 When I first came to Gambia, it sounds really ridiculous, but when I got off the aeroplane, I was like, they have street lights. They have actual roads, like I couldn't believe it. And that was what I've been brainwashed to believe that there's no running water here. There's no street lights. And I'm 38 years old and I mean, I truly fought that. So I wanted my children to, I wanted to change their thought process, their narrative that was in their head. I could never have dreamed of having one, two, three employees. Here I've got like 10 employees in less than a year. Do you know what I mean? Because the impact, you're able to impact people's lives in a short space of time, you know? And you don't need to start anything massive with a lot of money. You could start with like a thousand USD, you know? Or even 500 USD and get a little coffee shop on the side of the road started with some decent signage. And you know what I mean? You can do stuff here. Come back to the YouTube channel. It's your favorite village boy, Mr. Ghana baby, right here in the Gambia. But I'm here to tell you that moving to Africa is now a movement. There are so many returnees that are coming back to the continent and making the continent home again. Like I said earlier, make Africa home again. What are you waiting for? Africa is calling. And I feel so good to see that when they move to Africa, they just don't move to Africa. They start up businesses. You know, whenever you start business in Africa, what do you do? You actually employ people, which means that you're gonna boost the economy of the continent. Come, let's do this together. Africans on the continent cannot do it alone. We need Africans in the diaspora to work together with Africans living on the continent. To what? Grow the economy of Africa. I am here and listen, I guess that they are waiting for me. I don't know if they are really waiting for me because I know that there are so many people in here who are waiting to see what am I to get back to Africa. I'm late. Always late. Always late. Special welcome. Ah, special guest there. Welcome home. Thank you. Yeah, that is the first and first. What am I here for? Do I have a seat? Nice to meet you. Thank you. No, UK accent. In it, in it. In it. No, I mean, is pink your favorite color? No. No, too much. No. She is so lovely. But this is the green section, which is kind of like the men's sections of the pink section. But no, pink is not, light is my favorite color. Okay. How long have you been to Gambia? I've been coming for about five years. This is my husband here. Hi. Do you still want to be around me? Nice to meet you. You look special. We're very friendly today. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. You sound like a Gambi. Definitely real. Real Gambi. Real Gambi. You set up this beautiful place together with your wife. Definitely. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I guess this place used to be a place for the diaspora to have party every day. They always here and they've always been welcome. And that's like helping everybody with diaspora at the Gambia and stuff. Yeah. You are born here. Yes. Well, you're born here. My parents are Jamaicans. Oh, I'm going to Jamaica. My life. Oh, your life. Hey, England. And you decided to come to Gambia. Yeah. Your husband brought you here? Yeah. Well, I met him the second time I came. Oh! I only moved here in August. About 2021. August 2021. Oh! I moved here, yeah. And you moved here in 2021 in the first half of this year. Yeah. So it's about five months? Five months to get it. Yeah, to get it. And we're finished. So many people clapping for me today. Now you all sit at one place because I want to just have a lively conversation. It's okay. Feel free. Just whatever you want to tell me, tell me. Yes. Thank you. I switch, man. Whether you like it or not, moving to Africa is now a movement. Will you all agree with me that moving to Africa is more like a movement right now? Yes! Absolutely. Absolutely. We're trying to change the narrative. Those days used to be like, let's go to the UK, US without coming back to the continent, but it's now a vice in this. You know, that's why I get super excited when I see Africans living in the diaspora coming back home. I'll be making Africa home again. Yes. That's so beautiful. Thanks to you. Thanks to who? Me. It started something amazing one day. Absolutely. Seriously. I think all of us would be able to say we've watched your videos and been inspired and read like lots of your videos and it has been an influence for us to be here. I guess we need more ambassadors for Africa then. Before I leave here, I need to make sure you all have a YouTube channel about it. I'm making fun of one. I keep on telling people that having a YouTube channel is not about you having a channel trying to I mean, make it a four-time job or something. No. But listen, you watched my video before you got in here. But have you noticed that through your videos to maybe five people have moved to the continent because of your video? I mean, it's not about you moving out there but just showing your life in the Gambia alone. Because listen, when you tell people that you're moving to Africa people might think you're crazy. They do? Yes. Let me know. Like, coming to Africa what are the things that people told you? I have a YouTube channel as well for my tunnel school Vlandela's journey and I only cover Gambia and the journey, my journey of taking me and my children from the UK to Gambia. But everybody, even my family now, they've come, they visit I don't know how you're doing this. I don't know how you're living in Gambia. But like, things that they think are a really big deal just don't seem to bother us anymore. Like the power cuts and things like that. It's just like, you have to choose, you have to choose which, you know, the best of two evils, I guess. You have to choose because there's so many positives here. Things like the power cuts, it really is nothing. You just find a solution and you get on with it. But people definitely think is she mad? Like, why not move to Greece or to Spain? No, but when you live in the UK, that's what people think. Anybody who's leaving the UK is going to somewhere else in Europe. Not ever going to Africa. That's so true. What have your family told you when you're moving to Africa? Well, I've not made the full transition yet, but I know my mom is living in Jamaica now and she's like, come here. Why are you going