Voices of the Valley: Meet Oumou Tangara
From: Burkina Faso, Current City: Eau Claire
Sixteen years ago, in Burkina Faso, I was at work when my little brother called me to come into the city of Bobo because my mother had stopped eating. After a 5-hour drive, I arrived at my mother’s house where she was sleeping. This would be my last visit with her.
She was 87 years old; she often felt it. She was fair skinned with tattooed black lips. That day she was wearing a multicolored dress. She was more beautiful than ever. Suddenly she moved her mouth and opened her eyes. She looked at me and closed them. For me, she was sleeping. She lay peacefully in my arms and closed her eyes. My other brothers and sisters arrived; it was difficult to console each other this moment of pain.
My mother was generous, and she liked to share. She treated all the children the same way and we all ate from the same dish at mealtimes. People came from everywhere for three days after her death for her funeral, which comforted me. Here and there the young people said, “Where am I going to eat? Where am I going to have rice or millet? Where will I get soap? The people said, “Haoua, why did you leave us? May God open the door of paradise for you.”
It was unbearable, sad and despair for me to see my mother die in my arms. I did not believe it; my heart broke with anger. She slept for good. We dressed her in white and accompanied her to her last home.
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