One of our students has become a professional soccer player
Published May 6, 2026
A short video clip showing the goal he scored in the last game
Ismaila Ceesay started at Butterfly Friends Preschool in Brikama in 2008 along with 29 other students. He was a perfectly ordinary kid whom no one paid much attention to—until an incident at the end of his second year.
Back then, at the end of each school year, the top three students in each class received a small gift. Usually, it was a book, a pack of colored pencils, or some other small item that we might not think much of here at home, but which was a cherished token of appreciation for them.
That year, Ismaila also received a gift, but he didn’t show the joy we had expected. Instead, he burst into tears and was completely inconsolable. Finally, Anbjørg took him on her lap and asked what was so sad. Sobbing, he said, “I was supposed to be number one, but then I ended up being number two.”
It wasn’t exactly the end of the world, but for Ismaila, it was terrible. He sat on Anbjørg’s lap for nearly two hours. Eventually, he was fine, but from then on, he was Anbjørg’s special “good boy” for the rest of his life. Even then, he showed an incredible will to win, and that has stayed with him ever since. He continued to get good grades and remained number one in his class every year.
Originally, his big dream was to become a pilot, but during his senior year of high school, his interest in soccer began to take over. There, too, he excelled. He was noticed both locally and nationally, and now he’s taken the leap into the big leagues. It was a proud young man who sent Anbjørg a message saying, “I’ve now signed my first professional contract with the soccer club AC Horsens in Denmark.”
Butterfly Friends is proud and happy for this wonderful young man, whom we had the pleasure of helping along the way. Now he’s well on his way to a brilliant soccer career. We can only congratulate him most warmly and wish him all the best moving forward.
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