When the two of them are finally able to leave Dubai, Ismaila Ndiaye said he wants his friend from Switzerland to come visit for the Indy 500.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — From his three-day business trip to now a week-long stay and counting, Ismaila Ndiaye is still in Dubai.
“I mean little frustrating and life things happen,” Ndiaye said. “You know, no matter what, as long you have your health, you can work, what they say, what doesn’t kill you make you stronger.”
He hopes his third attempt home, on March 15, is the charm.
“That was little little bit off, say the 15th. Well, it’s about another ten more days, so try to find different way to get out. But there’s not so and I’m not the only one in here,” Ndiaye said. “That’s what I’m worried about. One more week, I’ll just try to find a way to get out of here. I do not want to sit here for another week. Definitely that. I want to get back home, see my family, my wife. She’s not sleeping.”
Ndiaye’s wife, Julia Pettigrew, spends five hours a day on the phone to try to find a way to bring her husband home.
“That’s been kind of a struggle. Actually, it’s been a nightmare, pleading for someone to help,” Pettigrew said.
She hopes her husband can fly home sooner if possible.
“We’re still patiently waiting amongst everyone else, that’s still there waiting too so. It’s kind of hit or miss. It’s kind of like a waiting game,” Pettigrew said. “I’m very, very disappointed in the United States. I felt that they have let us down. I feel like they could do more, and I feel like they had no plan, no exit. They didn’t even consider, um, Americans abroad, and I think that’s terrible.”
Pettigrew said her husband needs to get back to their family business, Oil Palace Indianapolis.
“I urge Congress, the United States of America, the president to do more. They need more to help our people come home. They have families. They have lives they wanna get back to,” Pettigrew said. “We’re sad, but you know once again we have faith, so I have faith more in God than I do America, period.”
She’s relieved that Ndiaye isn’t all alone across the world.
“I can give my gratitude to that young man, and I’m…I’m sure it’s, it helps him too because it’s his first time being there in Dubai,” Pettigrew said.
Ndiaye said he’s befriended a young man from Switzerland, Rocco Bene, who’s also stuck in Dubai.
“It is unreal. I cannot leave nowhere without him. We go have breakfast. We went the coffee shop. Have breakfast together. We have dinner together. We hang up just like my daughter. He’s my angel,” Ndiaye said.
“Yeah, we family now,” said Rocco Bene.
Both men staying positive in the most challenging of times.
When it’s all over, Ndiaye wants his friend from Switzerland to come visit for the Indianapolis 500.
“I want to get back home. I miss my Naptown,” Ndiaye said.