to Africa? Why Africa? And she literally does not understand it. And so I showed her some of your videos we watched together and there are some videos that, you know, were there and her mouth fell open. She was like, oh my goodness, Africa's really beautiful. So I'm on a mission to get her here physically, get her here to the continent to see. Now my son is here, my husband is going to join us soon. My son absolutely loves it. Before he was telling me I want to go to Jamaica, I want to go to Jamaica. Since he's been here, it's like, mom, I'm going home, I'm going to sort myself out and I'm coming back to Africa to live. Wow. I would say overall there are challenges. Zandela mentioned a few power cuts, the dust. There are some adjustments to be made, but I think overall, when I think back about the debt, the bills, never ending, you know, you have to borrow in order to just have a decent life. It's very lonely. It's quite an isolated culture being in the West. It doesn't really promote family, community, just knocking on someone's door to say, hey, I haven't heard from you. Where are you? Do you know what I mean? So there's a lot of glitz and glam in the West. There's a lot of money flying around, but it's like a veil to keep you from what you can really envision and become and do. I think the impact here from our work is far more reaching than just being in a nine to five and just making yourself comfortable. Two cars on the drive, a nice house. You shut your door, it's finished. But here, there is community outreach. Here, I could never have dreamed of having one, two, three employees. Here I've got like ten employees in less than a year. Do you know what I mean? Because the impact, you're able to impact people's lives in a short space of time, and you don't need to start anything massive with a lot of money. You could start with like a thousand USD, or even 500 USD and get a little coffee shop on the side of the road started with some decent signage and you know what I mean? You can do stuff here and there isn't all this red tape. There are rules, but not so much red tape. You don't need a license for this and a license for this and a license for this. So I just feel like here, although it is tempting when you get a bit tired, oh, I wish I had 24-7 light and 24-7 internet, you think, okay, what are the reasons, what are the reasons I came, if you remember that. Now, I guess I need to ask why you all decided to move to the continent. What are you doing here at the very moment? How long have you been here? So my reasons why were my children. So, like I said, I have a YouTube channel and I wanted to change a narrative that was put out there. When I first came to Gambia, it sounds really ridiculous, but when I got off the airplane, I was like, they have streetlights. They have actual roads. I couldn't believe it. I've been brainwashed to believe that there's no running water here. There's no streetlights. And I'm 38 years old and I mean I truly fought that. So I wanted my children to, I wanted to change their thought process, their narrative that was in their head. So I wanted them to see that actually where we all come from is just as beautiful as the Caribbean. It's just, and when you're living in the west, you can be proud of Africa because I believe that black people who live in the west, when you say anything about Africa, it's like, no, I'm not moving there. I would never even visit there. My mum was a rasta. She never ever thought she would bring us to Africa on holiday. So I wanted to bring my children here just to experience Africa, experience where we're from so that they could be proud. Even if they decide when they're older that they want to move back to the UK, they can still be proud of where they come from. They can see their head teacher in their school is black. The bank manager is black. The president is black. And when you're over in a country where anybody who is the hierarchy, anybody who is superior is white, it suppresses you, no matter what you think. It will suppress you. So I wanted my children to come to somewhere and see the world differently. This is my wife, Angela. We took our kids out to school. We worked our businesses because we had many businesses in the UK. So we would work our businesses, we would teach our children on the move, and they did not like that because I didn't want to give my children the same thing that I came out of because that put me back. So we took all our children out to school. So one morning I got up about five years ago and I said to my wife, that's it, we're done. She says, what? I says, we're done. I was looking out the window, looking into the fields, looking at the cows. And I says, that's it, I'm done. I've had enough, I'm done. I says, you've got two weeks. Two weeks, get your stuff together. Two weeks and we're moving. We've got seven kids together. So what we did, he says, okay, we'll take the two youngest ones. Within two weeks we was out of the UK. We'd left the house, we'd left everything, the cars, the lot. We landed here, we walked, looked at the Gambia for two years, didn't look like a bit of business in the first two years. But most of us were just looking. There's nothing more to say. And then after that, what we did is we got involved in starting an organisation to help people to come into the Gambia, help people to settle, because what we realised is that there was a lot of things that you needed to know. And some people that we asked, that was here already, would say to us, well, if we fell into trouble, they need to come and fall into trouble the same way. And I says, no. So there you go, you just told the same thing. And me and my wife says, no, that's not fair. It says, you know, we've got to take time out and help others to come. And this is on. Every morning I get up, I'm happy. Every morning, you know, I'm at home. I couldn't be anywhere better. You know, life is... It's like a dream. It's like a dream. It's just something that you just wanted to yourself. How did this happen? But there's more to this than we can actually see. There's something else going on. There's a vibration going on. There's something much more powerful than any of us. You know, this is not a coincidence. This is not a casual move. This is something else that is going on. I'm here because... I bought a piece of land here in Gambia, 2019. And I retired about two years ago. And then I said to myself, let me come and stay a year to see how I'll adapt