PARIS – A Muslim migrant from Mali, nicknamed “Spiderman” after scaling a building to save a child last May, had his first day at a new job with the Paris Fire Brigade, CNN reported.

Mamoudou Gassama’s remarkable rescue effort didn’t only win him internet stardom — but French citizenship and a job as well.

The 22-year-old guy began his new job last Sunday, July 1, with 23 other new recruits, according to the Paris Fire Brigade’s tweet.

Gassama’s jaw-dropping rescue prompted the French President Emmanuel Macron to invite the young Muslim to the presidential Élysée Palace where he was awarded with a citizenship certificate and a gold medal for his courageous act and dedication.

Gassama told Macron: “I didn’t think about it. I climbed up, and Allah helped me,” Gassama said, adding that when he reached the apartment, he became scared and started shaking.

Recalling the Accident

Speaking to CNN affiliate BFM TV after the rescue, Gassama said he had been in the neighborhood to watch a football match in a local restaurant when he saw the commotion.

“I like children. I would have hated to see him getting hurt in front of me,” he said. “I ran and I looked for solutions to save him and thank Allah I scaled the front of the building to the balcony.”

According to judicial sources, the 4-year-old child’s father was out shopping when the incident occurred.

“The father, who was being investigated for abandoning his parental responsibilities, will be sentenced in September,” a spokesman for the Paris prosecutor said.

Mali, the motherland of Gassama, is a Muslim West African country where Islam represents 95% of its total population according to the CIA Factbook.

Mali enjoys a long history with Islam since the 9th century when Muslim Amazigh merchants brought Islam southward from North Africa.

The Malian cities of Timbuktu, Gao and Kano were and still stand as international centers of Islamic learning throughout the Islamic World.