Mariama of The Gambia — The Girl Who Draws a Place for Everyone

Mariama of The Gambia — The Girl Who Draws a Place for Everyone

Age: 15     Region: African Continent

Mariama has opinions about buildings.

Strong ones.

A beautiful building with nowhere shady to sit?

Poor planning.

A school with a courtyard nobody actually wants to spend time in?

Suspicious.

A house with a magnificent front entrance but no comfortable place for everyone to gather?

Mariama would like to speak with whoever designed it.

At fifteen—nearly sixteen, thank you very much—she has begun filling sketchbooks with places she'd rather see.

Homes with wide windows and breezy courtyards.

Schools surrounded by gardens.

Markets with sheltered walkways.

Little libraries tucked into neighborhoods where children could wander in after school.

She draws the buildings, but she always adds the people.

Her younger cousins racing through a courtyard.

An old woman resting beneath a tree.

Friends sitting together long after they've run out of anything important to say.

Because Mariama thinks that's the part people sometimes forget.

Buildings aren't really about buildings.

They're about what gets to happen inside them.

One day, she wants to become an urban designer and help create communities where people don't simply have somewhere to live—they have somewhere to belong.

Her family has learned not to ask what she's drawing unless they have time for the complete presentation.

There will be explanations.

There may be diagrams.

Suggestions are accepted.

Bad suggestions will be respectfully ignored.

She's nearly sixteen, after all.

Mariama knows what she likes.

And she's beginning to understand that perhaps the things she imagines don't have to remain on paper forever.

Her dream: To design welcoming communities where homes, gardens, schools, and gathering places bring people together.

Her wonder: “What if we designed places by first asking how we want people to feel there?”

Discover Mariama’s complete story in Girls Wear Crowns: Dreams Without Limits.

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Fine Art Details:

Premium semi-glossy paper enhances colors with a subtle shine and protects against fading from light or moisture:

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