Stylish but Serious Senegalese Ambassador’s Wife ‘Wonderful Example for Her Country’ by Gail Scott I remember the first time I met Oulimata Ba, wife of Senegalese Ambassador Amadou Lamine Ba. She was so striking and her face so beautiful that I just stared at her. She introduced herself and gave me such a broad, confident smile that I thought, “This ambassador’s wife could be a model or a movie star.” Recently we sat down to talk in Senegal’s yellow brick contemporary residence near Rock Creek Park. When asked if she knew how strikingly beautiful she was, she simply replied, “Thank you.” “I like to look natural,” she explained, “even though I love makeup. It makes me happy.” Oulimata was once the owner of a beauty salon in Dakar, Senegal’s vibrant seaside capital, and her professional touch still shows. “I love to sew too,” she noted. “For our African Ambassadors’ Spouses Association Gala in 2004, I sewed my own outfit.” During the interview, she wore a beige-and-black animal print caftan and high heels. “I love to dress up—even in the house I always wear high heels,” she said. When this 46-year-old mother of two is out with her 20-year-old daughter Mari eme, they often pass as sisters. “Marieme looks like me, especially when I was single and thinner. She is tall like my father, and when people learn that she is my daughter, they always ask, ‘What age were you when you married?’ “Marieme and I are very close. She is my friend and we go to the movies together, swimming and shopping too,” Oulimata continued. When asked if she and her daughter have the same style, she laughed and explained, “She has all the style, but she likes to pick her own clothes now. She says, ‘Mommy, you have good taste for you.’ “I am very proud of her,” Oulimata added. “She never hides anything from me.” Marieme is home for the summer and busy with a part-time job. Next month she will return for her junior year at Northeastern University in Boston where she is studying economics. Oulimata’s son, 18-year-old Ali, loves basketball and plans to enter the University of Massachusetts this fall and major in engineering. After graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School this past June, he has been doing an internship with Fannie Mae this summer. “Education is first to us,” Oulimata explained. “My father always said that the most important thing is education. I got a professional secretarial degree and my license to practice as an executive secretary.” She worked for four years in a hydraulic systems company before she met Amadou Ba, her cousin’s best friend, “and he helped me get a job in the Ministry of Economics.” The future ambassador always liked “my attitude, my serious nature,” she said. “I was the big girl in my family, the eldest of three sisters, with one older brother and two younger brothers. I loved to study hard. I like math and English. In high school, I liked English better than French and my English teacher was my best friend. She said I was a natural in English.” At her new job in the Ministry of Economics, Amadou “took me back and forth to work, always picking me up in the afternoon. I thought he was just my friend but one day he told me that he was very serious, in love with me. Before he left to study in America, he asked me to marry him, and we talked with our families. He gave me a beautiful Seiko watch as his first gift and $500, sort of a dowry. Then everyone knew we were really dating, and he was not like a brother anymore.” Amadou Ba, who was studying agriculture and biology in Senegal, received a USAID scholarship to study biology abroad at Ohio State University, where he later received his doctorate. “We are Muslim, and we went to the mosque together,” Oulimata said. “Even though I was there and he was here, it was like we were already married.” In 1985, she joined him in the United States. “Marieme was born in Ohio State University Hospital, where my husband was finishing his [bachelor of science degree] in biology,” she said. “I went into labor, and he came to the hospital with me. After Marieme was born, he went right back and took his exam!” The United States was the first country outside of Senegal that Oulimata had ever lived in. “Everything was different,” she recalled.” I had my husband and a new baby, and I found nice people among both the international students and the Americans.” One friend from Columbus who still keeps in touch with the Ba family is Pat Friese. Pat was a member of Columbus International, a city group involved in international exchange programs. Contacted by phone recently, she recounted wonderful memories of their time together and said she is happy to still be in touch with “Ouli.” “I have known Ouli for over 20 years,” Pat said. “She is a wonderful example for her country. She is sparkling, resilient, stylish and very intelligent. “I especially remember her fabulous clothes that she had made…. The materials from home and the designs were all wonderful. She was always a standout.” Oulimata remembers her time in Ohio for different reasons. “When we were in Ohio, I saw snow for the first time,” she said smiling broadly. “I got boots like all the American ladies, gloves too. We got an electric blanket and I thought, ‘This is good’ … I really learned to enjoy the winter here. My daughter learned how to ski.” The very first picture she sent home to her mother was a picture of their car, covered with snow. “She thought I had ice like that everyday,” Oulimata said. Although the Ba family, especially Marieme and Ali, are very accustomed to life in the United States, Oulimata misses her family and her “sister group,” an expanded group of female relatives and friends who get together every month to catch up, eat and dance. “I love to dance,” she said. “And [I love] Senegalese music too.” When I mention Senegalese food, we agreed that the next time we meet we would cook some of her country’s famous dishes, such as poulet or poisson yassa (marinated and grilled chicken or fish), mafe (peanut-based stew) and tieboudienne (rice cooked in fish and vegetable sauce). “It’s spicy food,” she said. “Sometimes when I come back from Senegal, I bring dried shrimp and hot peppers.” Here, she likes to cook grouper and red snapper as her native dishes. Although the Ba family has lived in Ohio and Boston, this is the first time they have lived in Washington. When Amadou was appointed ambassador of Senegal to the United States in the fall of 2002, Oulimata knew she wanted to help her country too. She became very involved in the 20-year-old African Ambassadors’ Spouses Association, which helps needy children and creates housing and educational programs in Africa. More than 55 countries are members, including several Arab countries. “We try and help our African sisters,” said Oulimata. “We meet in different residences, welcome new members, and are a good support system for each other.” When she joined the association, Oulimata helped to strengthen the organization by introducing new accounting methods. She did such a good job that she is now the acting president. According to her husband, Oulimata is “doing an outstanding job with this African Ambassadors’ Spouses Association and helps me with networking in Washington,” he said recently before leaving for a trip to Senegal. “She helps me raise the profile of Senegal, and that is very important.” The next Diplomatic Spouses column will feature Jellie Van Der Steeg, wife of the Dutch ambassador. Gail Scott is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.