Aissatou DIALLO

It is the most beautiful day of her life. After a two-year exchange between her father and mother, after a first refusal from the school director because of her “advanced” age, she entered school. The first obstacles to her schooling did not prevent her from experiencing a successful education.

Mrs. Aïssatou Diallo was born in the Fouta Djallon, in a loving family surrounded by a breathtaking landscape. Her father, a religious and cultural authority, was gentle, calm and thoughtful. His mother, more extroverted and proud, had an astonishing wisdom.

She met her husband in Halle. They were both students at the time, having come to study in the former German Democratic Republic in the 1960s. They have three children of whom they are very proud and to whom they did not forget to inculcate the Guinean culture, the Fulani language and many other values.

Since November 2022, Ms. Aïssatou has been writing her autobiography to share her experience and to call on Afrodescendants to get involved. In the lyricism of her style that recalls her Fulani origins, she shares her life experience, made of fights, resistance, strength… In short, a life for others.

Ms. Diallo’s high academic achievement allowed her to travel to Germany to continue her studies. After her early years in East Germany, she migrated to Paris and then to Lille, France, where she arrived in 1973 during the Cold War. Despite the many challenges she faced, she demonstrated extraordinary resilience.

Mrs. Diallo had a successful career as a teacher of chemistry, German language and literature. She is one of those migrant women who were able to assert themselves at a time when women were reduced to housework. She taught for 38 years in Leichlingen until her retirement. Today, she is very happy to meet her former students: ‘Recently, a learner who met me told me that I was one of her best teachers. This made me very happy.

In 2007, Mrs. Diallo received the Agenda Prize awarded by the Foundation in recognition of her impressive work for the betterment of life, education and living conditions in her country. It is also a reward for the numerous classrooms and hospitals built by the foundation. She is not only rewarded for her commitment to the NGO Bridge e.V. but also for sharing her experience with her students. Indeed, many of Ms. Diallo’s former students are now proud to have had her in their school career. Her tutoring was not only focused on chemistry but also on advising her students.

Not wanting to let history repeat itself and see young girls in her country miss the chance to go to school, Mrs. Diallo has been committed since 1987 to the education of children and especially girls in Guinea Conakry. This is what motivated the creation of the association Bridge e.V. which builds schools, clinics and provides real support to the students in Guinea. After all these years away from home, and while still living in Germany, Ms. Diallo is thinking about her homeland. A return to Africa to which she particularly invites the African Diaspora: “Africans, wherever you are in the world, you must know that you have a duty towards your country of origin; you must be the first help and the first aid for your country.