What should have been a straightforward process at the border crossing into the West African country, rapidly turned into a daytime-nightmare for famous Travel-Blogger-YouTuber Drew Binsky, and Alvaro, his colleague.
They were shouted at, pushed around, told they would be handcuffed/locked up for 6 days. (Alvaro was told he would be) sent back across the border etc…UNTIL they were forced to pay $150 USD for a phony Cholera vaccination.
Unhappy with the treatment they’d received, they recorded and posted a video telling their story – which quickly went viral.
**********Excerpts from Drew Binsky’s video **********
“…they’re bandits and they’re robbing us essentially.” – Drew Binsky
“The only reason we paid is because we’re already super behind in our schedule and we couldn’t afford another hour another 2 hours of just waiting it out cuz we would have stayed and slept in the border. Essentially that’s the only reason. We’re totally against bribery and contributing to this corruption. We were really pissed.” – Alvaro (Drew’s Travel Partner)
**********End of Excerpts**********
Anyone who has followed my writing since I began my travels will know that I have published some articles discussing this kind of problem.
The undocumented, illegal and arbitrary payments that immigration officials at some country borders I cross (especially Nigeria and Benin Republic) demand from travelers.
Most people told me I was wasting my time by writing about it. But I’ve never been one to let others give up on my behalf.
Also I just believe if I do it enough, some person(s) with the means could be influenced to do something about it. Or maybe like minded others might choose to contribute theirs.
Well, Drew Binsky (a traveler with a large global following – https://drewbinsky.com/) did even more than I could hope to do, about it, in October 2019, during his trip through West Africa by posting a video CALLING OUT the crooked officials.
Not only were they arrested, but his money was also refunded!
“But this bribery problem, specifically is in many African countries, specifically West Africa, and it is, in my opinion it’s one of the reasons why this part of the world is not progressing.” – Drew Binsky
Visit Drew’s website at http://drewbinsky.com
My video trailer embedded below [watch it in my channel at https://youtu.be/-MzhfjvKJLM] highlights excerpts from his story for others to learn from.
In it I note as follows:“If those health officials knew how, they most likely would NEVER have settled for harassing travelers to make EXTRA money (in addition to their salaries).”
Then I recommend that our education system be modified to provide financial education that empowers citizens to learn how to make money even when they do not work – in line with what Robert Kiyosaki advocates.
It ends with an offer of FREE access to details about:
“How You Can Create Income Generating Assets Without Having a Job or ANY Money! (True Story)”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A MOBILE FRIENDLY VERSION (22 MB) OF MY VIDEO THAT YOU CAN WATCH (AND SHARE WITH OTHERS) OFFLINE
Fill/submit the form at http://www.tayosolagbade.com/contact.htm to request details and also get a FREE copy of my book titled “The World’s Future Prosperity Depends on Digital Multipreneurs” – on sale in my online store at www.lulu.com/sdaproducts.
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home1/tayoswdg/public_html/sdnuggets/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399