The statue is from Niger, made by hand by a gentleman named Hamadou Abdou. As a child, Hamadou was diagnosed with polio, and because he couldn’t play with the other children, he used to watch his grandfather and father who were both artists, but used different mediums, create art. Hamadou always wanted to create; he has hands of gold!

We saw Hamadou’s statues in the office of a travel agent we used in Niger. We inquired where the statues had been made.  It was then that we were taken to a shack to meet the artist, Hamadou.

I never asked him to make this statue; he did it because he wanted to. The statue represents a woman who is thanking God, on her knees, because she is free of fistula and pain. It’s really quite powerful when you know the meaning behind the design.  He uses the “lost wax” method which means each statue is made in clay first. It’s really quite amazing when you watch him creating this beautiful piece of art, by hand.

Hamadou worked in a shack. The city was tearing the shacks down on that road and they insisted that the owners build a suitable place (cement) with a real roof; he was going to be “thrown away” essentially. So I went to the President’s wife to intervene and got Hamadou a proper paper to say he owns the site.  We loaned him money to buy the cement, bricks, and a proper roof. We would not pay for 1 or 2 of each statue we bought. I kept a record, he kept his dignity and slowly he would pay us back, but we knew that would never happen as it would take forever!

Hamadou traveled on a 3 wheeled motorbike. One day, he was hit by a van and his bike was destroyed. He had to be carried to a taxi in the morning and again at night to get from his house to his little shop. This was so horrible, I cannot even put it into words.  We gave him money to buy a bike from Ghana (Niger makes nothing!!) and he outfitted it with 3 wheels and he was okay after that. One day, when we returned to Niamey, after a few months away, we visited Hamadou and paid him for the logo statues, and statues of animals that he also made for our docs and nurses. He was so grateful, and as we walked away he spoke in French to his son (who worked for him) and said, with a great sigh, “now we can eat.” I will never forget that….

On another evening, Hamadou crawled into the hotel lobby (on his knees, using flip flops on his hands), and presented me with a beautiful plaque with the woman and the words “International Organization for Women & Development”. It was carved completely in the bronze and it was framed beautifully! I broke down and cried. I thanked him profusely. He smiled, then crawled away to his motorbike.