The Basket Baby

Greetings are very important in Senegal. On meeting someone, one is expected to ask how the person is, how their family is and how the children are… even if you don’t know them. We take the time to do this every time we visit our villages but when we arrive at one village, there is always an additional question. The weavers clutch their breasts and ask after the ‘basket baby.’ Emma found our first village with her 4-month baby daughter in tow. She proceeded to visit the village every two weeks, always with babe in arms. The Senegalese love children and adored the fact that Emma took her daughter on a six hour round trip to rural Senegal to discuss sizes, colours and shapes of Alibaba baskets.

 ‘Basket baby’ is about to turn 3 and no longer lives in Senegal but on my last visit, I gesture her height and waddle round imitating her, to peels of laughter – they can’t believe she can be that big. To our weavers, she will forever be the blond basket baby.