My friend, the only daughter, been separated from her single, hard-working mother. Her mother, a black, British-Carribean Muslim woman, has done everything in her power for her only daughter. She had brought her as a child to Egypt, and provided her with the best education she could. Her daughter has returned to her family’s home country of Guyana with her husband and toddler, and when her mother fell ill, tried so hard to raise whatever funds she could to be by her mum. After years of financial struggle, hardships and mistreatment and attempting to re-unite with her mum, she has lost her, thousands of miles away. Her mum was alone with no one to look out for her.
My friend is trying to fly back, no longer able to be with her, but to make the final arrangements.
Please share if you can, or assist in anyway that you can. Thank you
Always falling into a hole, then saying “ok, this is not your grave, get out of this hole,” getting out of the hole which is not the grave, falling into a hole again, saying “ok, this is also not your grave, get out of this hole,” getting out of that hole, falling into another one; sometimes falling into a hole within a hole, or many holes within holes, getting out of them one after the other, then falling again, saying “this is not your grave, get out of the hole”; sometimes being pushed, saying “you can not push me into this hole, it is not my grave,” and getting out defiantly, then falling into a hole again without any pushing; sometimes falling into a set of holes whose structures are predictable, ideological, and long dug, often falling into this set of structural and impersonal holes; sometimes falling into holes with other people, with other people, saying “this is not our mass grave, get out of this hole,” all together getting out of the hole together, hands and legs and arms and human ladders of each other to get out of the hole that is not the mass grave but that will only be gotten out of together; sometimes the willful-falling into a hole which is not the grave because it is easier than not falling into a hole really, but then once in it, realizing it is not the grave, getting out of the hole eventually; sometimes falling into a hole and languishing there for days, weeks, months, years, because while not the grave very difficult, still, to climb out of and you know after this hole there’s just another and another; sometimes surveying the landscape of holes and wishing for a high quality final hole; sometimes thinking of who has fallen into holes which are not graves but might be better if they were; sometimes too ardently contemplating the final hole while trying to avoid the provisional ones; sometimes dutifully falling and getting out, with perfect fortitude, saying “look at the skill and spirit with which I rise from that which resembles the grave but isn’t!“
He’s testing you. He’s testing you. This world is a place of test and He’s testing you. When things don’t go the way you wanted them to, are you still going to love Him? Are you still going to be faithful to Him? Are you going to turn away? Will you stop worshiping Him? He’ll keep testing you till you return to Him. Love Him, turn to Him, talk to Him, worship Him, be faithful to Him, live for Him, even when your world is a tornado, even when you think the sun will never rise again. He’s with you. He’s with you. But this life wasn’t meant to be easy. It wasn’t.
Okay no no no no ya’ll don’t fuckin understand how important this is to me rn like… as a gay brown woman with DID and severe PTSD like…
babygirl just know I’m so here for you in ever capacity
This is super important!! Talking about mental illness (not just the socially acceptable ones like anxiety and depression) is such an important step to erasing the stigma
- mama wakes up with the sun. her sleep breaks when the morning starts to lighten and the first room she comes into is mine. “Farah, wake up,” she says, “it’s time to pray.” i lie in bed for far too long; listen to the sound of her reciting the morning prayer as it drifts in through the wall between our rooms.
- lately my bones seem heavier than they used to, i sink further and further into bed, stay longer and longer beneath my duvet and everything is a trial. an effort. i do not have the energy for any of it.
- two Fridays i have been trying to arrange a meet-up with a friend. both times she has cancelled. i begin to feel the familiar ache, the resurfacing of thoughts i am trying to banish. “stop imposing yourself on others” and “can’t you take a hint?”
- last night i find myself happy. delirious almost. brought on by the simplest thing. music and dancing in my darkened room. i think i dance well. and i think i sing well too. but i have never done either in front of anyone else. except children. because children only know how to love and enjoy.
- my baby nieces name translates to English as ‘light’. i cannot think of a better description for her. she causes me heart to stir and pump itself into living. i find joy in the way she runs to me. the way she refuses hugs and kisses to anyone other than her mother and me. i find love in this. peace. healing.
- i am lonelier than i will admit. i want more than i have the nerve to reach for. and i am always afraid. sometimes i think love will be the answer. that love could be the only answer.
and other times, i am not so sure.
I just went on my other blog to repost pics I took in Eritrea and everything the past three years is about refugee deaths. I don’t know what it says that during the time my parents fled Eritrea, the refugee situation has become more dire, while borders continue to become more militarized and unforgiving. I was talking to my mom and she left Eritrea to go to Sudan when she was 18 and even though it was dangerous, once you passed, you passed. And visas weren’t nearly as hard to attain as they are now. Its impossible to get a visa straight from Sudan now and refugees’ best bet is going straight to Europe or going to Israel and trying from there (which we’ve all seen how that turns out).
My uncle who recently passed had 12 kids total, and with 3 in the US and 9 in Eritrea. He became a nurse, built a life and his family got in trouble for defying some stupid useless law in Eritrea. He sold his house to smuggle them all in the US and get them paper work (he paid $108k total) and alhamdulillah they all made it. But his kids went from Eritrea to Kenya to South Africa to Chile to Venezuela to El Salvador to Mexico to the US. The route took two years. His daughters all got sexually assaulted and sons beaten on the way. This is what people had to do 8 years ago and even now, state hopping isn’t working. They’re the lucky ones anyways. Millions more are stuck in border camps, shifted from state to state, killed and trafficked or drowned in Mediterranean waters. And to them, the possibility of horrible death is better than living under Shaebia.
