On a typical weekday afternoon, Masjed Deyaue is alive with the sound of children studying English,Arabic, and Islam. But on a recent visit to the mosque at W. 172nd Street and Jesup Avenue, there were no students present, and the main sound one could hear was adults talking to each other as they performed construction work on the larger of two classrooms. Mosque members had knocked down the walls surrounding the room, partially in order to remedy leaking pipes and replace sheetrock. But there was another reason for the repairs: to create just a little extra classroom space for the students.

Currently, Masjed Deyaue, whose members are predominantly Malian and Gambian, is in the midst of a campaign to acquire a new, and bigger, location for its after-school programs. Dawood Ndure, the secretary of Masjed Deyaue and a member of the mosque, estimated that the facility hosts 80 children per day on weekdays and 130 children per day on weekends. Children are packed into a space that- according to Mody Fofana, an assistant to the mosque's Imam, Moussa Zaidy Wague-is roughly equivalent in size to two bedrooms and a living room. Teachers must therefore provide instruction to first graders, high-schoolers, and all grades in between at the same time.

"It's very difficult," Ndure said, "because sometimes we don't even reach the majority of them."

Hama Issabre, a Koran instructor at Masjed Deyaue, said the space between the mosque's two classrooms is small enough that students learning English can hear those studying Arabic; and vice-versa.

Issabre said that the after-school programs at Masjed Deyaue were vital to young Muslims in Highbridge for several reasons. For one, he said, it was critical for students to study Arabic and Islam in order to connect with the traditions of their parents, and to follow in their footsteps. Additionally, Issabre said, the programs give students somewhere to go. "If they're not studying when they're finished with school, they're running on the streets," Issabre said.

Masjed Deyaue has been forced to turn away dozens of students: Ndure said there are currently 70 students on the waiting list for classes. In his view, the overcrowding at Masjed Deyaue is a reflection of the "ever-growing" population of Muslims living near the mosque. He suggested that the growth of the Muslim population in northern Highbridge during the past several years could be attributed to several factors, including the services provided by after-school programs at Masjed Deyaue, the presence of PS 199 (a K-5 school) nearby, and the relative proximity to other mosques including the Islamic Cultural Center and the Makky Jamme Masjid.
Ndure and others leading the charge for a new after-school space have their eye on a particular location: The Christian Faith Cathedral, the abandoned, boarded-up, graffiti-covered church on Ogden Avenue and W. 171st Street. "It is where the Africans are concentrated," Ndure said of the neighborhood surrounding Christian Faith Cathedral.

"It's at the central location-students, adults can simply walk there. It also has a parking space next to it." And, of course, it is considerably bigger than Masjed Deyaue. Supporters of a new afterschool space estimate the total cost of purchasing and renovating that property would be $1 million.

But the current owner of Christian Faith Cathedral, Christina Kemp, says she doesn't want to sell the building. "I was going to sell it, but there's something else I think I can do," Kemp said, when this reporter visited her at her apartment on April 18. Kemp said she still wanted to keep part of the structure as a church, and that there were two other prospective buyers ahead of Masjed Deyaue in line.

Ndure said his mosque's drive for a new after-school space began roughly one year ago, right after the Woodycrest Avenue fire that claimed nine children and one mother. He said that because of the outpouring of support across the country for the Soumare and Magassa families, West Africans in Highbirdge became more aware of the services and support that surrounded them, and more inspired to seek assistance .

"We've always had needs, but they [West Africans in Highbridge] could not come out to express it until during this fire, when they saw what America did for them," Ndure said. "And particularly New York City."