Comfort Aid International

CAI Newsletter – Mar 2023 – B

2023 Ramadhan Iftar Appeal   Philippines Beta Education Center – Photo Update CAI’s 3rd donor-funded school in the Philippines, 81st globally, is well under construction for about 300 students, many of whom will begin school for the first time. Opening May 20th, 2023, insha’Allah. Sharing a few photos. City Of Knowledge School – Photo Update […]

CAI Newsletter – Mar 2023 – A

2023 Ramadhan Iftaar Appeal   Infant Milk For Syria Sohail and I have just concluded a brief but grueling and perilous trip into Syria – Zainabiya, Latakia, and Hasya’a. While the rebuilding of severely damaged homes is beyond the scope of CAI due to the scale of destruction, financial, legal and logistical challenges, there are […]

Mullah Mjanja / A New Novel

Mullah Mjanja I had known Mjanja (an alias, naturally) almost fifty years ago, from my time growing up in Tanga in the seventies. Mjanja means shrewd in Kiswahili. This is a title our friends gave him because he used to be cunning with his teachers, friends, and foes, getting away with daring pranks with the […]

Haazar. Chashm. Agreed.

The blessed month of Rajab is here. There is a deluge of Facebook posts, WhatsApp forwards, and emails extolling me to become more pious and Allah-conscious this month. Our respected and revered aalims, too, are all fired up – recite this and that dua they extoll in sermons, recite ziyaarats, pray these many sets of […]

I Want To Die

Kisukaali, I want to die. These words are from Mullah Mchungu as I sit alongside his bed. I feel safe, as the menacing walking stick that he sometimes brandishes is nowhere in sight. He is ailing again. At just over eighty years old, I’d expect his human engine to have ups and downs, and aches […]

CAI Newsletter – Jan 2023 – A

Lifesaver Blankets Distribution – Syria 3,200 blankets were distributed to Syria’s internally displaced refugees in Hessya, Lattkia and Sayyeda Zainab Districts of Shaam. Sharing photos. Housing Appeal – Sindh, Pakistan CAI is appealing for help to build 200 homes for the devastating victims of the Sindh floods. Each one-bedroom home, with a built-in bathroom and […]