I dunno where I’m going with this post anyways. But this can’t be the revolution we fought for. I lost 12 family members for Eritrea to be free and the regime will not rob us of hope and liberation.
The immediate trigger was the death of a 29-year-old Congolese national.
AFROPHOBIC INDIA
Protests by African diplomats is another reminder of India’s deep-seated racism
African diplomats in India have had enough.
The heads of mission of 42 African countries have threatened to boycott Africa Day celebrations in New Delhi to protest against the ceaseless racist attacks on their citizens in India.
A week-long celebration was planned to showcase Africa and build on the newfound bonhomie following last October’s India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi. But African diplomats may not attend.
The immediate trigger was the death of 29-year-old Masonda Ketada Olivier, a Congolese national. A French language teacher in New Delhi, Oliver was allegedly killed by three drunk men following an argument over hiring an auto-rickshaw. The police have so far arrested two suspects, and are on the lookout for the third.
This isn’t the first time an African national has been attacked in India. In February, a 21-year-old Tanzanian woman was allegedly stripped and beaten up by a mob in Bengaluru after a Sudanese man ran over a local. A few months before that, three African men were beaten up by a mob in New Delhi after they objected to locals taking their pictures. In Jan. 2015, a minister of the Delhi government even raided a neighbourhoodinhabited by African nationals, alleging that they were peddling drugs and ran a prostitution ring.
Olivier’s death, though, seems to have been the final straw. Eschewing diplomatic channels, the heads of African embassies in New Delhi have written a strongly-worded letter to the Indian government to take “concrete steps” to ensure the safety of Africans.
“Given the pervading climate of fear and insecurity in Delhi,” Alem Tsehage Woldemariam, ambassador of Eritrea and dean of the African Group Head of Mission, said, “the African heads of mission are left with little option than to consider recommending to their governments not to send new students to India, unless and until their safety can be guaranteed.”
Image management
Shortly after the statements were made public, India’s ministry of external affairs, led by foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, swung into damage control mode.
“I have asked my colleague General VK Singh to meet the heads of missions of African countries in Delhi and assure them of the Indian government’s commitment to safety and security to African nationals in India,” Swaraj tweeted.
The foreign minister, however, seemed more perturbed about the damage such incidents do to India’s image and the ensuing “embarrassment”, rather than the loss of life and rampant racism. “We will also launch a sensitisation program to reiterate that such incidents against foreign nationals embarrass the country,” Swaraj tweeted.
But that isn’t going to be easy.
There are 30,000-odd African students living in India, and many havefaced racial discrimination on a daily basis. Earlier this year, Quartz wrote about how these students are called “frauds” and “prostitutes” by locals, even as landlords refuse to rent them houses.
“These incidents reflect how we as a society treat other human beings and show our racist tendencies,” Rajrishi Singhal, senior geoeconomics fellow at Mumbai-based think tank Gateway House, said. “But the government must also be proactive in reaching out and expressing regret over such incidents and take corrective actions. Law and order is a state issue and the central government must take an effort to set things right.”
Damning effect
For Modi and the Indian government, the open rebuke by African nations couldn’t have come at a worse time.
The Indian prime minister is all set to travel to Africa in the next two months, as part of his plan to broaden engagements with the continent. While trade between India and African countries has risen in recent years, there’s much left to be done.
Last October, New Delhi announced a doubling of India’s assistance to African nations, with $10 billion in concessional loans over the next five years. India also offered $600 million in grant assistance to African countries for focused spending on key areas such as healthcare, education, and technology.
Although some of the big spending is with an eye on China’s growing influence in the region, the Modi government is also aware of the massive investment opportunities in the continent.
“India and Africa have a close relationship,” Ruchita Beri, a senior associate at New Delhi’s Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses said. “This relationship has gained momentum in recent years. The Third India-Africa Summit held in New Delhi last year has reaffirmed the partnership. There is a need for enhanced consultations between India and Africa on a wide range of issues.”
But seemingly endless attacks on Africans in India is not going to help.
“Certainly, such incidents chip away at the goodwill that has been created over the years,” Singhal of Gateway House said. While he reckons that such attacks may not have an impact on trade between the countries, these definitely “create a negative perception of India” in Africa, which will “affect friendships.”
(…) But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not. [2:216]
(…) If you are grateful, I (i.e. Allah) will surely increase you [in favor] (…) [14:7]
Listen: you can and will do better. Be consistent & be patient with yourself. Don’t listen to anyone that tells you that you got too much baggage, that God won’t forgive you, that you’re not “there yet”. What is “there”? No one will ever be “there” because “there” is not a destination, it’s a journey. Surround yourself with positive energy or be alone; but never compromise your faith and your goals because you’re afraid to be alone. You can do it, I promise; but bear in mind that it won’t be easy - at all. In fact, trying to do better is the most difficult thing you can do. Because it’s so easy to stay as you are - comfortable but mediocre. Say bismillaah and ask God to pave the way for you; to ease matters for you & to make you firm upon this path. Stay committed.
