Model behaviour

• Source: Global Times
• [23:25 September 30 2009]
• Comments

Kargbo delivering relief supplies to earthquake victims. Photos: courtesy of Maria Kargbo

By Guo Yong'en

With her Chinese song "Marry a Chinese Man", Mariatu Kargbo, also known as Maria, has captured the hearts of people in China, Africa, and in the African expat community.

Since 2004, Kargbo's celebrity expanded from being the 4th runner-up in the Miss Kite Beauty Pageant in Weifang to representing her country, Sierra Leone in the upcoming Miss World 2009.

Kargbo is not just an icon in the pageant world, but also features in many magazines and local television programs. In 2007, she won the popular talent show Super Star, broadcast by CCTV. She was bestowed with the title "lustrous black pearl."

Besides being known as a Miss World competitor, model and singer, 24-year-old Kargbo is also known as "Mama" or "Africa Mother" in the African communities both in China and Sierra Leone.

This philanthropist has immersed herself in charitable services to the needy. "My dream is to be the biggest ambassador to help people," she says.

The exotic singer produced two albums in 2005 and 2008. Much to her surprise, her first album, Mama Africa, became a bestseller in Africa. With her unexpected windfall, she characteristically decided to give back to the people in Sierra Leone by donating all the money she earned from the album.

Earthquake aid

Kargbo's generosity is not limited to the people in her country, but also extends to the Chinese people.

In May 2008, Kargbo was among the first group of volunteers to travel with the soldiers to give aid to the victims of the earthquake in Sichuan Province.

"I contacted the Red Cross right away but they didn't want me to go because it was too dangerous," she says.

"But I didn't care because China is my home and I wanted to help the people here." Shortly after the conversation, Kargbo arrived in Sichuan on the second day after the earthquake.

Since most of the roads were ruined, rescuers had to trek up the shattered mountainsides to deliver supplies to the victims. Without any proper training in climbing, Kargbo carried 10 kilos of supplies on her back and slogged through the mountains back and forth for five hours.

She couldn't walk for three days after the climb and was asked to go back to Beijing to rest. She insisted on staying and eventually was assigned to help at a big hospital in Chengdu.

It did not take too long for the people to love her as she quickly learned everything she needed to help the patients.

"When I was there, I just knew where everything was right away," she says. "Everyone was so happy that I was there." Besides assisting the medical teams, Kargbo tried to give as much consolation as she could to individual patients.

"Many of them wanted to give up their lives because they were in so much pain," she says. "But I was there to comfort them, telling them that they would be fine. Not only that, I sang to them. When they heard me sing, they would take their medicine."

Kargbo helped out in the hospital for seven days, but she was getting by on only one chocolate bar and a bowl of noodles every day. Lack of rest and proper nutrition forced her to return to Beijing.

Regardless of her own health, she flew back to Sichuan a few days later. She says, "they needed me there more than I needed myself for those two weeks

Model behaviour

• Source: Global Times
• [23:25 September 30 2009]
• Comments

Kargbo performing on CCTV. Photos: courtesy of Maria Kargbo

Desire to succeed

Kargbo's love for the Chinese people started when she was on the way to compete in the Miss Kite Beauty Pageant in 2004. On the train she became ill from appendicitis. A Chinese woman, later to become Kargbo's 'Chinese mother,' came up and offered her help.

"She didn't know me and I couldn't speak any Chinese," she says. "But she helped me with everything. She took me to the hospital and paid for all the fees and charges. She gave me food and accompanied me the whole time I was there."

"From then on, I just knew that China would be my final destination in life."

Kargbo's desires to be her brothers and sisters' keeper come from the hardship she endured in her childhood. She was born and raised in a poor environment in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Her father passed away when she was one month old.

After her father's death, her mother was unable to cope with the newborn. Her other siblings were able to live with aunts or uncles, but Kargbo had to live with her stepmother and three other stepsiblings. Forced to mature while still very young, she took on the responsibility for supporting her family at the age of eight.

"I bought four packs of ice blocks from the market every day and then put them into a big bucket of tap water," she says. "If I didn't do that, we would have no money." Kargbo sold cups of cold water on the street for one-cent Leone. Her cups of water paid for all the living expenses in the family and for her schooling.

"It was really hard for me because many of my friends were rich and they lived in big houses. Sometimes I wanted to live in their place," she says, becoming a little teary-eyed. "That's why I always wanted to be a doctor or a police officer so that I could be rich."

Singing star

With her cheerful and assertive personality, Kargbo's talents were discovered when she was 10 years old. "A group of white men just came to our school and they asked us who could sing," she says. "I was very young so I wasn't shy to raise my hand and started to sing and dance…everyone was stunned when they heard me sing."

She joined a performing group, and started to travel abroad to other African countries, and even Australia and England. After performing in China with the rest of her group, she was later invited back to take part in the Beauty Pageant.

It is also Kargbo's dream to bring the cultural heritage of Africa and China together to improve social harmony. To achieve that, she participates in Chinese cultural activities including Chinese operas, a performance with Jackie Chan at the Beijing National Stadium and guest spots on CCTV shows.

"I love China. People here are great and they are very nice to me," Kargbo says. "This is my home!" It is her conviction that people would be more respectful and take better care of one another if they found a new home in China, even though she has not yet succeeded to "marry a Chinese man!"