Man cycles across six countries to secure spot at his dream university 

SHAH ALAM - A determined student has cycled 4,000km for four months across West Africa due to his unwavering commitment and desire to achieve his academic goals.

Mamadou Safayou Barry travelled from Guinea to Egypt's prestigious Al-Azhar university in May, with high hopes that he would be selected.

Speaking to the BBC, Barry said that he was 'very happy' to receive a scholarship when he finally reached Cairo.

Al-Azhar is one of the most influential and oldest centres for Sunni Islamic learning in the world.

According to BBC, Barry set off from his home seeking Islamic knowledge but experienced suspicion and adversity in some countries he biked through.

Barry said attacks by Islamist militants on civilians are frequent and coups have led to political instability in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

"To travel through these countries is very hard because they don't have security at this time.

"They have so many problems and people there are very scared - in Mali and Burkina Faso people were looking at me like I am a bad man.

"All over I was seeing the military with their big guns and cars," he told the BBC.

Barry further said that he was arrested and detained for no reason twice in Burkina Faso and once in Togo.

However, Barry had a turn in fortune, when a journalist interviewed him and posted his story online, gathering some good Samaritans to fund a flight to Egypt for him.

Despite many struggles, Barry arrived in Cairo on Sept 5 and had a meeting with the university's Dean of Islamic studies Dr Nahla Elseidy who offered him a place in Al-Azhar's Islamic Studies course, with full scholarship.

"I cannot tell you how happy I am. I thanked God," he said to BBC.