Our host in Nouakchott is Azzedine Ould Daddah, the son of Mauritania’s first and most respected president, Moktar Ould Daddah. During our stay we visit the foundation established in his memory, and meet the foundation’s patron and Azzedine’s mother, Miriam Ould Daddah.
Our concerns that the foundation would be politically motivated were totally unfounded. What we discovered was more than a foundation promoting Mauritania’s rich artistic and cultural heritage, but trying hard to empower the people to move their country forward. Far from being conservative, the foundation espoused through it support of the arts a progressive view of Saharan Africa, of a place where imagination I encouraged, and a vision for Mauritania is actively debated.
Miriam Ould Daddah is, like her son, fascinating company. She is a formidable French lady, a student of history and law, and a lady who not only braved but came to love the wild Saharan landscape of Mauritania. She describes herself as Mauritanian first, French second. No dowager, but an enlightened lady with a real connect with the people that she shares her home. To the foundation, the arts are not for the sake of art, but part of the wider tapestry of culture and personal development.
