Yusuf is the proud son of an Afghan refugees that came to the U.S. in 1980. He attended Saint Mary’s College in California and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and Biology. He completed his Post-Baccalaureate in Pre-Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. Most recently, he completed his Master’s Degree in Global Public Health with a concentration in African Studies. Almost 10-years-ago, he founded his own NGO called Zam Zam Water, a 100 per cent volunteer-based, non-profit organisation which built water wells, schools for orphans, and farming systems around the world in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. In 2017, he was invited by the Pope to speak at The Vatican and take part in drafting a 5-year plan to combat the global water crisis. He is the only Muslim, Afghan-American to ever speak at The Vatican.
In 2017, Yusuf co-founded the Built With Bitcoin Foundation alongside Ray Youssef. To date, the Built With Bitcoin Foundation has built and repaired 8 schools, 8 water systems, and dozens of farms across the globe. In this interview with Kakaaki Reporters, he speaks about the Built With Bitcoin Foundation(BWB) and its philanthropic efforts and why they are in Nigeria.
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Tell us what BWB foundation is all about, and it’s vision?
About 6-years-ago, I was running another non-profit, it is a fiat traditional NGO called ZAMZAM. What we were doing was building schools around the world. We had embarked on a new journey to build an education centre in my mother’s country Houston, and someone saw us on Instagram and wanted to contribute towards that school. It was all from Georgia and the financial platform that we were using at that time flagged this transaction and it was required for me to have a conversation with him to reach out to him and say “oh you, thank you so much for the anticipated contribution. There is another form of payment that you can make and at that time, he responded and said there’s Bitcoin in your organisation and I said, “what is Bitcoin?”. And that is where our relationship begun and the other person on the other side was making donation was Ray Youssef who was a Co-founder of the foundation. And he and I started peer to peer relationship and friendship, now we call it brotherhood and he said he always had a dream to build schools in Africa and the rest of the world and he was to use Bitcoin in doing it. He kind of love schools, he said,” can we work together and I said, “I don’t know, but let’s do it, let’s start, and that’s how we began. So the first school we built was in 2017, we started using Bitcoin in the country of Rwanda and since that time, 2017, we have built 2 schools in Rwanda, 2 schools in Kenya, 2 schools in Nigeria, we have repaired 2 schools and worked on 2 schools across the Berlin in Southlander, 2 schools in India, 2 schools in South Africa, we have done work in India, Ghana, we are a global humanitarian organisation. We like to think of ourselves as being as inclusive as possible, but it all began here in the continent of Africa. Africa is a very special place for me. I came to Africa about 12-years-ago, and it showed me so much about myself, I learnt so much about myself from the people first and foremost. That’s why I keep coming back. It has nothing to do with tribe, has nothing to do with country, it is the African people in general. It is what brings me back to the continent, I want to be with you, work with the people. We don’t consider ourselves a charity organisation that like giving people things for free. People don’t need that, what they need is relationship building, they need understanding, some people just want to be heard and that’s what our foundation does…we listen, we learn from people underground.
Here’s a resource that this community doesn’t have, so if we can provide the resource, how can we work together to transform that community? Some communities don’t need schools, how can we transform their lives in a positive way, and through Bitcoin, we can accomplish this.
Tell us about your motivation, your plan for Nigeria, what project are you undertaking?
So for us, access to resources. It all comes down to opportunity and that’s why we work with the communities, but you can’t create opportunities or work with opportunity without trust. There has to be trust, and for us, myself, coming into and around a community, people are going to welcome us with open hearts. There has to be a level of engagement, there has to be speakers of the same language and that has to come from Nigerians themselves. So for us, education is of utmost importance, but through education, there are some other resources as well: access to clean water, electricity, internet connectivity, daily issues everyday Nigerian have. And if we can provide a solution for these, the productivity and efficiency of those individuals in those communities will continue to rise. So for us, it is about access to natural resources, education, as well as community engagement. If we can create this or foster this positive environment for communities, the security that will bring stability and that also bring inclusion from all different types of people. So that’s what we are working on in Nigeria.
