Comfort Aid International

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 […]

Slipping And Sliding

Slipping And Sliding  Working and traveling for CAI takes me to numerous hot spots in this world and although most of them are dicey, uncomfortable, and sometimes outright dangerous, a recent trip to commission a completely renovated CAI donor-funded school in a remote village in Tanzania is one that I will cherish – for the […]

Pakistani Dairy

Pakistani Dairy I purchase an Emirates ticket to fly me to Multan, Punjab, Pakistan. Emirates gives me a seat on their partner airline, Flydubai because they do not fly to Multan. Flydubai reassigns my seat to a vague airline, Smartwings, an airline based in the Czech. Rather confusing but here I am flying in a […]