When I looked Moussa Magassa in the face, I knew I was staring at a man living through the worst of possible nightmares. Moussa had lost five of his 11 children in a house fire, and as I talked to him outside his destroyed apartment building in the Bronx, I was worried about what to ask him.
Interviewing people is an integral part of my job, but there is no tougher interview than talking with someone who has suffered like Moussa. That is why his kindness and graciousness were so noteworthy when we asked him how he was handling this tragedy.
The immigrant from the African country of Mali told us that average everyday people were helping him cope. He told us he wanted to "thank everybody in New York City" for being supportive of him and his family.
Like many Muslim men from West Africa, Moussa has more than one wife. He lived in his Bronx apartment with two wives who both survived the fire. One of his wives, Manthia lost five of her seven children. The other four children brought into the world by his wife Aissa all survived.
Polygamy is illegal in the United States, which has made many worry that Moussa and his family could find themselves in legal turmoil. But polygamists have not been prosecuted in this country for decades, unless the marriages involve underage girls.
Moussa spent much of this day in a mosque in his Bronx neighborhood. He was surrounded by dozens of other men as they said their daily prayers. As composed as he seemed to be, Moussa Magassa knows he has never needed God's compassion more than he does now.
