“Gomal sa boppu teh bul musa khaddi” — “Believe in yourself and never give up.” This Wolof proverb has guided Ousman Ceesay ’29 from his home in The Gambia to Ashesi University, where he is studying Mechanical Engineering.
His engineering journey began at home, where he was known for fixing broken tools. “My mother loves to listen to the radio,” Ousman recalls. “When the sound became unclear, I opened it up, cleaned up the dust, and she was able to enjoy her radio again.” This passion for fixing things and the documentaries he has been watching on mechanical tools solidified his passion for engineering.
During one summer vacation in high school, “I traveled to my hometown where I worked on the farm with my uncles who worked manually and spent the whole day working on things that I had seen machines do easily in the documentaries I watched.” Seeing their labor and thinking about the advanced farm tools he had seen in documentaries, he wanted to create a solution. This experience, coupled with his love for fixing things, gave his passion a clear purpose.
