People of the circle

Time just seems to whiz past you, never giving the chance to look back, and not even holding on to something for more than little while. Thus, convo came and it went without much hype, at least for me it did. My folks only left for home on Sunday afternoon after 2 weeks of holiday cum official visits. Dad met some of his old friends, not to mention official contacts too; alas, he couldn't meet an old acquaintance, the opposition leader because he was in the neighbouring country. If he had got an appointment I would have not missed out on the opportunity.

Convo was a great day for my parents without a doubt. The gleam and sparkle in their eyes was hard not to notice, and rightly so they deserved it. In an economic sense, I had delivered upon my word to strive for excellence; therefore, return on investment is positive. But sadly, I noticed so many others in my faculty had graduated with a normal degree. I say, c'mon!!! In my department there were only about 6 people above 3.5, and around 20-30 who were above 3 cgpa from a total of 120 odd students. Looking at the souvenir something didn't feel right, but I couldn't put a finger on it. Even though, I had no reason to jump for joy doing it for my parents was worth it.

Two weeks included taking my folks to see the sights and sounds of KL. Mum, it being her first visit to M'sia went on to ask me a million questions. She was surprised people are eating out a lot, and wanted to know why women don't cook? I'll narrate two incidents that made her come to this conclusion. We were invited on two separate occasions for dinner and each time mum thanked the lady of the house by saying "Thank you so much for preparing dinner, you must have gone through a lot of trouble." What she said is a common courtesy in the motherland practiced by almost all the women and men too. After mum had finished saying it, the reply was "It's not a big thing, we just bought food from the shop"; it happened twice. I also know that its not fair to generalise saying all women don't cook, because a certain minority are an exception to the norm. I think she felt a bit insulted by it, but never showed it, which was the right thing to do. Even if the food had been bought from outside, I was thinking why it had to be mentioned in the first place!!

A day before they departed, we had the most important talk of all. What I had in mind for the future?? We have family meetings, or 'shura' as we call it, when we have to discuss important issues. During that session we talked about issues related mostly to me and my future, and of course, my views were considered. After a while, we came to a consensus, that I should return home. I didn't object because since lately I've been wanting to return home as well. I have a feeling my folks need me there, and if not now, when?? I felt it when leaving my parents at the airport. As I embraced my dad for the third time, I felt him holding on for a few seconds more, and it was longer with mum.

It's time to return home........

What I really want now....

This is it, the perfect graduation present anyone could give. I mean, just think to all the places the compass will point?!!? Now all I need is a good-hearted person who is willing to scour the globe and present it to me.

Getting it first hand....

Last week, I was fortunate enough to to be part of a meeting with the Mayor of Gaza, actually the Mayor of Biet Lahia Municipality, one of the districts in Gaza. The experience, I tell you, was nothing like I imagined it would be. I didn't even know that he was coming to my office until the Palestinian working with us told me about it that morning. He is the second-in-command from Hamas in Gaza, which is obviously a very important position. We had to use an interpreter to exchange ideas and views, but that hardly dampened our spirits. He could speak English, which he did at certain instances, but chose to speak his mother tongue most of the time.

He came to our office in order to discuss a project we are planning to implement in Gaza, namely micro-financing, and to look into its viability given the prevailing context. One thing people should know- Gaza is still not stable. According to information, Gaza is under 24 hour surveillance from satellites and unmanned drones flying over their skies. They are being watched every day, every minute of their lives!! The wall surrounding Gaza is not of mere concrete, its been installed with sophisticated weaponry; come within less than 400m of it and sensors trigger a firing mechanism that will shoot to kill. Artificial intelligence cannot differentiate between an attacker, and someone who is innocent. Everything should be bought from the Israeli's, thus those in Gaza pay a premium for almost everything. To overcome this problem people living in Gaza have dug tunnels from their homes, more than 3000 of them which can even reach Egypt. Through these tunnels they smuggle anything and everything.

The mayor's quote about the women of Gaza: we depend on our women, they are as strong as our men. Masha Allah!! When I heard him utter those words, I felt so grateful for the people of Palestine, because Allah has blessed them even in harsh times. Indeed, women can be such a source of strength in difficult times, when all hope seems lost, all options have been exhausted. Let their tender touch, soft words and encouragement invigorate and rejuvenate those fighting to free Palestine.