 The cost of living keeps you working and you never get a chance to come back. I know there are people that have been in America for decades, just struggling to make ends meet. They're trying to pay their rent. You get so caught up in paying bills, you don't have time to save. And the cost of a ticket to Africa on the average is over $1,000. So you get stuck there, unhappy, in the cold, in the winter, working hard, most times you're in an apartment with five to six people in one bedroom, but you're not guaranteed to come back. And unfortunately about 17 Gambians died in a bronze fire about a month and a half ago. Their goal was to come back to the Gambia and they did not make it. So come back to the YouTube channel, it's your favorite village boy, Mr. Gainababy, right here. And I'm back again with another video in the Gambia and it's all about the dashboard conversation. Like I said earlier, moving to Africa now is a movement, whether you like it or not. I mean the revolution is happening, a lot of people are making Africa home again. If we take a horse from one country to another country, right, say if it's an African horse or an African elephant and you take it to a circus or a zoo in somewhere in America, does the child of that elephant all of a sudden not belong to where the mother or father of that elephant came from? No, that elephant has a home too. And for me Kenya, Africa is, was, always will be home in terms of this lifetime. It's time for you to trace back your roots. It's time for you to come back home. I mean, see, it's so peaceful in here. I don't know if you are going to agree with me that being in Africa is peaceful. Really. Can I share something with you? Feel free. I like the plan when I go to a club at night, they don't have to go to a never-better place. People get together, we have fun, they can drink a little or whatever. But if there's an end and nobody gets rowdy, everyone goes home after having a good time. You can't get that in America all the time. So safety is very important for us if we're single women coming here. And we have that here in Uganda. We are safe. You mean you feel safer in Gambia than in America? Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. When you go out to run an errand, you going out to run an errand and your vehicle could lead in a police stop. A cop could stop you and be like, oh, your light is out, or you went through the stop sign, or you didn't stop at a yellow light. And he pulls you over and the next thing you know, your family is hearing that you never made it home. So when I see offices here with guns, I feel safe. But if it was in the States, I'd be like, oh, let me stop. Let me turn my car around in the opposite direction. I feel protected. What about the police and family here? Yes. Oh, police are friendly in the Gambia. Yes. Yeah, when you have $1, they'll be super friendly. Thank you so much for spending time with me. We're going to have a very long conversation. It's all about moving to Africa. Will you all agree with me that moving to Africa is not a good thing? It's about moving. What is the inspiration behind you leaving America behind and coming to Africa in the first place? Why the Gambia? It's coming home. I felt involved to be honest with you. I felt involved. And for me, it's just, it's coming home. It's coming back to where my ancestors wanted me to be. I fully feel that they're my ancestors. What brought you to the Gambia? The first thing that brought me to the Gambia was experiencing a video of the Gambia, of dance. This was like 30 years ago. Moving to dance in the Gambia was, well, it was so beautiful. And as I learned more, there's such a variety of dance, the culture, the dance here is very rich. We don't get to experience it as much now. But we were working on recandling it. So the different ethnic groups have different dances that are very different. And that's what first inspired me. When I saw that video, yeah. And then I traveled to Senegal and I would come over to Gambia for a couple of days. And Gambia just offered the flavors of Senegal because they're the same people, but a little bit calmer because it's not as meaningful. So that's how I first wanted to come into the Gambia. And I continue to come back and forth. I've been coming back and forth here for about 20 seasons. And I just love the culture here. I've been to Gambia too. I've been to Gambia for a couple of months. But I love the culture here. I love the comments here. And then there are the most business. There's the lack of strenuous bureaucracy and cost of trying to start a business and handling things here. It's not as cumbersome as it is as a country. The other thing that made me love coming and coming back was the colors. The colors of the Gambia. The colors. Not just the Gambia, but Africa. Because at least West Africa. In the States, you get tired. Well, I would get tired of looking at blue, black, gray, and brown. That's good. And some days I just, oh my God. I need some color in my life. I'm going to Africa. And back then, you used to could buy a ticket two days next day. You could go air free. You could go South African airways. Then France came along and Delton, all those other airlines started getting on their money train because they realized so much money was in after I went to Africa. But sometimes I would just go for the color. And then sometimes it's a question. Because I found it like magic. Like it's magic in Africa, America too. But some of the magic that I would experience here in the Gambia was... We call people here. So it's not like you get