Blogs

Officially, Tanzania has a policy that all travelers entering the country carry a COVID-19 negative certificate. Murtaza Bhimani, CAI’s Africa representative brings this requirement to my attention a few days before I am to take off, putting me into a tizzy, trying to arrange a test. This is not so easy in Florida where the…

I Remember I remember Mama giving me a sumni (half a Tanzanian shilling; worth nothing now) to go purchase a half loaf of bread; a whole bread was a shilling (about US$0.000043 today). It was a karak-crisp white loaf, still kiln-warm, emitting tummy-rumbling aroma, the only variety available for purchase. The bread aisle at Walmart…

Bollywood A lot of us Asians born in East Africa in the fifties, sixties, and seventies were shaped, rightly or wrongly, by Bollywood of India; our paradigms and lives were molded by the images on the large silver screens where actors impacted, to a large extent, our lifestyles and sadly, our family values as well.…

Eid Qurbaani – 2020 COVID-19 Aid In Yemen Made worse by the incessant war and wanton loss of innocent life, the COVID-19 situating in Yemen is horrible and daunting. CAI donors have been, since 2017, committed to food, powder-milk and medical aid for these hapless people. Aid has also been sent for the relief and…

Understanding Dudu Corona… Wash your hands is the default instruction to my daughter Maaha Zainab. Her eyes beseech the skies in farce frustration. Wash your hands, we tell Jae, Zainab’s best friend as she enters home and before every meal. She’s home with us at least three times a week, giving cheer to Maaha Zainab,…

Khojasville It’s been almost three weeks since I moved to Khojasville located in Magnolia Park, Sanford, FL. This alcove is where about 40 Khoja families either own or rent properties. These Khojas, whose ancestry can be traced to Gujarat in Western India but once made East Africa home, share a common religion, culture, and food.…

Do Black Lives Really Matter? – Looking Within Me. (Most) of the world watches in shock and repulsion as three indifferent policemen slowly, deliberately, ebb the life of a black man, George Floyd. Floyd has his hands handcuffed behind him, his face thrust and pinned to one side on a street near a curbside in…

Fataakro Our world of over 7 billion people is a series of stories that, like it or not, connects us. All of us have a tale to tell; me, you, the garbage man emptying my trash onto the waste-truck outside, the stern yelling maulana who I have just finished listening to on YouTube telling me…

One of my favorite TV shows is wildlife documentaries, especially about the wilderness of Africa, the continent I was born in. The brutal nature of the survival of the fittest is fascinating. I always root for the younger vulnerable underdog deer, zebra or wildebeest pursued by a mightier hungry cheetah, lion or leopard. My heartbeats…

The holy month of Ramadhan has arrived here, in Sanford, FL, one day behind most of the world. A crescent was supposedly sighted somewhere in Saudi Arabia a day earlier. Strange, no, whenever the astronautical probability of actually sighting a new moon is almost zero, Allah miraculously bestows a miracle (only for Ramadhan and Eid…

TamuTamu Since I’m not allowed to meet others, go for sit-down dinners with my family nor meet my friends at Masjid al Hayy here in Sanford because of the accursed Dudu Corona, I ask Allah to bless the soul of Alexander Graham Bell and use his brilliant invention to chat with my pals sometimes. One…

Since I do not have much to do during these trying days, I have the luxury of taking leisure naps. My favorite time is after zohr. I can be watching CNN berating our honorable President when deep slumber takes over. Yesterday, I had a fascinating dream. In this reverie, I meet Dudubhai (dudu means germ/insect…

I know I wrote about the coronavirus in my previous blog but still, I need to talk about this dudu again; its impact to all our lives is too monumental to be left alone. Imagine, it has about 25% of the world’s population under lockdown! By Allah, I’ll talk and gossip about it until it…

It is not funny, this coronavirus business, sitting on my shoulders like the angel of death, malak al-mawt. It is sapping my energy just keeping abreast of the rapidly changing and fast shrinking world that was so open and free to traverse not too long ago. Chic and prized cities of the world, known for…

It should probably be a sin to have so much fun and adventure in life… But with my travels for Comfort Aid International, there are no shortages of escapades. Alhamd’Allah. So, thus this Blog, on my recent travels through 5 African countries spanning Senegal, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. I hope you enjoy reading…