PROVIDENCE JOURNAL - For Bryant hoops player and his wife, from Senegal, Christmas is part of living the American Dream
PROVIDENCE JOURNAL
December 25, 2009
For Bryant hoops player and his wife, from Senegal, Christmas is part of living the American Dream
By KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer
See a video of the couple discussing their life in America
SMITHFIELD - Faced with the all-important task of buying a Christmas present for his young wife, Papa Ousmane Lo is coming up empty.
It's less than a week before the holiday and Lo knows time is
running short. A sophomore center on the Bryant University
basketball team, Lo's time is divided these days between taking
final exams dominated by Bryant's difficult math curriculum, going
to basketball practice and planning for an upcoming road trip to
New York to play St. John's.
"I have no idea what to get her," Lo says. "I tell her not to give me anything but right now, I don't know what to give. Nothing big, something simple."
Lo's wife, Moumy Diop, says she loves Christmas in Rhode Island. While Papa hates the snow, Moumy thinks it's beautiful. She enjoys the colorful lights and is amazed at the hyperactivity at area malls. Money is short, however, so her best gift will be something simple, too.
"He told me just to buy him some ear warmers," she says with a laugh. "I wish I could buy him all sorts of things but we are just students. I would like to wrap myself in a Christmas bag and give it to him."
"That would be great!" Papa shoots back with a wide smile.
That Papa and Moumy are together, living in a small, three-room apartment a mile from Bryant's campus, is the best Christmas gift of all. Ever since he came to the United States from Senegal in 2005, Papa and Moumy have lived apart. Now they are together, happy and trying to live the American dream.
Papa Lo was born in Diourbel, Senegal, but moved to the small city of Thies when he was a young boy. He's the youngest of five children and his parents, Pathe and Fatou Sarr, both stressed education in their family. Lo's father was a career educator who taught in local schools and now is an inspector in the education system.