off the plane. Then you're like lost because you don't know anyone. You're trying to find your way. There are people here that will welcome you. And hold your hands and assist you with coming home. So that you feel like you can go through a door, but you're not welcome. Here, you go through that door. But if you're welcome in here, which means that narrative is so false that Africans don't like African-Americans. It's not narrative. It's propaganda. It really is propaganda because the same narrative was applied to U.K. versus U.S. U.S. people, black U.S., African-Americans don't like people from the U.K., don't like people from the diaspora. It's not true. But that narrative works for people who try to keep us divided. But if you do your research and you're interacting with people and they look like you, you don't care where they're from. I know my first day arriving in the Gambia, I will never forget it. It was my sister friend and I were together and there were three young boys, like 11 and 12 years old, that met us on the street in Banjul. And they were like, sisters, how are you? Welcome home. They say, where are you from? Are you from the States? Like, yeah. And one asked, and what state are you from? And the other said, never mind what state you're from, as long as you are black. Welcome home. You are African. And they walked along by us and they asked, can we carry your bags? And they carried our backpacks. And then while we were walking, they asked, when you go back, can you send us some things? Can you send us some screen supplies? So I'll never forget that first day. And so many people are passing in the Gambia. We just turn and say, hey, welcome home. Hey, sister. Hey brother, welcome home. Yeah. That was like my first experience. You are in the Gambia right now. How long have you stayed in the Gambia? A little over a year. Can you tell us what you've been able to actually, in a year in the Gambia? Okay, during this past year, a little change. I ran to a place in Taff, Delaware State. That's where I was running. Taff. But during that time, I purchased land in Taff with my house. And in a year? I lived in my own house here in the Gambia. Oh, you never had your own house in America? I did. I sold it. You sold it? Yeah. I used that money to build my house here because my house in America, I still had, I would have had a mortgage to continue to pay for another 20 years. And I'm working on building a family fund center. An intro family fund center. It will be an indoor roller skating room and a playroom and library and a cafeteria and museum upstairs. Bending spots out front. Like, I'm really excited about it. It's a passionate project that I have in my heart that I want to build here. I already purchased the land. I got the business register to have a business bank account. For it, I've only raised about the equivalent of 5,000 U.S. dollars. So, I need to raise more money for it. But, I'm excited. I want to bring, it's like bringing a piece of African-American culture to the game. Because an indoor roller skating room needs something to our community. How do you, how do you, how do you money to raise the fund? Just with friends here and some friends. I want to help that dream come true. So, what we have to do right now, it's going to be by force. I don't know how much you need. To start. How much do you need to start? I mean, $400,000. So, I think this channel can raise $100,000. That would be amazing. Yeah, for you to kickstart. To kickstart. Because I feel like you said it's a, it's a passion that you've always had. And, being in Africa, making that passion come true would be a beautiful thing. So, I don't want to have anything to do with your money. Okay. So, what I want you to do for me is to set up a GoFundMe page before I upload this video. Okay. Let me have it and then we're going to blow it out. Thank you so much. Is that okay? Yes. That's amazing. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. How about, how about you? I mean, how long have you been here? I came to the Gambia in December with my son. Yeah, I came last December with my son. And, we went to Ghana first. Hmm. We were looking for you. No, I'm joking. I was like, if I see what am I up? That's it. I don't need to see anybody else. Yeah. I went for the premiere of Coming to Africa. Africa, yeah. I was the person that interviewed the people there for one of the YouTubers. And then we went to a crowd. And I didn't like a crowd as much as I like Ghana because it reminded me of New York on steroids. And then we went to Cape Coast, which was beautiful. Hmm. So, I thought if I lived anywhere in Ghana, it would definitely be Cape Coast because it was beautiful. We left there and I had to go to Sierra Leone because I got my ancestry bag, African ancestry. Hmm. And it said 100% Mende from Sierra Leone. Wow. So, I had to take my son to Sierra Leone. So, we went to Sierra Leone and then Gambia was our last stop. Hmm. And when I came to Gambia, I was like, this is the place. Because it, there was so much room for development. Hmm. And it was so spacious that I really was like, this is a place I could see myself relaxing, getting my ocean view for less than $400 a month. Hmm. So, I was like, I got to go live in Gambia because my whole thing was ocean because in the States, depending on where you live, you are landlocked. Hmm. So, it doesn't mean that with the $400 a month, I cannot afford an ocean view in America. Hmm. $5 a month is not going to get you a room in New York. I don't know what part of the States you're talking about. But in New York