WHO WE ARE

Hamidou Coulibaly and Andy Gilboy have known each other since 1968.  They built their dual-family house in Grand Mbour (between Saly and old Mbour) in 2002 and have since then purchased lots and built some custom houses.  Hamidou lives there with his wife and 4 children, and Andy lives part time in Mbour and resides in Washington, DC.

Andy came to Kaolack in 1968 as a Peace Corps Volunteer and met Hamidou's family when he was 6 years old.  Andy has always kept one foot in Senegal and one wherever he was living.  He spent 3 years in Mauritania working for USAID, and then built his own house in Western North Carolina where he lived from 1990 to 2008. He then moved back to Washington, DC.  Andy has been co-owner of a small consulting firm in Washington (Associates for Global Change) working on development projects mainly in Africa. He speaks fluent French and Wolof. 

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Hamidou was raised in Kaolack and in 1999 he and Andy decided to build a house in Mbour which was just getting noticed as a place to live.  He is a trained electrician and learned  house building himself.  In 2003 he brought his family to Mbour from Kaolack where they've lived ever since.

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Hamidou has just built a house in Gandigal for a Senegalese who has been close to an American couple for 38 years.  Some of the pictures are of Tamsir's new house, which is now (July 2019) completed.