It is not easy asking a man who has lost 12 members of his family, including aunts and uncles, how he is coping, particularly when the same ferry disaster also cost the lives of many of his friends and more than 1,000 compatriots.
Aliou Cissé answers with astonishing sang-froid. Only when the Birmingham City midfielder describes his trip back to Senegal, where two weeks ago he played in a friendly international against Nigeria to raise money for the families of the victims, does his voice betray emotion.
"It has been - it is difficult, right up until now when I am talking to you," Cissé said. "When you lose 12 people from your family it's not easy. It's not easy.
"Life is like that. I am a believer, and I think it was meant to happen like this. The week in Senegal before the Nigeria game was so hard, though. I couldn't sleep. Maybe I have a character that allows me to deal with certain things, but around me were tears. Around me was deep unhappiness."
Cissé's strength of character is a pulsing reality. After Le Joola sank off the west African coast he kept quiet about his loss for almost a week, turning up to Birmingham's training sessions with a smile on his face, to "protect the group from my state of mind.
"That week I kept it all to myself, and we won [against West Ham], and I think that really made an impact on the fans."
Those fans are now doing their upmost to treat their new hero with the same respect: for today's visit of Manchester City they will display a giant Senegal flag, and next week, when Bolton are visitors to St Andrews, there will be a collection for the victims' families.
"What they are going to do [today], I don't want to say anything about it other than thank you, thank you so much," Cissé says.
"The people close to me have helped me a lot, but Birmingham has too. The players have helped a lot by staying close to me, by talking to me. Steve Bruce and his assistants were really there for me, and what the supporters are doing and have done has moved me."
It seems as if in the four short months after Cissé leapt to everyone's attention with a series of masterful displays while captaining his country at the World Cup, a surprisingly deep tissue of affection has been knitted between the former Paris St-Germain midfielder and his new club.
Cissé has convinced everyone of his worth both on and off the pitch, and the feeling is mutual.
He has nothing but praise for the team manager, Bruce - "a winner, so we have the same temperament" - and the fans who chanted his name after 10 minutes of his debut against Arsenal. "It made my heart go warm, I got a crazy amount of pleasure out of it."
But Cissé has not thoroughly succumbed to a blue-tinted view. But as befits a man who has played at PSG, he is aware of his current side's shortcomings. "We mustn't forget that this will be a very, very difficult year for Birmingham," he says.
"I think in terms of experience and even in terms of the team itself, we are a little bit below the other Premier League teams. But with the desire we have and the tactics the coach gives us, we manage to be a team that is very difficult to manoeuvre, that is very dif ficult to play against. If we manage to save ourselves this year, I think that the years to come will be much happier ones for Birmingham."
These last few weeks have been anything but happy yet Cissé chose to return to play today, even after Bruce had given him indefinite leave. His explanation is simple: "I didn't want to be alone. When I get back home, I am really unhappy. I am not good, because I am cut off from the rest of the world.
"It's not easy. I said to myself I couldn't stay there, alone. I had to be here, where I could run, train, meet people. I really had to get out of the house, and where could I go? The stadium was the obvious choice."
Today, when Cissé and his support act take on Manchester City in that stadium he will receive an ovation that will, if only for an instant, warm his heart once more.