City, absolutely not. Hmm. No. No, not at all. You, for maybe a box apartment, you'd pay about a thousand and you might have a roommate. Hmm. And a bathroom to share if you're lucky in New York. Hmm. Right. Yeah, literally depending on where you are. So, coming here and being able to do that and my son, of course, did not come back with me, but he is coming to visit because he was graduating at the time. Hmm. And I just knew I had enough for the States. I was very anxious. Hmm. The pandemic had my chest always tight and my stomach always worried about what was happening. Hmm. Who I was socializing with. Hmm. I would be worried if my son would go out. Is he going to come home safe? It was just not a good feeling. Hmm. I come to Gambia. I can breathe. I can exhale. Hmm. There is peace. There is solace. Hmm. And everyone says you look 20 years younger. Hmm. But that's what Africa does to you. All of us. We glow when we come here. Yeah. And it's because of the food. It's because of the air, the ocean, and the people. The people here are so warm and welcoming. Hmm. Now, let's talk about cost of living in the Gambia. Hmm. As compared to the States, is it expensive to live in the Gambia or are things expensive in the Gambia? No. I think you have to budget. I definitely think you have to budget because of what the money is worth here. Like, you have 50 Gambian Dalasi to one American dollar. So the money can go through your hand quickly if you're not paying attention. But things are inexpensive. You can get a whole meal that will last you two days even for 75 Dalasi. That is less than a dollar, if you will. You know, to take a taxi is 10 Dalasi. To take a child trip is 100 Dalasi. So if you work for a family, it really isn't. You know, going out for a meal like Zindala's restaurant is a perfect example. She keeps the prices within Gambian rates so that anybody can afford to come here and enjoy the environment. And that's how you have to think when you have a business. So I knew when I opened my business that I was going to have Gambian dollars. Like I tell people, you know, I don't even know what I have to ask this question because I wanted to find that if you're living or surviving in the Gambia, you're living. Living my best life. Second chapter. Hey! So which is not even to come into the Gambia? No. I've never visited the continent before. That's right. That's right. It's my first time coming to the Gambia. My first time in Gambia, second time I was moving. Yeah. Why are you not scared? I mean... Sold my house, quit my job, packed up everything. Yes. And bought a house. Yes. Yes I did. So which means you're not going back anytime soon? I don't think so. Whatever I interview people, people will be like, oh Maya, don't worry. They're going to come back in a year. They're going to come back in two years time. No. I'm going to come back in five years time. Would I be two years? Yes. I bought a one-way ticket. People keep asking me if I'm coming back. I said, did I buy a round trip? No. I bought a one-way ticket. I think those are flowers that were born in Africa, grew up in Africa. When we see the diaspora returning back like this, we feel like something is wrong with you. Something is wrong with the states and that's the problem. They should state to themselves if these educated, positive, high-vibration people are all leaving and coming to Africa why are they doing that? There's something wrong there and what is wrong is you all see a superficial picture but we know the heart of these divided snakes. You get the Hollywood version. Yeah. That's it. You get the movies, right? Yeah. We watch the American movies and we know that Everything looks crazy and wonderful. Yeah. America is the land of milk and honey. We built that country but we did not build it for us. That's the part that people miss. We built it for other people. I meet a lot of Gambians that say to me that they like to go to America and work and bring back a lot of money. So they don't realize that the cost of living keeps you working and you never get a chance to come back. I know there are people that have been in America for decades just struggling to make things me. They're trying to pay their rent. You get so caught up in paying bills. You don't have time to save and the cost of a ticket to Africa on the average is over a thousand dollars. So you get stuck there unhappy in the cold in the winter working hard most times you're in an apartment with five to six people in one bedroom but you're not guaranteed to come back and unfortunately about 17 Gambians died in a Bronx fire about a month and a half ago. Their goal was to come back to the Gambia and they did not make it. And that saddens me but I'm grateful that I was given the opportunity to come here. I'm sorry. What made it so sad was that I grew up in the Bronx right? Never met an African from the Gambia and then I found that there were people from here living where I grew up I wish I had got a chance to know who they were I wish I had met them but my coming here allowed me to bring their spirit back home. So it just seemed weird to me that I'm from the Bronx and I'm here they were from here and their spirits were expired in the Bronx I went to the ocean and I called them home because that was their goal and that's the goal of every black American when they wrote the Black National Anthem it said true to our father's land it was true to our God true to our father's land the goal was always for the Africans in America to come back to traveling having this strong desire to go to America or to Europe and the