My Friend, Adama Diawara, lives in Bamako, the capitol city of Mali. He is about fifty years old and was born in Liberia. Adama is a devout Muslim and has three wives and about thirty children. He does not speak French, the colonial language of Mali, and is essentially illiterate. He farms millet and other crops on a ten acre tract outside Bamako. The average annual salary in Mali is about $150 (US). That is about $12 a month. Adama earns a little more than that from selling his farm crops and from selling African Art.
In May 2001, Adama (the name means "first born") guided my ex-wife, Collette Fortin, and I around Mali; in particular, to the Dogon country in eastern Mali, near the Bandiagara Escarpment and to the ancient town of Djenne with its mud mosque. Adama became our very good friend during that one week.
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The Dogon village of Tirelli at
the base of the Bandiagara Escarpment
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The mosque at Djenne
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On September 11, 2001, my ex-wife stayed home from her workshop studio in Tribecca, in Lower Manhattan, for no particular reason. To Adama, New York City is a village, just like those he has seen in West Africa.
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After the second plane hit the
World Trade Center, I received a shouting telephone call:
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"This is Adama Diawara – I only have sixty seconds on this phone card – is Collette all right?" |
I reassured him that she was safe with me and thanked him for his concern. Only then did I realize that he has spent almost a month's wages – $12 – to find out if his friend Collette was safe from the terrorists' attack. We have no better friend in the world than Adama Diawara.
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Other Photos from our trip to Mali:
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| Collette climbing a Dogon ladder onto a shepherd's hut to the consternation of Adama and our Dogon guide. |
Adama's Farm
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