Profile: A Humble Bus Driver With Roots in Royalty
Here in New York, James Oladipo Buremoh drives one of the Gray Line New York Sightseeing buses, but back in his native Nigeria, the bus driver comes from royalty. In this audio slide show produced by Pearl Gabel for City Limits and featured in Feet in 2 Worlds, Buremoh explains that he’s a king of his village, where people bow down and call him “your royal highness.”
Instead of living a comfortable life in Nigeria, Buremoh resides in a small apartment in New York. When his son visited recently, he said, he was shocked to see his father living in such humble circumstances.
“He was like, ‘wait a minute, people at home will not believe this,’” Buremoh recalled. “I said, I don’t care if people at home believe anything, as long as my end justifies the means. That’s what matters. I stay here and do what I need to do. I save money, you know, and I take the money home to take care of my family and my people. And that’s what counts. That is what counts.”
what a humble man!