Blogs

There was a time in my adult life when I had to fret about keeping my travel itinerary straight. Where am I going next? Have I have met all the visa requirements? Will I make the connecting flights without bursting my hernia? Is the fare within my increasingly stretched budget? Now, I worry about all…

An Eventful Morning Walk I do a brisk seventy-five minutes (approximately four miles) walk after morning salaat four times a week here in Dar es Salaam. It is quite a pleasant walk, especially now, the non-summer days of East Africa, when the mornings and late evenings are super pleasant. Two refreshing cups of Swahili kahwa…

Mullah Mchungu is in a sour, combative mood. He sits on his ancient recliner provocatively clutching his walking cane, glaring at me through newly acquired eyeglasses that look as antique as the guy himself. This and the goofy, dazzlingly white, permanently smiling dentures give him a comic demeanor. I’m not sure if I should be…

Maaha Zainab, my 20-year-old is visiting from Orlando; it’s her second visit to Tanzania after a gap of some ten years. She takes on to the country like a thirsty bee to elephant dung in the dry season, when water is sparse and elephant dung offers abundant moisture. These bees then go on to pollinate…

CAI has many donors who prefer to remain to be anonymous, staying on the sidelines but stepping in when there is a cash crunch to see a project through. These are people, some of whom I have not met, ever, drawn to help CAI projects after reading my Blogs or looking at the photos/videos of…

Moosa And Me – A Reunion Forty-eight years ago, when I am sixteen, Moosa comes into my family’s life. He, too is sixteen, a young, healthy, and strong African lad. He works as a house boy at home and does what is told with a ready smile. Since we are the same age, we kid…

Blast From The Past I make a quick trip to the hillside resort of Lushoto within the Usambara mountain range, the Switzerland of Tanzania, just before Ramadhan begins. For three days, accompanied by Zamina and Zuhair, my nephew Mohammed’s kids, and Ali Merali and Dadima, I become a teenager once more. Being with a bunch…

Nasra, My Latest Daughter I notice Nasra sleeping on her back, arms raised, as if in surrender, her torso exposed to the elements, a stone throw away from the Khoja mosque here in Dar es Salaam. There is no air-conditioner, no fan, of course. There is no mattress. No pillow. No blanket. no mosquito net…

Such Is Life I must visit India and Bangladesh, to hell with the bloody Doodoo. It’s been over a year since I was there; compliance audits for CAI projects in both countries await me. I especially long to meet the 200 Rohingya orphans at their ramshackle camp outside Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, again. CAI donors have…

Felled By Two Accursed M’buus Let me relate to you the story of two m’buus, may Allah curse them until the day of reckoning. Now, you cannot hurry me up. This story must be told at my pace, the way I want it. So, I suggest you make yourself a cup of chai, or coffee,…

So, I’m in steamy, soupy Dar es Salaam at the moment, settling in for a few months so that I can do justice to the ongoing CAI projects. It is the first time in almost a year that I fly Emirates. The airline has suddenly become overly generous, extending my Platinum tier miles for two…

Mullah Mchungu And The Super Bowl I am well rested from my trip to East Africa where cases of the Doodoo are on the up and up once again, especially in Tanzania. The increase in the death toll within the Khoja community in Dar es Salaam has prompted the powers-to-be to be extra vigilant and…

An orphan’s Baba I am done with the fun and adventure in Vietnam and Cambodia, and although my injured leg from the bicycling accident in Vietnam is still giving me throbbing intermittent grief, I find myself, accompanied by fellow CAI Trustee Sohail Abdullah on an airplane heading to Kabul. Joining us are well-wishers Shaida from…

Happy New Year? The year 2020 is history. Unprecedented in the misery and death it spewed. I don’t believe my ancestors going back 100 years experienced anything like this past year, where the very air we breathe is suspect. Friends and family greet me on New Year’s Day with a chirpy happy new year and…