As a hardworking father of four, Mo knows how to make sacrifices for the better of his family. Mo and his wife Mamum have four beautiful children: Kalou (7), Musa (6), Haja (3), and Bangali (1).
Mo and Mamum’s children enjoy playing basketball and, during their downtime, Mo says they enjoy watching “Judge Judy” as a family.
Mo and Mamum lived in Philadelphia, PA, during their first years of marriage. However, they wanted to raise their kids in a more suburban area. In 2010, Mo moved to Knoxville from Philadelphia to start his own business – an African grocery store. Mo says that moving to Knoxville and starting anew from nothing was a defining moment in his life.
Mo’s family owned a grocery store in Philadelphia, which was beneficial to making connections in Knoxville. During his first year of settling, working two jobs, and launching the store, Mo worked to establish a place for his family to live.
Mo and his family reside in the three-bedroom apartment provided by government subsidized housing. Currently, one of the main housing challenges for Mo’s family is that the government will soon make residents move out of this housing to conduct some repairs. Mo says that, with the help of Knoxville Habitat, he hopes to avoid the stressful moving so that his family will only have to move once before moving into their permanent home.
“I didn’t think that it was even possible for me to get a house at this stage in my life,” says Mo.
As a second generation American, Mo works hard to provide stability for his family. He believes the stability of homeownership will be the beginning of his hard work paying off. Mo says that having a house will motivate him to work even harder and make sure that he provides the best for his family.
Through the Knoxville Habitat program, Mo met other homeowners that have gone through the same process. He is known for being supportive and often joins them on their builds and home dedications.
“One of the best parts of working with Habitat is knowing that you are not alone. Habitat doesn’t just hand it to you. You are working hard with them, which makes it more valuable.”