because I came from Jamaica when I was five and I've never lived in any other environment. So I wanted to come and try it out. So I came, tried it out, and I'm really loving it. One of my dreams for retirement was when I retired to live six months in different African countries. That was my dream. Since the COVID hit, I find that it might be difficult to do that right now. So I feel at home in Gambia, I really enjoy it. My son came to visit me, my 31-year-old son, and he loved it. He loved it, so that's where I'm... You think Gambia is the best destination for retirement? Definitely. I would be just in London sitting down in the home. It's just so nice. I've made so many new friends here. There's a really strong diaspora connection here. Yeah. I go out to lunch with the girls. I go to the beach. It is a beautiful place to retire. Absolutely. I'm like, I'm living my... You don't say how young I look. I'm living my best life. Oh, that's what I wanted to ask you. I'm living my best life. I am living my best life. I'm fortunate that I have some income coming in. So I'm not in any business, but I don't mind trying something. But I'm enjoying my life. You're not saying anything to me, man. You have to say something. Absolutely. I mean, that's why I came here. To be honest, the beginning was your country, Ghana. I have a friend who's moved there from the UK, and he invited me to come over to be honest. I'm Smith. This is like Jamaica in a bigger size. Because my parents are Jamaicans. So I have an idea about Jamaica. I haven't been a few times in my life. And I told her if it wasn't for her having the kids, I wouldn't have left. I'm done. I'm sold. Let me just stay here. But obviously, I had to go back to that time I was in Canada because I moved from England to Canada in Canada. Now I'm here. I like to tell people I have the choice. For all those who are saying I want to go to the west from Africa. My point is you go and see it but don't plan to stay. Because I have the choice of being in Canada or the UK. I could even probably be in the States. I'm here in Gambia. So that must speak some kind of volume. And I come here and I see all these people who look like me. The reason why I got into youth work in the first place and the reason for me working with my people is because if my people are failing, so am I. I don't like failure. So I'm here. I have a time that I don't have to work hard. I don't I don't work I just do and it's not work. Like you were saying about what you do it's not work. It just happens. Whether I'm getting paid for it or whether I'm just chilling and oh yeah but have you looked at it like this. You know what I mean engaging with friends, family whatever. I can't help myself. That's just how I do. And so being here in the Gambia is it has its challenges where it doesn't have its challenges right and these challenges that are here well a lot of them are just temporary in my opinion. We're not going to be doing the same challenge. I think I've seen a lot in my comments section is that oh don't mind them they're going to regret they're going to go back to the UK never the million years never the million years Honestly it has crossed my mind at certain points but I'm here in the early stages. What I do know is I don't want to go back to the UK and then start saying why not give it a little bit longer. I should have given it some more time because I know what the UK is about. I know the oppression and so on and it's no different from Canada the oppression that we as black men face my wife sent me something this morning that says the black men are the highest increasing suicides that are going on. We're already committing suicide more than everybody else in the first place so if we're already committing suicide more than everybody else and then we're increasing by more we're leaving everybody behind we're not getting more educated we're getting more dead. Absolutely You're holding hands you actually get a better idea of family, socialisation how it should be Everybody here says salamu alaykum and at first when I first came here I was like this is so weird like random people just saying salamu alaykum and I couldn't even get alaykum salam out my mouth quick enough and they just gone past and I was like that's just weird why are these people everybody says hello to you not even your neighbours speak to you in the west you say for me I know that every black man that passes me if I pass a white man I'm not doing that here I'm just doing that to everybody because we all look like us but I'm like yes what fun yeah it's crazy nice nice nice how are you doing what fun and when I say that if they need me to stop and talk I'm done it's a safety aspect as well my son was saying to me the other day he said oh mom because he's met a lot of Gambian friends now and he goes out and I said what time are you coming back this is I don't know he wrapped up about what three o'clock in the morning and I think he said mom I was shocked that you didn't say how are you at this late I said because I know you're safe and he felt safe and I was that just made me feel okay you know what I mean the safety aspect you can't go out in the UK no you wouldn't want your teenage boy you wouldn't want your teenage boy to be out at that time of the night because you feel like you'll get a telephone call he says that he's been stabbed he's got into a fight he's been stabbed he's been arrested he's fighting for his life that's one of the things I used to do me again where are you this TV show in the UK and it was speaking about all of the Somalian boys who their parents have sent them back to Somalia in their teenage years because Somalia is safer than the streets of London and it was an actual documentary on TV they'll tell you Somalia is this terrible war-torn place to be so you're getting two completely separate narratives I'm not even watching them get this clear what are the things that you all heard about Africa before coming here for the first time people are poor people are begging and then the images they put over is not necessarily true because could have been a hundred years ago 50 years ago they shot that footage but that's what these organisations and companies that feed us the information in the west they deliberately try to keep your mind on the poorest areas if they're asking you for a couple of dollars or a couple of pounds a month they don't want you to see that they've built 50 wells in this amount of time