Specifically, we are working on 2 schools campuses in Kaduna. Here we provided access to electricity through solar, we have built a football pitch for the students and the community members and have a Nursery School and a Primary School. The infrastructure here is able to accommodate 400 (Four Hundred) students eventually. We are not there yet, so it is a process as you can imagine, it is an investment in the Nigerian people, why? Because we believe in them, because I believe in Nigeria, and Ray Youssef, believe in the Nigerian people and if we can tell the story of the real Nigeria, not the one that other part of the world are creating, that’s why it is important for me to have my feet in the soil and to speak to everyday Nigerians to have friends and colleagues, this is the difference with our foundation, we want to understand the real people underground but not what the media creates because that’s false, it’s false. Because I know the people in Kaduna State, every time we come to their community, they say is it that the guy that brought us the school? Let’s show him African’s hospitality, that’s that, unless you are here on this continent, living and breathing its air, you truly won’t understand. That’s why I try as much as I can to come to the Kenyans, the Ethiopians, the Nigerians, the Ghanaians, the South Africans, the Rwandans because until you are there and move with real people, you won’t truly understand.
You know a lot of people would want to know why other sectors of the economy weren’t given this needed attention. Tell us the main reason why you are focusing on schools?
Because that’s what I know? I am not going to venture out there to a sector I don’t understand. I am an Educator, and I’ve educated pre-school children in the United States, and so Sociology, Medicine, Public Health and Education are all my background. They are all the things I have invested my entire life with. The missing piece is the people, so that’s why Ray and I will love to be on the ground in these communities to learn from them directly. So when it comes to education, education is very dear to my heart. In 1980, my parents migrated to the United States from Afghanistan due to war. And my family and I, we grew up in a very low incommunicable hut in South Central Los Angeles. Nursery and Primary Schools weren’t easily accessible for us there. I grew up not having the fundamental educational skills that I desire. And so, that’s why I am passionate about creating a mechanism for grassroots education for all. I love only students at their youngest of ages are able to come to my school. We focus on four pillars: Mental Health, Physical Health, Environmental Health and Financial Health. Those four pillars makes a very solid sound and robust foundation, you can’t build, of course, it doesn’t make any sense, unless we have those four attributes, we cannot continue to do that.
Are you saying if you build a school with Bitcoin, you will make them understand that this was initiated from Bitcoin?
All morals and all value system within an organisation, nothing is involuntary. You don’t force any technology, any information on any community. Yes, everything is voluntary. First we want to introduce Bitcoin to communities like Kaduna, why because they are unfortunately not financially stable. They may not have access to financial institutions you and I have here in Abuja, and that’s not right. Financial system should be made accessible to the 100 per cent, not 1per cent. That’s why we truly, Ray and I truly believes in Bitcoin because it can provide inclusion for all. So if we can provide the resources, working together with the community with education, we also know what financial literacy education is, and at a very early stage, we teach children what money is, what is the value behind money and then we also establish that for the parents of the community as well for them to get a better understanding to become more financial literate, for them to get a better understanding of how money truly works, so that maybe, they can preserve their wealth overtime. And we also believe in the technology of the coin for its transparency. When it comes to foundations, everyone asks where is the money going? When it comes to Bitcoin and Blockchain technology, you can actually see funds coming in, funds being able to go out, we go over and above and beyond at the building of Bitcoin foundation, and I tell you why, we created something called the ‘Blockchain of Philanthropy’ which is visually being able to see the work being done. With multiple visits, the contents that we have, the media that we have in the stories that we have of the community members. We want people to have a real connection, what is in the visuals. Not oh, let me just build a school in Africa, it’s fine, let me take some pictures and you guys can see all these people and pity them and have sympathy on them, no no no. Those people don’t need us, those community members do not need us. We want to create a relationship, mutual respect. So that’s why we don’t go round singing, sending out money, we are this, we are that. That’s why we take our time to understand this people, to understand their needs to see if we can provide some of the solutions. So that they continue to thrive, that’s the real essence of what Bitcoin can provide, it has the intrinsic value, as well as the tangible value. The intrinsic value is the transparency, the honesty, the genuineness, right, and the tangible is obviously the Blockchain, the currency as expected of having the financial inclusion that we yearn for and deserve. The people of Kaduna State deserve it, and that community people that want the sum, people in South Africa, in the Philippines, anywhere around the world. It should be made for the 100 per cent and that’s what we truly what Bitcoin does.
