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She took the baby from the student, put the baby on her back in a typical African style and taught the lesson for three hours.
Prof. Ramata with a student’s baby strapped to her back during a lecture series
PEGASUS REPORTERS, LAGOS | DECEMBER 20, 2021
Dress in a denim jean trousers, a shirt and donning a fez cap on her way to work, you’d take her for a casual worker or just a mother going about her daily chores to make the home welcoming for members of the family. But this African-American woman is Professor Ramata; not just another ordinary person on the street.
She is indeed a Professor of Biological Sciences at an American university. She holds a Doctorate and more (obtaining a Doctorate in Science in North America is to be at the pinnacle of planetary knowledge in her field). It should be added that she is an African from Mali.
Let’s get back to the facts, now that the context is well established. This Professor had hit the headlines in the United States by his beautiful gesture, gesture relayed by thousands on Twitter. That day, a student mother who could not find a babysitter for her baby had to come to class with the child. The Malian teacher, instead of sending the student to the door for the child’s crying, was rather taken with compassion … like a real African woman.
She took the baby from the student, put the baby on her back in a typical African style and taught the lesson for three hours.
The child, very comfortable on her back, did not make a single noise during the three hours she gave the lesson. All the students could not believe this magic. Yes, it is magic in this part of the world.
But this Malian professor was unaware that this gesture, for her harmless, was going to make her much more popular than her status as professor of biological sciences. Indeed, she had just taught two African values to students and to the world: sympathy and maternal character.
Sympathy because it was kind enough to allow the student to enter class with a baby who cries every second. Other teachers would have applied the rules by showing the door to the student. As for the maternal character, it is fully reflected in the carrying of the baby on the back, a practice absent in North America. In fact, in the African tradition, women have always carried infants on their backs. We think that there is a fundamental bond, a protection, and a love shared between the baby and his mother.
Yes, you have values to keep and teach the rest of the world!
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