they want you to still believe that it's such a bad place that we need your money so it's all part of brainwashing us to believe that Africa is so there's so much poverty here the health conditions are awful the education is awful the houses are awful the houses for me is just crazy because when you drive into some of these areas are you thinking my goodness look at these mansions you don't get to see that that you actually live on you know it's just amazing amazing another trick they do is you'll see children playing in the streets in Africa and you'll see the clothing they're wearing and you'd say to them oh they're poor it's not because they're poor it's because their parents choose not to put them in fancy clothes because they're going to get dirty but you see them on a Saturday afternoon or a Sunday and they go with the air and they look that's the trick so they find any little child that's been playing around and what do you say oh that's poor they're poor one of the things is I say to all my friends back home we can't dress like the Africans when they step out and they look so amazing in their outfit we've got nothing on them trust me in terms of cost of living let's compare a bit of cost of living in the Gambia and cost of living in the UK I mean is it expensive to live in the Gambia no I wouldn't say it's expensive to live in the Gambia but I would say that a lot of information that was put out there especially by YouTubers was false including Maya no but I mean the information I think it just wasn't realistic I wouldn't say false I think it just wasn't realistic I think if you come here and you want to enjoy certain things that you had in the west the cost is not that much different if I want to have something I want to eat out once a week or I want to get my nails done or I want my children to have breakfast cereals that are made in the west it's the same price if not more because it's imported to come over here so there are certain things that are more expensive but if you allow your children to adapt and get used to eating local and living local so maybe change that eating out to once a month or something like that there's no comparison for the cost of living in London to the cost of Gambia there's no comparison I'm in housing there is a big difference between the housing in the UK, Canada and the states compared to Gambia it is much cheaper here but one thing I want to say is that speak to someone who's here because the standard you're looking for is going to cost more than you've been told on YouTube so if you've been told you can pay 200 USD for a 2 bedroom lovely apartment no that's not true you're going to spend closer to 400-500 USD a month on a 2 bedroom place and location is key if you're in the outskirts in the rural type of areas where there's more greenery yes you can get closer to that 200 mark but if you want to be consistent electric yes if you want all the conveniences more stable electric more stable internet access to shops and the mall and petrol stations just more and close to the beach you are going to spend further up the financial change it is still cheaper I mean 500 USD a month for a 2 bedroom modern contemporary place is cheap compared to the states US and Canada but you know here you need to be realistic it's also the amount of bills though because I was saying to a Gambian the other day he was a taxi driver who was adamant he wanted to go to the west and I was trying to explain to him like you do not understand the amount of bills so when I checked up the amount of bills that I had to pay which came up to about 18 different bills and was explaining that you really only have about 4 or 5 bills in comparison you do not want to be living there you know like he said visiting fair enough but 18 bills compared to 5 bills no you are saving a lot more a better quality of life and here one thing you recognise is the people here are much wealthier than the west and you would say how is that well let's keep it simple the car you drive the car you drive here the car you drive in the UK is generally finance you got borrowed money from the bank the house you live in is going to take you 25 years to pay for it the mobile phone that you are using in the UK is not yours and if you don't make your payments on it they want the mobile phone back they want the house back and they want the car back here people in Gambia the car they drive is theirs the mobile phone that they are using is theirs so then it comes down to eating you can get if you go to the supermarket but if you live on a lot of natural food that's what we did when we first came here we lived on a lot of natural food we tried to stay away from the supermarket then the price of living came down but if you are in the supermarket then it escalates then it's a bit hard if you are going to be honest it's quite hard to keep away from the supermarket because their manager is conditioned to have certain stuff like the cereals the sweets in the UK they put them on the front counter so your kids are automatically going to get used to seeing them and wanting them so there are things that you can adapt but it takes time because it's adjusting their thinking that pot my kids love pot but I'm getting them used to drinking water so when it finishes it finishes I know a lot of people that are going to watch this video people who want to move to the continent also Africans living in Africa who wants to go abroad let me tackle that one first are there opportunities in Africa for Africans I never I never thought I'd be able to run my own business but I can't here and if I'm doing that for myself then I must be able to do it for Africans otherwise I should have just stayed where I was so creating opportunities for Africans to be able to stay in Africa it don't make sense for me to tell them to go to Europe but come back there's no opportunities here so part of the reason for me coming here is to create opportunities for my brothers and sisters I think you'll establish your business in a very short time that's an opportunity I guess yeah 100% so I employ 25 Gambians 25 people work here and yeah I run a business in the UK so my business is very successful and a lot of people think you're someone who doesn't have any money and you're coming here for a cheaper lifestyle but that was not the case with me I had a very successful business in the UK and it's still being run in the UK by directors so when I came here I immediately saw business