idea of making enough money to come back and buy a house you know this thing and first thing I can say is that propaganda is really good and it works because as I was expressing earlier you can hear about brothers being shot down in the street you can see the footage but you still want to go to America it's like America is this place and then you experience family members that don't come back they go there and they don't come back so it must be something there but there are things that you don't realize then you also feel like there are brothers or friends or some dude that live down the block in Saracunda or whatever who comes back and is able to build a house and he wouldn't have been able to do that if he was here but there are a couple of things one, when people go like she's saying sometimes they don't realize the struggle when they get there they're so tied into bills because it's eating all your money continually so they never really have enough money to come back because like some of my friends have expressed to me and when they go to America they experience a relief because the responsibility in Africa to take care of different family members and to do for so many people is continuous it doesn't just happen one time like you can come back and do something one time no, it's continual so they escape their stress by staying there they feel like they're escaping it the other thing I want to say which is a really important point is that when you go even if you're able to come back and have a nice car for yourself and for you you're really not that system doesn't work for Africa because it doesn't build something that's going to sustain and it doesn't build something that's going to expand into something more so then you have the next person trying to go and then you have the next generation and your grandkids and they're trying to get a visa and trying to go because you really haven't solved the problem and it's not African of us to do that because when you go and you're only thinking about getting a car or a nice house for yourself and for your immediate family that's not really the way we roll it's not the way we think as Africans so we've adapted a different way of thinking and it doesn't really work and somehow we have to work on adjusting that mentality and that idea and that concept because my experience is that I really understood it I never really understood the depth of that push, that drive that desire, it's like you just don't understand it you know until they started to take away people's visas in the states and I saw two Ghanaians who lost their hands lost their fingers and their toes trying to go across to Canada and I'm like nah I just came back from Ghana, Ghana ain't that bad so it's a real mental thing and the propaganda is real powerful if you just think the turn first world and third world like we live in a third world we're the second world so I just would like to just be able to express the ideas around the concept and the powerfulness of the propaganda a lot of fellow brothers and sisters living in the diaspora the Caribbean wherever they find themselves I think we are one but we're just born on a different continent they are looking forward to visit the continent for the first time, what are the things that they need to look up to those are the best way to start because any negative connotations any propaganda that they may have seen you show them here is evidence you do not have to have your dreams go to the west whatever dream you have you can do right here and now you have the diaspora coming to you find a partner many of us may have the resources but we don't necessarily have the talent talent is here, untapped talent so I have people that work in my shop that want to go to the states and I'm not going to tell them not to go but I do warn them be prepared and I will connect them with people that will guide them because they seem to think they're going to go and not get caught on the rat wheel not get caught up in the social life it's not like that when you get there you get pulled in right it has a way of oh you making money you know you need that car you making money you know you need those red bottoms you know you need that bag like the next thing you know you're competing with people and you're in debt and you're so tired now you can't send money home because now you're trying to live above your means that's what the states does to people so if you come in do your research put your feet on the ground and don't believe what other people have to say that's why I went to several different countries before I decided on Gambia I came to Africa 26 years ago I was in Senegal for 30 days I took dancing and drumming it never occurred to me that Africa was an option then it was never presented that way you go you find out about your culture and you keep you stick to it and that's what I did I always represented Africa in the states and everybody thought I was crazy but I never knew I would live here so I would tell people do your research the information is out there we didn't have that 20 years ago anything you want to do you can google it you can look for it in Africa either a native African person is doing it or you can connect with somebody and partner with them and do what you want to do it is all possible right here I didn't have a shop in the states do you know what I did I was an attorney in the states I was an attorney I practiced law in the states I was an outpatient mental health therapist I was an investigator I worked in social services and I had online businesses so what I did