About Mamadou

Mamadou, 13, lives in Oxford. Until three years ago he lived in France, so he speaks French and English. Mamadou is Muslim, and he celebrated the festival of Eid (known as Tabaski in Senegal) with his family in Senegal, a country in west Africa. He also met up with his best friend, Bouna...

Find out what sport Mamdou likes playing in his free time .

Mamadou's diary

Sunday 17 February
At the airport I was really excited. I was going to see my family in Senegal again. And I was going to see one of my best friends, Bouna. But mosquitos, flies and the heat were going to be annoying! While eating my sandwich in the small restaurant, I thought about the villages and the different way of life in Senegal.

Monday 18 February
The plane left some of our bags in France! We had to wait ages at the airport and when we finally made it to my friend's house he wasn't there. I was disappointed because I knew that the next day he'd be at school.

Tuesday 19 February
My mum, my sister Madina and me went to Bouna's father to have breakfast. He called it 'An English breakfast for a fresh morning !' I was glad because my stomach had started to rumble! So I ate as much as I could!

While drinking my milk, I remembered I was about to go to a fishing village. I was sure the people would be nice, but the smell of fish...?

It was actually better than I expected. The children showed me how to catch fish and what games they liked to play. Afterwards, I went back to Bouna's house. I was excited. I was finally going to see Bouna after two years. I felt proud that I had come to Senegal. Everything seemed to have changed. It seemed bigger.

Click here to find out what Mamadou did next

Return to the Rooted splash page here

I hadn't seen Bouna (on the right) for two whole years

I helped the fishermen pull their boats out of the sea