opportunities I think that if you are going over to the west as Gambians, Ghanaians, whatever go over to the west if you want make your money and come back over because yeah because Gambia for me I was with ACON and then I heard something about Las Vegas how much the land cost in Las Vegas before it became Las Vegas and for me that's how I see Gambia a lot of people will say I would never invest in Gambia you want to do what in Gambia but actually this is the desert before it became Las Vegas there's so much opportunities here and I think if you are someone who had an idea over in the west it makes that idea flourish it makes you believe that anything is possible because it is it's not just for the diaspora coming over because one of the things I like especially with the groups that we're in is that when we're talking about business we're not talking about business for us we're talking about business to develop Africa we're doing business partnerships with other people so this is not my business, it's mine and your business because you need to also open a business for yourself and employ your own people so I like the collective spirit that's happening in growing Gambia into being something wonderful I think a lot of this are bringing infrastructure here so like smiling lounge and there's many other people that I know that are opening up businesses and even doing projects including myself there's a lot of huge projects that are about to kick off in Gambia very very interesting things that have never been done before that will bring a whole load of jobs for the Gambians also and the diaspora and so you can see us as uniting together so we come together in a good way I will tell you guys that don't be left out because it's happening for me anytime the first time I came to Gambia, Gambia was not like this and it's been two years I returned and I'm seeing new stuff I guess by the time I come back next time I'm even recognize this place so I will tell you once again that don't be left out you know like I have a problem with Africans you know especially Africans that were born here that left and when they're brought you know we are the people that complains a lot especially when you see the diaspora moving back here what are they going to look I mean what are you going to look for in Africa I mean we love being comfortable and that's the problem of so many Africans living in the diaspora forgive me I'm your one and only son but I think I still need to tell you guys the truth the life that we lived in in Africa you can see that we are not so comfortable even if you want to buy stuff I used to stay in my room in China and order stuff and the next day they will bring it to me living in Ghana I have to go and search for it but as an African when you go to the UK, USA China and you say oh I have 24-7 internet I have 24-7 lights some of them even start saying that there is no God you know I think you guys shouldn't blame us I mean we're just going to try as much as possible to use platforms like this to educate them that things are happening on the continent and you all need to take part whatever you've seen in the US or in America oh sorry the US or the UK that you are that you think it doesn't exist in Africa bring it that's right see what are the initiatives when we started sitting down with government here and this is going to sound very strange the government as an association that out people are coming what they said to us in private is they said to us we don't want charity and I'm saying that on camera they said we want you all to come and set up businesses establish yourself that whatever you give it's continuous these people that come along everybody always thinks of Africa give charity I'm not trying to say you shouldn't give no charity what I'm simply trying to say is charity doesn't help anything much you can help on a project if somebody is setting up a hospital and you can send money and things like that helps that project is going to be continuous but to just send raw cash to give somebody raw cash that's not helping nobody so when we spoke to members of parliament here ones that spoke told us the truth they said we want you people to establish yourself that you could have a voice in the community you could have a voice in politics and you could help to build infrastructure of the country without just giving away and then finding yourself short of money I guess then the government also needs to support the desperate what are they doing to support you all what are they doing at the moment so one of the things that we came to do myself particularly I was diagnosed with stage 3c cancer years ago and I wanted my life to have purpose so when I came here I worked with a doctor and so we set up a free clinic in one of the villages and we want why appreciated was that we just paid for the material and the villagers did the work what we want now is to have somebody who a nurse who will be there consistently to do the job we want the government to be involved in that we've started an initiative we want those to carry out so we are approaching them to see what how but we're not relying on them so that's a key thing we're not going to rely on them and the diasporas have immensely with starting this new clinic and we want to make sure that this is just a start and we're going to do them in different villages and just one more thing Africa you cannot take Africa and try to make it America UK and Europe it's totally different Africa does not run from governments if you look in Africa Africa has kings queens chiefs vdc's so therefore those organizations run the country the governments you might have to cut this one the governments don't do nothing the government the governments are only influenced by by the west to bring in an interfere in the system in the country and this is the beautiful thing about this country is somebody said early on the red tape is so much there because they haven't allowed the west to come in and bring all these things to interfere with you when you're not giving you nothing so you know I would prefer to work with the chief or the vdc in an area which I do instead of working with somebody that is sitting in the government because the government what they're going to do they can't help me where I am it's going to be the people that are leading that area that know what is best for their kids and their adults yes I mean African government always disappoint me both whom and abroad and I've