was take my online items and I decided to bring them here who knew I had enough to open a shop that's how I came about I designed jewelry I designed clothes I do all of the things that brought me joy that I could not do in the states because I had to worry about paying bills what I wanted to say also too is try to gather enough information up here because we have to start to rethink and retrain our brain yes we have been told in America that Africa is not a nice place I saw enough commercials of babies with big bellies and flies on their faces and when I first stepped off the plane in Addis Ababa I said they told us a lie so now with you coming out and Miss Trudy and other YouTubers showing the truth of Africa you got to watch that over and over and over again so that it starts up here so what I decided to do was to write books for children rent by parents my first book is called The Vota Vota Driver A Tanzanian Experience it's not out yet but I'm hoping to launch it March 1st I want to change the way children see Africa so we can get them at a very early age and tell her story and not the history that we have received so you're going to launch a book on March 1st March 1st it should be so I'm going to wait for you I upload this video after first March so I'm expecting the link so check out the description box you definitely find the link of the book and purchase it let's support the sister it's time for Africans to support Africans I've always been saying that we need to build ourselves and the time is now find our message so my organization and my business is global reconnection and the main thing that we're focusing on now even though it wasn't my first priority initially is working with deterring youth from trafficking from traveling going what they call the back way so Gambia I've read and heard that Gambia has got the most youth that do this right now and going the back way meaning youth I mean the most recent that I heard they blew up an inflatable boat and eight youth died within a week's time and the first time I heard it was 80 plus youth left on a boat going out into the Atlantic and within a week within a week eight of them were dead and within a time about three days within three or four days of that time a boat with 140 left so and nobody knows where they are I've heard that they may be in a prison in Mauritania but other than that people haven't heard from them so my organization started working with the youth mainly from Gunjur but we have youth from Farato from Bakau from Yundum from all over global reconnections back to our roots initiative and our focus is to do agriculture every aspect of agriculture so that we're growing our own food and eating our own food because in the Gambia if you go into any shop 90% of everything in the shop is important and excuse me and also the sister which you were mentioning about the skating ring so the youth that I connected with the night I met them was I went to down in Gunjur and when I walked in it was so much smoke and I was just I was thrown off and when I left out I left talking with some of the youth saying we gotta offer you more than this and we talked about the skating ring so with global reconnections we're doing this working with the youth but we have we have a shop in Tipa Garage doing African fashions and we are doing consulting through the company we do consulting so what you said about people coming here is you said something about making sure that they get proper information it's critical and I heard the group the group from UK saying the same thing it's critical that you don't come here and be alone because some people come they be alone they lose thousands tens of thousands of dollars and that's when we find out about them you know and all if they were connected with some of us and not only diasporas it's really important that you connect with local people too that we find ways to creatively integrate with our folk because there are many of our folk that really want to look out for us that really want to do the best for us there were people that were really upset when we had this this thing for automatic citizenship when they had the press conference there were people calling me saying what you didn't call us you didn't tell us about that and you're number one advocates so it's very important that you suss out those people and look for the people that are here so that we're integrating we're not here making ourselves an isolated community we can still put ourselves together but still we should make it a point to integrate I think I need to introduce you to TAF based on the youth empowerment that you're talking about I don't know if you know TAF I will introduce him to you before I leave I want to say that thank you all so much for spending time and sharing your experience in the Gambia with me I really appreciate it I believe that this video is going to do a lot it's going to at least change 10 people's minds about Africa that's the reason why I do this so I want to say that thank you and keep putting Africa on the map keep living your best life in Africa and I'll be back again yeah this is not the last time I mean the second time in the Gambia I'm actually trying to buy my own house along the beach so yeah we'll be spending time here more often so I want to say thank you and thank you so much for everything I think I've been saying thank you a lot so I need to say thank you too for staying tuned and I'll see you all in the next one my name is Mr Ghana baby I'm an annoying village boy from Ghana I'll see you all in the next one peace out thank you