Can you tell us some of the challenges you have faced setting up this project, and also going round the communities seeing Nigerians. How has it impacted you people? What is the yardstick for determining your intervention in communities?
Very good question. First, it’s not me doing the work, it is the people, it is the locals doing the work themselves. for me having an amazing team along and beside my side, Nigerians themselves, is extremely important. You cannot go into a community and do an assessment and choose where you want to work without a great team. I, physically cannot be here, I am not the one that looks at the people in the community, speaks like them, dances like(unfortunately, I wish I can just dance like them (laughs)) and try to dress like them, you know, but you get what I am saying, right. It is more so, having people that are here, that are like minded, and that’s the real process. That’s the real struggle. But we’ve been able to do that. We have an amazing progress on the ground in all the countries that we work in. That’s the first step, honest, innovative, hardworking individuals that have the same mission and purpose. Secondly, some of the issues that we are having and the challenges that we have is the level of security, but the way that we can counter that lack of security in some areas around the world is building that relationship and bond with the community which is why it is so important for us as a foundation, to continue to engage with the community. We have to monitor and maintain these relationships, and you have to cultivate them. It is not easy. So, my answer to your question is never going to be easy. But we have perfect solution. Every country has different types of individuals, has a different type of community, different type of tribe and culture and language, food etc. So you have to be able to adapt, but the secret behind Bitcoin, Bitcoin is borderless, it doesn’t discriminates, it doesn’t matter what tribe you are from. If it is Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba whatever you may be, right? it’s all about the person and so that is how we wanna move work-world, moving forward. We want every community around the world to benefit from this. Now is that possible? We have to all build them together. It can’t just be the Bitcoin Foundation School, it is going to take the general community together, but I think that if you could showcase a great track record and history, the people will be like, oh, they will be inspired and motivated and that’s truly our end goal. I also wanna say this: our success is not based on how many projects we accomplished, how many schools we built, how many walls or less we did. It is about the level of engagement we have with the community, the trust we were able to build with them and the quality of our work, not the quantity of the work.
So what more should we expect from Built With Bitcoin Foundation?
Stability, the dedication, the commitment to the people of Nigeria, the people of Africa and the entire world. We are not only fundamentally invested but we are emotionally invested in this work. Why? Because, we care. For me to go into a community and to meet with the parents, to meet with children and to meet with the community leaders is very difficult. My brother, to go back home and forget about that you can’t. I think about them all the time and all of our schools and that’s why I engage as much as possible by travelling to those specific places because I want those individuals to know me and the entire team too, right. And so for us, I think in the respective community in Kaduna State, stability worked at our favour. They want to know that this foundation, they built a school one year, they gonna be here the next year as well. That is financial because we want the community to become independent. They will want to know that we will still, will continue, and still will come because we need them more than they need us. Because they give the fuel to our fire to continue this work, to be able to build some walls around the world. So it’s the Nigerians that are more generous, the Africans that are more generous than the rest of the world, not the other way round. Many think it is the other way round, like many to do so much for Africa, Africa, Africa. No, Africa can do so much for the world.
I know your focus here is on Build with Bitcoin Foundation, so what will you say has impacted you the most since you started-off this project in Nigeria?
Oh, the people! I don’t understand why people don’t look more to Africa and Nigeria generally? Bitcoin allows me to be there to do my job but it is the people that make me want to continue to walk the road forward. It is the Nigerian people that make me want to come back to this country. The true essence of Naija spirit! Its infectious. There is nothing like it in anywhere around the world. That is why I love the fact that Africa is such a unique place; 54 countries and Hundreds and Thousands different tribes and cultures and food and what have you. It’s the people, and I didn’t necessarily expected to be for me affected so much by it. But the energy here is infectious, like the good kind of infectious. And for me, it motivates me, this kind of work , you are not won over through monetary compensation, through salary, through what have you, maybe. You are motivated by the people and the relationship that you build with them, their faces, I know their names, I have been to their homes, I have eaten their food, I did danced with them, with all. We’ve all been emotional and cried together at the school sites. Some of our schools have been used for a wedding before so that it becomes an actual community centre, and that’s such a beautiful thing. It can’t be replicated; you know the feeling of that. Of course the schools can be replicated around the world but the feeling that you get is extremely satisfying and I mean that from the bottom of my heart, like it is the people. Every country has its own issues; there is no perfect country in the world, every country, every people has its bad characters. Every Country, every community, every people has that people that thrive, people that succeed, people are honest and just want to be and support their families. Nigeria is no different, absolutely not, and that’s the message I would want to send to the rest of the world. That’s, come here, see for yourself, experience Africa and Nigeria for yourself and then come up with your ideas, don’t listen to someone else’s idea.
