Autumn Years Fall 2024

Kathleen “Hadja” Henkel and N’Nassady Keita are joined in marriage but separated by the Atlantic. They share their lives six months at a time when she travels to their home, “Chez Hadja Black,” outside of Conakry, the capital of Guinea in West Africa.

T elling the story at her home in Oakland, the barefoot 81-year old Henkel prepares a generous lunch for a visitor, featuring a chicken salad sandwich, quinoa and green salads and Caribbean tea. Very health oriented, she says, “Food in Africa is real food. Food is like a pharmacopeia.” Referring to her own style as well as African tradition, she says, “If people come to your house you give

affirms her participation. The PopCap site reported that proceeds of $92,577 would enable Charity: Water to build 18 new wells that each would provide 250 people in developing nations with clean drinking water for at least 20 years. Water is not always available in all parts of Guinea, mainly due to seasonal fluctuations in rainfall. Her house has water when they can carry it in buckets

them food.” From her newly renovated kitchen, she talks about the skill of women who prepare food in her Conakry house because it does not have a kitchen. “Everyone comes together to prepare meals, and they say ‘wontanara,’ which means ‘we are together’,” Kathleen explains. Every kitchen needs water, and water is in short supply there, so it is one of

from a local source or from neighbors willing to share. Then the water is put into a large kiln-like storage barrel and into large blue water barrels. At the house, they use buckets to bring the water where it is needed, whether to the meal preparation area or to the toilet tank. This is her second house in Guinea, as the first one had problems with flooding.

her causes. In 2012, she and a woman in London participated in a PopCap Games online Solitaire Blitz marathon, playing for 30 hours to benefit Charity: Water (www. charitywater.org/). She played at a desk displayed behind full-length glass windows at Lexington Avenue and 47th Street in New York City, in full view of tourists. Her Guinness Book of World Records certificate

Crossing the ocean that separates Kathleen and N’Nassady contributes to the challenge of being together. They have been trying for decades to bring him to the United States but have been thwarted by paperwork snafus and bureaucracy. Consequently, she travels to Africa—just as she did when they first met 21 years ago. Kathleen became interested in Africa

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FALL 2024 I AUTUMN YEARS