a mother-daughter duo on learning to communicate and the importance of standing up for yourself
meet naïlat salama djae and salimata ali chahidi in this mother's day special edition
meet naïlat salama djae and salimata ali chahidi
Salimata and Naïlat have a very close mother-daughter relationship — despite Naïlat’s penchant for talking about her feelings and Salimata’s preference for keeping things to herself. After immigrating from the Comoro islands, where Salimata grew up and where Naïlat was born, they have created a vibrant and comfortable life for themselves in Paris, where Salimata is a social worker helping refugees and Naïlat is a PR manager at Puma. We talked with them about how they learned to communicate with one another, finding the balance between remembering and moving forward, and the importance of standing up for yourself.
“Naïlat: I haven’t been back to my dad’s village since his funeral. It’s hard to organize a visit now that he’s gone.
Salimata: I think she’s also afraid of her memories. She has a real bond to that place that is closely linked to her father.
Naïlat: I had so many good memories with Dad, and there's the fear of making new memories and forgetting the ones with Dad.
Salimata: You won’t forget those memories. I understand, emotionally, it's what you feel with your heart and that scares your brain. We don’t want to make room for new memories because we worry that we’re going to lose our old memories, but on the contrary — if we block things out, we lose more. We lose what’s already in the past and we also lose the opportunity to move forward. We lose the future.”
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