One kid rode 4,000 kilometres (about 2,500 miles) across West Africa in order to get admission to his preferred school.
In May, Mamadou Safayou Barry left Guinea for Egypt to attend the esteemed Al-Azhar University.
The young man, then 25 years old, rode his bike for four months across nations plagued by Islamist extremists and military coups.
When he arrived in Cairo, he told the BBC he was “very, very” grateful for the scholarship.
The married father of one explained that he had to risk travelling via Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Niger, and Chad since he could not afford the Islamic Studies course at Al-Azhar or flights to Egypt.
Al-Azhar is widely recognised as a preeminent institution of Sunni Islamic higher education. Having been established in the year 670, it may likewise claim to be among the oldest.
Mr. Barry left his house “seeking Islamic knowledge,” but his journey was fraught with hostility and mistrust in many nations.
Islamist terrorists frequently target people in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, and previous coups have contributed to political instability in those countries.
There is now no safe way to go across these nations, he said.
They’ve got a lot of issues, and the locals are understandably nervous; in Mali and Burkina Faso, I had the impression that many people saw me and immediately assumed the worst of me. Mr. Barry claimed he saw military vehicles and large weapons around.
Two times in Burkina Faso and once in Togo, he claims, he was imprisoned without cause and then released.
