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I feel I am a citizen of the world.
Nowhere, not in Germany, in Romania, in Guinea, did I ever think
of my colour. It is as if I had no colour. I do not see colour. I see the
person...
I would not say that spirituality is important in my life.
Rather, it is truth, values, principles. I am a person who has a sense of
justice.
Remarks recorded during an interview.
Mamé Gamamy was born in Bucharest, Romania, of a Guinean father and a
Romanian mother. She lived until the age of three in Bratovoesti, in southwest
Romania, then in Greece for a year and next in Munich for 17 years. She speaks
French, English, Romanian and German. Mamé recalls the harmony that
characterizes the relationship between her parents: "When I see them
together, they are speaking to each other in French, in German, in Romanian.
There is a whole world in our house. I am the mixture of these three cultures.
" In 2002, for the first time, she set foot on the soil of Guinea
with
her father. During this journey, through her father's story, Mamé
understood "what it is to be Guinean. What it is, also, to be Guinean
in a foreign country. He showed me where he lived. How difficult it was to
leave there and come to Europe."
In 2002, during her first stay in Montreal, Mamé fell head over heels
in love with the city. She decided to move there and complete her studies.
"It is not only a city. It is truly multicultural. It is the city
where
I want to live," she says. In 2003, she enrolled in Journalism and
Political Science at Concordia University. "I chose journalism
because
I said to myself that in the media, Africa is always shown in a negative way.
There is only war, poverty, squalor. I want to show the other side: the beauty
of this continent." At Concordia University, she demonstrated her
commitment as an activist in the organization Journalists for Human Rights,
becoming its president. "To be a journalist for human rights is to
create a consciousness of Africa in the media, with the help of African
journalists. Not everyone lives as we live in Canada!"
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