I could really use some help! Consider it buying me lunch!

Hello, my name is Michael and I am fundraising for a wonderful young man that I met when I moved to Spain last year.

Ismalia is a refugee from Gambia who made the horrendous escape by boat to Spain.

We met on a bus I was taking to the city to apply for my legal residence in Spain. I had been injured by crashing my bicycle earlier in the week and was struggling to navigate the bus, Ismalia rushed to assist me. His passable English enabled us to create a friendship.

I discovered that after initial assistance from Red Cross and UN agencies he was left to his own devices. He was taken advantage of, as many refugees are, to work in the agriculture business here at sub-par wages.

He has continued to work toward getting his official resident status while sending money home to his family.

He has attained the first stage of his residence but needs to complete a formal training course to be able to legally work in Spain.

I want to raise 4940€ to allow him to complete a course and secure his full residency.

The course https://maudeprivada.com/curso-actividades-auxiliares-en-agricultura-malaga/ is 1700€ and his accommodation for the period of the course (6 months) is 3240€.

Unfortunately we live far away from any of the cities that provide the government certification.

Ismalia has family in Gambia, here are his own words

"My name is Ismalia Ndow, and I am from a very tiny village called Fori in The Gambia, West Africa. My parents are poor and practice subsistence farming to feed our family. My father, who is the breadwinner of the family, is both deaf and mute; he neither talks nor hears what people say.When I was seven, my mother took me to Njoren Basic Cycle School. The school is 7 km away from our village, and I walked to school every day. After school, I would join my parents on the farm in the afternoon. Together, we struggled to cultivate crops like maize and groundnuts for our survival and to pay my school fees.

Between the ages of 15 and 20, I used to fetch firewood to sell in order to help my parents put food on the table. This often made me late for school, as stopping my help would mean no food for us. I managed the difficult balance of helping my parents at home and attending school, but I couldn’t perform well and eventually dropped out because my parents could no longer afford the school fees due to poverty.

In 2021, I took the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe in search of a better life, as there was no hope for me in The Gambia. I want to continue my education in Europe if I receive the support.

Thank you.