, the website started getting hits. Then a flight from Gran Canarias opened up, Abdulay got more and more clients. And that’s when he started building the bungalows. Now Abdulay is in his 60s, almost blind, with two wives and 26 children.
The word I got from Eva and Lorenzo is that in Gambia, everyone you meet wants one thing: to leave Gambia. they said is it rare to find someone trustworthy, who cares about people, and who won’t leave Gambia. Abdulay is a bird-in-hand. He’s a good person and he handles logistics well.
Abdulay passed the vetting process. So I was ready to move ahead with the school in Sarenyanga! I called Abdulay up. He said he’s already gotten funds from the family I met in his camp. Noooo! That annoying family? I can’t work with them!
I pouted to Lorenzo. He said forget destiny. There are loads of schools I can support. Good advice. Meanwhile, back to work. Gambia on the back-burner.