This is Kassoum, Rakieta's older brother and one of her best friends. He really is a great brother. Kassoum is the only male child in his immediate family so he handles girls pretty well even in a Muslim household. Kassoum is always there it seems to help with the things the girls need. This weekend he took Rakieta out and helped her get her cell phone and set it up for her. He called all the relatives and gave them Rakieta's phone number and in general he is just a good guy. He would like to be a police officer. This year there was only enough money to send one of the kids to high school and the choice was made to send the other sister. It ended up being the wrong decision. In the meantime Kassoum has to wait until next fall to go back to school. Next year we will make sure that Kassoum gets to school because he is a very hard worker and we admire his spirit. This is the only picture we have of him. He is posing with friends to look like American dudes.
I want to take the time to brag a little about Kassoum's English. In the early days after the reunion, Kassoum would take dictation from Rakieta in the tribal language and translate it into English to send to us. Even though Kassoum has never been to an expensive school, his English is actually pretty good. His e-mails to us are always in English and not too bad. Better than some of the folks we know who have been to or are going to very good Burkanabe schools.
Kassoum was born on St. Valentine's day. An important religious day in France and Burkina.
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