The many lives of Cheikh Diattara

There are stories that can fill you with emotion, leaving you full of wonder. And the story of Cheikh Diattara, 46, is one of them. Djembé player, national basketball player as well as a tailor, he arrives in Italy from Diender, a small village 2 hours from the capital Dakar, in Senegal: he grew up there until 2013 when he then arrived in Salerno, where he landed with the company Handyrhythm, a group of musicians doing stunts with crutches and wheelchairs. Cheikh was one of them, he too has been using a wheelchair since he was a child: he contracted polio when he was 8 years old.

«When I arrived in Salerno, however, things didn’t go as I had hoped and everything fell apart quickly. I had the contact details of a friend in my pocket and when I called him, explaining that I would have to quickly find something else to do, he, knowing that I was playing in Africa, offered me basketball: he too was in a wheelchair and he also played in a team. And so I left for Milan and they hired me to play for the Cantù team. That same friend then helped me find a place in the San Marco solidarity centers and so a new life began».

After three years in reception centers, giving himself always busy, Cheikh Diattara he managed to have a house and found a more structured job: «When the basketball championship was over, I stayed there doing nothing and it was hard for me to sit on my hands. I needed to find more constant employment. Meanwhile, in that free time, I went to Parco Sempione to play with friends – I love the djembé, my drum – and one day a girl stopped to listen to us with whom I started chatting and who offered to help me».

That girl is called Valeria Zanoni and she is her keystone: communication expert, she really supported him in making his dreams come true: «I’ve always wanted to be a tailor, I wanted to help the kids in the Center Handicapes of Dakar, where I lived after I fell ill with polio and where I learned everything I know how to do».

So Valeria has an idea: why not open something together? And that’s how, just before the lockdown, she was born KeChic, a small social tailoring, based in via Pepe, in the Isola district, in Milan. “The boys of Center Handicapes from Dakar they send us the fabrics and we then pack the garments here trying to make cuts with a more European aesthetic. We use wax fabrics mostly for the linings, some details, the edges, the collars and the hoods: a collection that is being liked».

And so, with a needle and thread, Cheikh began to weave his future: «My dream is to continue working in fashion: I would like our tailoring to grow, to become a big brand. I wish I could give other people in need the opportunity I had. I have to thank Valeria, who always pushes me forward, who made the impossible possible».

And these many lives of his have become a book, And now I tell you about Cheikh, Master of Happiness (Beisler editore), written by Emanuela Nava with illustrations by Anna Sutor: «I leafed through the book and reviewed my life. Those pages give me even more energy, they give me the courage to face tomorrow. My grandmother Apsa, when I was little, she told me not to see myself as sick, not to focus on my weaknesses. “Cheikh”, she told me, “your name means Master”».

And certainly not a few lessons can be learned from this story of his.