Hollywood megastar Will Smith recently made a surprise call to a Guinean man who cycled across Africa to get to university. It was noted last year that Mamadou Safayou Barry captured the headlines over his 4,000km (2,500 mile) trek.
In a video call to Cairo, where Barry is studying, Smith told him he was “deeply moved” by his efforts and gifted him a new bike and a laptop. He learnt about the epic trip from a BBC Instagram post last September.
“I want the world to hear your story,” the lead in numerous blockbusters said.
On a short film uploaded to Smith’s YouTube channel, the student appeared shocked to be talking to the Men in Black star. “This is Will Smith!” a smiling Mr Barry said. “A lot of your films I love.”
“I don’t know how to thank you Wallahi [I swear]! I don’t know how to thank you,” he said later when he heard about the gifts.
Smith’s publicity team had contacted the BBC after the story of Mr Barry’s odyssey had been published saying that it had touched the actor. They wanted to see how they could speak to him.
It has been noted that last May, the 25-year-old set off from the West African country of Guinea for Egypt’s prestigious Al-Azhar University, hoping he would be accepted.
The married father of one could not afford the cost of a flight, so instead got on his bike and took four months to pedal through Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Niger and Chad.
He travelled through regions where jihadist fighters often stage attacks, and which have seen several military coups.