always been saying this that the African government will take this initiative of the diaspora returning and then work together as one we could build Africa together because a lot of people wants to come home but the frustration that they go through in terms of trying to settle down is one of the biggest problem on the continent right now but listen wait for what am I I will run for president I have seen for like the diaspora returning everybody should I mean as soon as you land at the airport should give you a passport and tell you that walk home you are one of us you shouldn't go through all this stress of applying for visas, resident permit because you are one of our own especially if you are coming to depend on the country what I have learnt so far is that the diaspora coming back home sometimes they don't even think about businesses but for him to step his foot on the continent it's so fulfilling to help him just by doing that helping the equipment and that is what the government don't understand because I have had so many encounters with the diaspora and I know what they go through and how they feel when they come in here listen we have so many people watching this video and all I want you guys to do for me is like somebody wants to come what is the step that they need to take before they get in here or things that they need to know before they come to the continent you decide that you want to come here you need to make sure that you are doing your research but don't just look at YouTube for research you have to ring up these organisations and find out the facts of how it works and then also you need to visit we every single year especially in the UK I'm not sure about anywhere else every single year we try to take our families on a holiday so take your family on holiday to anywhere you like in Africa and just check it out and when you come try to avoid being in the tourist areas try to make sure that you are helping your children figure out if they could live here if you're in the tourist area it's completely different than actually living here so when you come on holiday spend maybe a week in a fancy hotel and then your second week try and do like an Airbnb or some sort of accommodation that puts you in the community so that you know what it would feel like living here research the hospital anything that you are not 100% sure about research it that's the only advice I can give one of the things I would say is because that's one of the things that this is very important for me because I spend a lot of my time helping people when a lot of the situations could have been avoided and sometimes they get irritated because I've got a lot of other things I need to be doing for myself one of the things I would say is when you come find the people that are that's come that was here before you spend some time with them find two or three of them that you really get on with okay and then ask them the questions about how do you get this how do you get that go and mix within the community as you see them on the road talk to them because one of the biggest problems and I'm going to have to say because I'm the one that I see the tears I'm the one that has to ease and all this lot before you do a major transaction have at least two or three people from the diaspora be involved in that part of your business don't say oh I don't like nobody involved in my business I do what I want because when you it's a messed up mentality join with the people that's come and they will show you the hurdles to avoid because I have to go along after you because they refuse to mix in the community and they want to isolate themselves and not become a part of the rest of the people that is here they don't need to wait we are to learn so our experience is free and I can I just also say that there is a false narrative that is out there about Gambia in particular that the diaspora do not get along in Gambia and that we all mix up and we have lots of arguments but there is like a tiny tiny handful of us that are on youtube that people know who are not here the diaspora who are here who are getting on with life who are running their business we actually all get along we're not best friends we're not trying to fast-track friendship here but trust me the diaspora that are here there are several organizations that connect us together and majority of us all get along can I just say one thing I think they need to I personally think is you're changing mindset when you're coming here you come knowing you're coming to the continent you're not trying to impose the west into Gambia I think the important part of the transition is to remember the people that are most important to you your kids because we're the ones as adults who say I want to go over there you're coming with me the kids in I don't know I haven't heard anybody say it yet but as far as I'm aware the kids are not the ones who are saying I want to go and live in Africa the parents are the ones who are saying that and if our kids are never going to settle here then we won't settle here so it's important for us to try and find kids who are going through the same kind of thing that your kid is going through at the same time that your kid is going through it because then they can actually walk through the whole process together and as time goes along in the year my time originally didn't want to stay here I wanted to go back to Canada but now he's like I see the benefits of being here but I think that has happened because he's getting to talk to the Gambian kids but he's also getting to talk to diaspora kids so they can go through the walk together and they're not alone but I think that's paramount it hasn't been easy I feel a little bit like this is a challenge now year one was a bit romantic and rosy and that's the thing, when you come I definitely agree with what everyone's saying even if you just pick somewhere that you're going to come to have your first meal like Smile Lounge for example or there's some other ones you're going to get diasporas in these spaces that is the bottom line so come where you're able to land and feel a certain amount of trust it isn't a cold, oh my gosh this is just so unfamiliar to me come to somewhere like this and then you're going to bump into someone you start your first set of conversations and then you start to be directed go here, go there, go there and that way you can get over the hurdles a lot quicker I think because it's not just about the adults