The very sad story is that this fire killed eight children and one adult. The relationships are hard to untangle, but Mr. Magassa brought one wife to the States years ago, produced seven kids, and acquired another wife and four more kids while living in NYC. Five of the dead children were with his number one wife, and the other three kids were the children of Mr. Magassa's cousin who also lived in the house. Altogether there were 22 people (including 17 children) living there.
The parts of the story ringing my alarm bells are, in part:
1. Why is he allowed to have two wives?
2. He is doing well enough to be overseas "on business". Why does his family have to live in an overcrowded fire trap?
3. The ususal unease about the shariah lifestyle being supported and encouraged in the USA. |
Moussa Magassa's tan brick townhouse in the Highbridge section of the Bronx didn't look like much from the outside.
But to fellow immigrants from the West African nation of Mali, it stood out as a mini-Ellis Island. Over steaming plates of spicy lamb and rice, Magassa helped streams of new immigrants from his impoverished homeland find papers, a place to stay or simply a way to survive another week in a cold and unforgiving land. "This guy, we call him the chief because he was the first one to come here," said Moussa Dukuray, a family friend. "He is responsible for everyone who came after him. People would come to him, and he would always help them."
When a countryman needed immigration papers, Magassa, who imports and exports cars, helped find a lawyer. If they lost a job, he helped them pay the rent. If anything went wrong back in their region, he called a community meeting - and no one needed to ask twice where it would be held.
Yet when it was his hour of desperate need, Magassa was thousands of miles away - helpless to save his own family when a deadly fire swept through his home, near Yankee Stadium. Magassa, whose two wives and nearly a dozen children lived in the building, was racing back from Mali, where he was traveling on business. Five of Magassa's children died in the blaze. His wife, Manthia, had the wrenching task of identifying the children's bodies.
"Like any father, he's very sad," said Bourema Niambele of the High Council of Mali, a community group of which Magassa was treasurer. "But we are Muslims and when something bad happens we have to have faith in God."
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