Is it possibly to quantify your intervention, what you have given to Nigeria?
Oh! In regards to sweat equity, I will say, infinite. In regards to investment in the people, I would say in the past 5-years or so that we’ve invested close to $300,000.00 (Three Hundred Thousand Dollars) in Nigeria. That may not sound like a lot, it may sound like a lot, to me that quantity really it’s really not important. The more important is the level of time we spent here, that’s the most valuable aspect that we as a foundation can get. So if you ask me, what is the value of the time that you have given here? There is no valuation, it’s infinite amount because the time that we spent here in Nigeria, the time that working with fellow Nigerians who are the real backbone of the work that we do, I’m just from away, the real true heroes in this work, fellow Nigerians doing for Nigerians and their future youths doing for other youths, that’s the real success story here , the effort that we here have been able to give you. That’s what I’m most proud of and stand by that every time I come to the Airport and the lady looks at my passport and says, ‘’Oh, you’ve come to Nigeria many times”. I will say,” I am coming back home”. This is what I say to them.
So with all that is happening in Afghanistan, you still have the zeal and everything, I must commend you.
I have to. These children are as important if not more important as children in Afghanistan. And this I said, is a gift from the artistic students and their courts at the school.
“So we used to journey these roads to our parents farms, now we journey them to school. Someday, we will turn our farm lands to a global smart farm and all things to be that will be”.
Every student in our schools, they receive uniforms, they receive backpacks, they receive stationeries, everything they need to succeed in the school system. But again, just understand, these are mini school tangible items but the long term effect, we want them to be independent themselves, to stand on their own two feet , shoulder to shoulder as Nigerian children.
In the journey of life, one of the most important people are those you give a good education. So it’s important for the children to have all these necessary resources to succeed, right? And it begins and ends 100% education but for their parents and for the students of the community.
Are you also working on building more schools, or it’s just Primary School or Primary and Secondary?
Great question. It is Nursery School actually. It begins with Nursery School and then Primary School and depending on the community and its needs, right. We do an assessment, we see what the community needs, we understand and analyze how many students, what age groups they are in. But, ideally, what we want to do is: we want to start from the foundation level and that foundation was what I didn’t have when I was growing up, and I saw how behind I was. I compared to my fellow classmate because their parents were able to take their children to Pre-school, Nursery School, and I wasn’t able to go. So the fundamental numbers and colours and shapes, days of the week and all these things both in English and in the hausa which they speak and the need their tongue in the village, those are important to us. We have family members; they are community members that are illiterate that we’ve gone and asked them to survey on their understanding of financial literacy in Bitcoin but they were not even able to write their names. This is the level of education we are targeting. And again, it is not how many more schools we build in Nigeria; no we want to have full focus and then high quality impact in this one community, then continue to grow from there. It is pointless to just invest money and then go to another place and then this one isn’t 100%. You understand me, right, that’s kind of auto-process.
But there’s a plan for the future?
Absolutely. We want them to be able to go through a higher education all through Bitcoin schools that’s the goal. But unfortunately because they are so isolated in rule, they may not have the opportunity to go up to Secondary School and if there comes an opportunity, that’s when we will come in to engage, to make that decision. We don’t make promises to anyone that’s what we don’t do either. We don’t tell communities, we are going to do this, we are going do that, because you can imagine how much feedback we will get for that. We want to be honest with people, we don’t want to promise them something we can’t keep because once you do that, you ruin the trust and that’s over for you.
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