it is about the children as well they need to settle as well they have to find it he runs a a children and young people's group so they get together every other Sunday so we have a lot of things going on what we're trying to say to people is stop coming here, or Africa and just doing your own things isolating yourself get yourself in trouble and then you want to then mix come and join in with your community your community is one of the most beautiful communities as Zander said is one of the most loveliest communities of people you'll ever find and we're all going through the same thing and I think some people definitely feel isolated if you're a single mum and you've got children out here you can sometimes feel very isolated because I speak to a lot of women out here who are single mums and decided to move out here so you feel isolated but when you connect with one or two or three people and the youth groups are an excellent place to do that because children will pull adults together as well so you connect through your children and then all of a sudden you don't feel so isolated when you say what is the schooling solution for your children what did you do I've attempted this with my children it's not working and then someone said you know I have a tutor who comes and works with my children and you're like wow okay can she do my so you start to connect and build friendships yeah after a while when you get after a while when you get used to being here for a few weeks or a few months try to think about it this way you've got to get rid of all the rubbish not all of it because some of the stuff you was taught when you was good but the cultural attitudes and norms you've got to take that and throw it in the bin and you've got to say I'm now in Africa how does an African thinks how do you religious part of Africa think how does the cultural part of Africa think don't forget we're on a healing journey as well that's a whole other kind of world so if you come and you say I want it like I want it in the UK I want it like I want it in America I want you to have problems because Africa is African Africa is not about to change for you okay so if you learn the African way then you'll succeed but if you insist to bring your American or your UK European way you're going to have problems you'll be going back because they will not change like I said earlier we should all be ambassadors especially for our brothers and sisters in the diaspora and I hate the fact that when the diaspora that move back here takes advantage of the diaspora who wants to move back to the continent you know some of them see them as money making machine and it hurts me so much because listen I think I just met you you gave me, I told you this is my number I'm going to see you and here I am today I've dedicated my life for this I'm not saying don't make money out of it but let's turn down the prizes so I don't know I just have to say this I've seen this going on and sometimes I feel so bad that I even have to introduce people to my channel for people to get to know them because for me if I see that you live in the diaspora coming I get super excited I don't know maybe this is my calling or something we also even have the difficulty with the locals charging us more than average and we have to know how to bid how to get the prices that's supposed to pay so if we're having challenges with the locals as well as the diaspora it's a double whammy so it is a male dominant conche and I've got to state this and repeat that again it is a male dominant conche but you can work past that and you can work it to work with you and for you in so many ways you don't just think of it as a negative outlook and so on the males are very dominant and so forth like it was said before if you're trying to apply the UK here and if it was the other way around and there were male dominant in the UK we'd have a way of dealing with that but here you've got to understand the culture you've got to understand the people you've got to take time to mix with the people and once you do that that male dominant thing is not really important because you're coming from the I've found that the people coming from the UK who have been here for like a week or so and they bump into that and they meet somebody with a dominant a male dominant who is quite dominant they can't deal with it they'll say stuff like oh why did I come here I can't cope with this and so forth but speak to that person after six months or a year their outlook on that is completely different they can cope with it because they've taken time to come that hype of the UK and they're understanding now because you're mixing your speaking and it takes time you raised a good point in terms of pricing for the diaspora coming over and people who've established business and it's very very key because not everybody who's coming from the west is coming with money so when you are being charged as if okay you're coming from England or America you must have money I have said to people all my friends who are establishing businesses now when you price your stuff you're not just pricing for the diaspora you're pricing for the locals and if the locals come out afford it don't assume that everybody can afford it so make your price reasonable so everybody can afford it can I just say something because you touched on diasporans who have moved over here and that they charge people who potentially want to move over here but I have a huge I have a huge problem with that not with people charging I believe that we people who have been here already we have knowledge that can save you money and heart ache and pain and disappointment and potentially could save you from changing your mind and going back so if you have to pay someone I don't know 20 US dollars 30 pounds or whatever to give you a list of schools that they know are accepting or your children will set it easily for that then we would pay for that over in the west you would pay for over in the west and then when you come over here you have this expectation that everybody's time is free like I said to you I was successful in the UK and I used to do business coaching my time is not free I will help you and I do give away a lot of information on YouTube and in our conversation with me my time is not free because I could be doing something else during that time I'm not saying that your time should be free but I shouldn't overcharge for that exactly so you avoid those people that charge you