After graduating from Methodist Academy in 2010, Ebrima Nyassi pursued further studies in journalism. With his diploma, the multi-skilled young Gambian tried his hands in print and radio journalism, before leaving for Taiwan where he has become popular as a student, a barber, a footballer, a model and an activist.
His words: “I am now in Taiwan at National Taipei University of Technology, studying civil engineering. I am in my 3rd year. I hope to graduate next year to come back home and contribute my quota to the national development process. There is a saying that “To whom much is given, much is expected”. I plan to concentrate on environmental science for now. Taiwan is a mixed cultural environment. Taiwanese are mostly shy people, nice and friendly in general. I am finding it hard to cope with the food, though, as they mostly eat rice with vegetables or soup or just something little and not enough to make a stew. Taipei is expensive, compared to many countries in Asia and that makes life pretty tricky for students. During my leisure time, I do extracurricular activities, such as football, barbering, modelling, et cetera. Taiwan is a place that treats you the way you treat it, but I think it’s a good place to start.
“In March, I attended the National Model United Nations (NMUN) in the United States where I won the outstanding delegates award. More than 500 universities from around the world with more than 5000 student from the best universities met to discuss issues affecting the world. The Outstanding Delegates Award is the highest award given to a delegate or a delegation. About 50 out of 5000 students get the chance to win the outstanding delegates award and myself and my partner won it for my school.
“The conference lasted for 4 days, from the 22nd to 26th March, 2015. Also, three countries out of more than 30 countries won the award in the UNICEF committee, my committee. My team consisted of 14 delegates and as a team, we won the honourable mention award.”
Words by Sise Sawaneh
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