Travels With Lamin – An Introduction | Building Futures in the Gambia

Lamin Barrow – An Introduction

I was never supposed to visit The Gambia.

If things had gone according to the original plan, I probably never would have met School Manager Lamin Barrow at all — and this series of stories would not exist.

Back in 2010, my yet-to-be friend (and future founding charity trustee) Mark Chidler came to visit the primary school where I was working as Deputy Head Teacher. Mark was a Senior Lecturer in Geography and Citizenship at Newman University Birmingham. For many years, Newman had been taking trainee teachers to The Gambia as part of their studies, exploring ideas around global citizenship and international education partnerships.

A group of students from Newman University Birmingham.

For their January 2011 visit, the university wanted to try something new. Alongside the Newman students, they hoped to bring a small group of practising teachers from local schools to work alongside them in Gambian classrooms.

Mark had been friends with my Head Teacher for many years. In fact, they had started their teaching careers together in the same primary school. So it seemed entirely natural that Mark would come to our school to ask if anyone might like to join the trip.

The original plan was simple.

My Head Teacher would go.

Alongside two other members of staff.

And this was how it was to be…at least, for a few days.

But, at some point, I made what I thought was a fairly casual remark.

Something along the lines of: “Actually… I’d quite like to go.”

This created a small logistical problem.

Schools generally prefer not to have both the Head Teacher and the Deputy Head Teacher disappear at the same time — particularly not for a week on another continent.

So a decision was made.

The Head Teacher stayed.

And I went instead.

At the time it felt like a bit of luck.

Looking back now, it feels like something much bigger.

Because that one week in January 2011 turned out to be a turning point in my life. It introduced me to communities, schools and friendships that would eventually lead to the creation of the charity Building Futures in The Gambia.

And somewhere during that visit…

I met a man called Lamin Barrow.

Enter Lamin Barrow

At that time, Lamin had been working alongside Newman University for several years as one of the local taxi drivers who supported their visits to The Gambia.

For that first trip in 2011, he was assigned as the driver for our group of visiting teachers — three of us from my school, including myself, and two teachers from another local school.

Our first couple of days travelling with Lamin were memorable for one particular reason.

There was something wrong with his starter motor.

Which meant that every time we needed to go anywhere…

We had to push start the taxi.

Every single journey began the same way: several visiting British teachers leaning enthusiastically against the back of Lamin’s car while he shouted instructions from the driver’s seat.

Eventually the engine would cough into life and off we would go along the dusty Gambian roads.

A group of English teachers push starting a Gambian taxi.

This, of course, gave me the perfect opportunity to begin gently taking the mickey out of our taxi driver — Lamin Barrow.

In fact, on my very first morning travelling with Lamin, there was an extraordinary chain of events involving:

peanuts
a photograph
a rampaging group of very angry women
and an unexpected visit to a police station

That particular story deserves a post of its own and will appear later in this Travels With Lamin series.

But those early moments set the tone for a friendship that has continued ever since.

The joking.
The mock arguments.
The slightly spiky brotherly relationship.

It started almost immediately — and it continues to this day.

The Sleeping Driver

Signs of Lamin’s extraordinary work ethic were visible right from the start.

During the day, Lamin worked alongside the Newman University groups, transporting students and visiting teachers between schools and communities. But his working day didn’t end there.

At night, Lamin would drive along the Senegambia tourist strip, transporting visitors to and from the nightclubs.

It wasn’t unusual for him to work almost non-stop for 24 hours.

Which, perhaps unsurprisingly, sometimes meant that Lamin was a little… tired.

This is how he came to earn a nickname — mainly from me — that has stuck ever since:

“The Sleeping Driver.”

I had that printed on a t-shirt for him, once, along with this photo.

Lamin Barrow - Gambian taxi driver - asleep in his taxi.

Getting to Know Lamin

When I returned to The Gambia for a second visit in 2012, the work I was doing involved visiting many more schools across the region.

Which meant spending a lot more time travelling.

And of course, my taxi driver was Lamin.

Hour after hour we travelled along the dusty Gambian roads — sometimes between schools, sometimes between villages, sometimes simply navigating the wonderfully unpredictable rhythm of life in The Gambia.

It was during those long journeys that we really got to know each other.

We talked about education.
About farming.
About family.
About village life.
About Lamin’s tribal language – Mandinka.

Over time our friendship deepened far beyond those early taxi journeys. We’ve also shared and been involved in each other’s significant and sometimes very sad life events, including the passing of Lamin’s dad and both of my parents. Those experiences have strengthened a bond that began with push-starting a taxi and has grown into something much more like family.

And, as we travelled those long, dusty, bumpy Gambian roads, gradually I began to understand Lamin’s own story.

Who Is Lamin Barrow?

Lamin was born into a farming family in Sankandi, a rural village in The Gambia. As the eldest boy in a family with seven younger sisters, he did not attend school. Instead, he worked alongside his father on the farm helping to support the family.

Education simply wasn’t an option for him.

And perhaps that is precisely why it matters so much to him now.

Because today Lamin is the School Manager of BFiG Busumbala Nursery School, the community-led school that Building Futures in The Gambia has helped establish in Busumbala Village.

While I work from England as founder and trustee of the charity, Lamin manages everything on the ground.

Construction projects.
Community relationships.
Supporting our teachers Mariama (Sibo) Fatty and Mariama (Aja) Jaiteh.
Looking after the school site.
Solving problems.

And there are always problems.

When the school opened in October 2023 with one classroom and 24 children, Lamin was there.

When the pupil numbers grew and a second teacher was appointed, Lamin was there.

When the safeguarding wall was built, when the water tap was installed, when the garden was planted and the trees began to grow in the heat — Lamin was there.

Quietly making things happen.