Monday 14th July 2014
Interview by Lia Green

The Mayor of Chesterfield, Cllr Alexis Diouf, has been in post for two months and says that he is thoroughly enjoying the experience so far.

Talking to The Chesterfield Post in his parlour last week, he told Lia Green that being Mayor of Chesterfield has been a huge honour for a boy born in Senegal, before moving to Chesterfield - a town which he says he has been made to feel at home in.

His Worship told us he had wanted to be Mayor, "To pay back people who put so much faith in me, Chesterfield people I see how they value the mayoralty and how they think the mayoralty can make a difference to their lives and I wanted to be part of it, to put back something into the community that had put faith in me! Coming from outside it could have been totally different, but for one reason or another they have put faith in me.

"I enjoyed the Mayor's parade - someone told me it's the best they've seen for a while, and the church was full. People of Chesterfield value their tradition and, for me, the service was a poignant reminder that people value the tradition. The rooms were full of people. It was a day I will never forget."

Cllr Diouf is clear about what he wants to achieve as Mayor, "Coming from a different background, - especially when different backgrounds are seen as a negative (with politics about immigration) - I hope I will be the bridge and people will say not all immigrants are bad.

"There are a lot of people in Chesterfield who are struggling, working in the community to make it better and are not recognised.

"The Mayor is high profile - we don't always get it right - but we want to be there for the people and, again, we can be the bridge, to understand different communities and to make people realise that we all want to make a difference."

Education is a passion for the Mayor, and he explained why he feels so strongly about it, "It opened doors for me. People in the same country who didn't have the fortune to be educated now are struggling. I'm desperate for everyone to have the opportunity to be educated."

Listen to Lia Green's interview with Mayor Diouf in full here...

"Education has always been the key to me, it's not just about degrees - it's about having something which helped to understand the world, to think for yourself - and I have benefitted both from Senegal from my education and also here.

"From 1993 it's been one of my top priorities - to make sure my former primary school has the advantages so every child can have the resources to learn.

"When I hear people say I can't wait to be 16 to leave school, I couldn't understand it. I couldn't wait to go to school! That's why I gave up teaching, as I couldn't understand why people thought that! I have always sponsored other children to succeed in the way I have!"

Talking of his early years in Africa, His Worship was, he told us, born in to "A village of 1,500. My family had a lot of land, which was a marshland - always wet, all year round, so we could grow lots of vegetables.

"We were self-sufficient - we had everything we needed. Gradually, with the droughts, all that is gone. Now, you are lucky to see anywhere where there is water.

"In terms of here it was seen as poverty but if you compared it to now, we were really well off. We didn't have money that is true and this was the problem with education at that time. There were only two people who had an education in my village (the school wasn't built until I was five), because they had relatives in town and they went to live with them.

"When I was six, the catholic missionaries opened a school and I was one of the first to go there. My dad didn't want me to - for him it was a waste of time and he would lose my help in the fields. I would go to the fields but every opportunity I had, I would go to school!

"My mum did everything to put me through school - she did everything to pay for my education - frying fish and everything to pay for it. Although it is hard, each family now has one or two people who are working to help. In rural families you never end up having your head above water. Every family has 30 people who don't work, depending on the wages of one member of the family to survive."

The Mayor added that he carries a part of Africa with him whatever he does, "Every day I discuss things with the youngsters in my own village - tell them what's happening, so I would like to think that I have made a small difference to the lives of those children, as some people made a difference to mine. I will never forget that.

"Yes, I have gone through tough times after the age of 11 - almost a miracle - but I made it. People made a difference - not by giving me things, but by talking to me and telling me things. It helps me keep my feet on the ground. There is no year I haven't been back so it keeps me grounded. I have been one of the lucky ones - to live in two communities and to feel at ease in both!"

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