a ridiculous amount of money just to tour Gambia how much did you charge? a million dollars now I don't charge anymore but that is my point people have this expectation and the wall of classes were five English pounds a week and so many people were like I don't have 20 pounds a month and I'm thinking you go to Nanda's and you buy food for 20 pounds a month but you want to go to a different country you need to learn their language but you want me to organize a class for free you know what it's not going to be free but if you're looking for a place to eat what's the name again? it's my lunch so that is correct because at that point I was just about to be you jumped in at the right time she jumped in I don't want to give my time away for free I have saved people thousands and thousands of pounds but if we all support each other's businesses we have a lot of consultancy businesses here businesses that help people to settle if we support each other's businesses then we'll all grow to come and then sometimes I'm out for two days with people I get nothing I've spent two years running up and down I think I'm also fans of not paying money we are fans of not paying money all you need to do is find out what somebody charges find out what they're giving the service they're providing and if they want then the person might even give them a comparative service and say you can go over here and check those comparative services but people that come with skills I'm not going to give it away for free I'm giving all of my skills away for free but the point of the matter is nothing can run if it's not run in an official way so people must expect to pay what you've got to do is be able to compare what do I get for that and when does the service finish and treat it like a business transaction but this idea what you stepped on is a part of our problem in the Caribbean culture it's a problem where you just want everything free and then the worse people are going to give free they criticize everything you give them and you get it worse alright so what I'm saying to say is because I'm at the brunt of it I'm at the brunt of it what I say is you have a business right what business do you do so I'm into rental housing commercial and residential so if you're looking for somewhere to live Eden Homes International based in the Gambia we have an office in Bidulow next to Cocoa Ocean the building is called Aquaview apartment complex so you know if you need somewhere we can help you find somewhere and if you have property that you want to rent and you don't want the headache contact us for that as well 371-888 mine is more charity so we are doing free clinics as I've said before in the villages the clinic is called Newway Newway Community Clinic and so all we do is try and give out as much as we can with free medication free consultation we have two doctors who works with us and so from time to time we will do fundraising so when it comes to fundraising reach out to me and I'll help you do the fundraising thank you so much mine is kind of charity stroke business we want people to be able to help in the community in the diaspora community in education there's things that we're setting up like hospitals we're setting up we're always looking for business partners we have like maybe six businesses developing at the moment and we've got a few more on the table so we're always looking for business transactions not mind giving people advice that's generally free but also what we would say to people what we like to do is join people together and as the chairman of CODE the council of African descendants it's important that when you come across issues when you come across situations you can contact us my telephone number is 726-4322 especially for medical care don't just go to any hospital you need to be recommended what doctors, what nurses what places you go for care and when it comes to just general information in as far as how you spend your money do not please do not do any major transaction unless you speak to somebody else you don't have to speak to me just speak to somebody else in the diaspora and how a few people involve in your transactions you know and there's plenty to go around and if you're talking to people there's a lot of businesses you can get involved in a business with somebody else but if you're not talking to anybody else you can't do anything I'm a mindset coach so I support people in developing positive mindset addressing the challenges that they're having in life at the moment so in particular right now there's Covid where people are having to stay at home they're home with their kids so there's a lot of tension that's being created in the home so I support them in developing strategies and the right mindset to regain harmony in the home to address mental health challenges and behavioural challenges so I try and I work with people on a one to one basis and in groups of small groups as well as running programmes where we can have a group like we have a group of 25 gentlemen at the moment I think next meeting it's going to be bigger so I do all those kind of things to address what's going on with us and the business is called Manifest Coaching number is 2845417 and he's on Instagram manifestcoaching.gm all of that and one more please we are not we're not on the channel yet we've had a little bit of a break but we do run a channel called African Success and we do a lot of information about cycling into the Gambia we have a lot of conversations going on with the local people and we try to be quite flexible it's not a kind of chit chat programme it's just more like just transactions things that people are doing advertising companies we do advertise a lot of different businesses all around the Gambia people that's opening new businesses so please watch African Success we will be coming back to you in the next couple of weeks and you'll be able to get a lot of information I just love the pictures on the wall it's more like you're celebrating Africans they're Africans right maybe they say that they're born in America so they're not Africans not everybody some are born in Africa well I want to say thank you so much for spending your time with me I'm so annoyed but forgive me I know you all enjoyed this amazing episode go check all of them out support all of them it's time for us to support ourselves as Africans my name is Tawada Maya the one and only annoying village boy from Ghana I will see you all in the next one peace out