New York, A Chance For The Poor?

When I asked Mamabou: “ Are you satisfied with your life?” He looked into the distance and became silent.

Mamabou Dib is an illegal immigrant originally from Senegal, Africa. He sells pictures (the portraits of the New York City and famous American characters) for living. I met him in the Time Square on the corner of 48th street, the same place he has been selling his wares for more than seven years every day. It was already 10:30 p.m.; I was surprised that he worked until late night until he told me that he stays in this spot every day until 12 a.m.

Mamabou’s daily life is simply. He comes to his “place” every day around 11 a.m. to 12 a.m, midnight. He might or might not have a meal during the day. He stays here, at the same location, and waits for customers. He told me that the reason he never moves to other places is because this area is his “place”. Vendors always fight for a better selling location.

I was surprised that police never bothers him. Then he told me he has the vendor’s permit by borrowing it from his friend. Some vendors rent the permits from others, but Mamabou can’t afford of that. Thankfully his friends can help him out.

If you think he earns enough from all of his hard work, you are wrong. The selling price of his pictures is between 1 to 15 dollars each. By selling these, his daily revenue is between 10 to 50 dollars, but the usually averages between 10 to 20 dollars.

Is 10 to 20 dollars enough? Well, let’s do the math. If he makes an average of 30 dollars every day, it would come up to 900 dollars every month. If we subtract 200 dollars for rent and 450 dollars a month on food (if he only spends 15 dollars daily on meals), he is left with only 250 dollars. He also needs to pay water, electricity, and other utility fees as well as buying his pictures from others. What makes his situation even worse? Every month he sends 50 to 100 dollars back to his home country to support his low-income family in Africa.

On top of everything, 900 dollars a month is an optimistic scenario. Frequently his monthly income comes to just 600 dollars. It’s far away from enough.

“Do you feel secure when you live here?” I asked him. “Never.” He simply replied.

He is uneducation. He used work in a cloth factory in Africa, but realized that the wage was not enough to support his whole family. So, he decided to come to the United States because he heard that people make more money here. Even though it is tough, he told me that it’s much better than in Africa.

Last time Mamabou visited his family in Africa was four years ago. Neither Mamabou nor his family could easily get a U.S. visa. They have to be separated by life.

The lucky thing is Mamabou married here recently. However, his wife doesn’t have a job yet even she is trying to find one. The only hope is to have a baby here, which might make their life easier.(Since the U.S. has the policy that once people have a baby here, no matter the nationality of the parents, the child will belong to the U.S. and the government will provide funds to support the child.)

Before I left, I asked him one last question: ‘’How often do you go shopping?” He gave me a bitter smile, and said “Never.”

During the forty minutes interview, no one stops to buy his pictures.