With Love from Capetown

I'm loving it! :)

Capetown that is with gail winds and all. On Sat the day after I arrived, there was top of the news of these bitter harsh winds - and boy were they strong. But hey I braved it - hahaha. And while getting blown away by the wind is not something I experience but it was fun :) Took pics of waves with water crashing down on the beach where we were all standing and the foam stretching its width and breadth all across the coastal road! Wow what a spectacle. Will have to put up the pics soon.

Meanwhile Table Mountain is covered with cloud mostly and every now and then the clouds will clear and the sun would peak out and give us a glistening view leaving one to ooh and ahh...
Durban was so different - far more peaceful weather-wise but also in my view a lot less exciting because of that. However I did spot a Bollywood shoot - seemed like a B grade movie..

And I saw several wonderful sceneries and game reserves and animals and skies that make your heart smile. Drove down to the rugged South coast which saw those magnificent waves as well - there was a place called Splash Rock - which literally splashed ocean water on this huge rock - wow and all the fishermen were carefully lining that edge of the rock.

Also saw this fascinating ritual of an African woman being baptised by sea water - she was all dressed in her white satin finery and other women and men stood behind and watched. The 'priest' then poured the gushing strong sea water on her as she held on to sand with shivers and courage written on her face.
I was also taken see a Zulu dance and the views of the vistas in the distance would every now and then distract me from the dancers... later the zulu women took pics with me :) Must upload. Someone pls remind me.

Here in Capetown there is a strong Malay community - but wah, so different from the Malays in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. They all look similar but hardly know any Malay - or identify with the malay culture.
I have gone up to several Malay looking pple - finally feeling I cld recognise someon familiarity but alamak, they can't resonate back. Darn. Trying to get even a simple word like 'Makan' out of them is impossible! hahaah

But their houses very colourful - reminds me of the Melayu spirit around Hari Raya - back home. Have bought a book on the Malay Community here. They are called the Bo Kaap. (More like 'bo chap' if you ask me) haha. No offence. ;)
MashaAllah South Africa is a beautiful place.
I am returning next week to Singaland and things will resume I know... But I MUST write up proper travelogues of my trips with pics.

Must go. I send love and blessings of ramadan!

Hujambo from Tanzania!

hujambo! - Sijambo ;) merhaba! Nzuri ... ;) these are the greetings you hear all the time - everyone greets everyone else when you pass them on the track/road etc.

I'm in Arusha now in a decent house so it has electricity, and a hot bath. And full meals.,
Out in the village i was struggling to get a fire going with firewood - refusing to use kerosene to help ignite as my training I felt had been to use it traditionally. And I'm proud to say i got a fire going, yay! hehe So happy - we cooked all our meals in this outdoor kitchen - which had a couple of windows but the squatting kind where you fan the flames within a stone etched 'stove' of sorts. There were two iron rods that can be moved on the top of the opening to allow a pot/saucepan to sit on. The secondary school boys and older who hung around our 'camp' would come and chat with us to practise their english - pretty good standard!

The village is called Mbaaseni (pronounce everything pl). And it's predominantly christian - lutheran. Distances bet villages and houses were long and I'm getting fit walking around everywhere. bicycles seem to be a luxury but am trying to get one. we have an oil lantern and candles and several torchlights. It's quite an exp. Just outside the house is a grave (marked with a cross) and on day 3 i noticed there's another one ( more raw) kinda perpendicular to it. It says RIP and a date of 2005 as passing date. The only thing is I have to pass this grave everytime i need to go to the outdoor toilet (dunny). It's creepy late at night cos no elec so you have to walk with just a torchlight and well you know the rest. So i'm trying to 'do my toilet' thing before it gets too late or drag a friend to stand outside the toilet while I am in there! hahaha See your dearest fudge is not so brave afterall.

The flip side of all this is the heartwarming smiles, acceptance of the villagers, mamas (older woman who are married&mothers - they are given a lot of respect in society) and the teachers and farmers who constantly help you along with your smattering swahili. It's fun to learn and similar to arabic! nice. :)

They grow lots of maize, banana, avocado (not ripened yet - darn!) and so many vegges it's pure joy to try out the salads. The bird life is fantastic! every morning i hear different birds - have heard the night jar. saw the Sacred Ibis (gorgeous stork like bird). oh and ofcourse forgot to mention that I've been seeing Kilimanjaro every day when it's clear. today is cloudy. But gosh when it is clear, what a magnificent sight! SubhanAllah - breathtaking.

The other nice thing is having made local friends - one in Dar es salaam who calls me almost every night to see how I'm going. She's an architect I met on flight from Doha to Nairobi. we clicked and may travel to zanzibar together. Another couple of friends in Arusha who are also volunteering and the big plus is I'm meeting my niece from Oregon here as she's spending her summer volunteering with me. After this email, we are walking down to Taj's Curry to have pani puri. Oh and there are so many yeendians here but very different from the indians back in SG. These are all 'africanised' hahaha they speak like africans and seem well blended in. At the border from Kenya to tanzania i saw some paki looking guys to whom I said salam to. There seems to be a pak community in Dar and Arusha too apparently as Ismail tells me.

The Underwater World

My 4 day solo getaway to Lombok proved to be so different than what I had envisioned. No doubt it wasn't far from expectations but isn't it amazing how the human heart desires and what God disposes. And then we are only in a position to accept it. And work with it.

Kira Kira turned out to be a fantastic choice for accomodation - i felt blessed that even in my short time away i met someone there who spoke Arabic! Allahu bi rahmah - considering i had just done Level One exam for Arabic at Al Markaz and 2 days later was off to Lombok, without the girls (who had planned to go away wth me but cldn't at the last min) and voila there I was - smack middle of Gili Air (pronounced gheelee Aye-ir) to snorkel and dive and i shd have the fortune to meet Sofie. Sophie is from Lombok but looked chinese and dayak mixed. She had lived in saudi for a few yrs and could speak Arabic. Taka and Masako (both Muslims) shared with me her plight later. Sophie was 8 months pregnant and her husband had just left her a few months ago. She was a cleaning lady for some Japanese families in Lombok when Taka had met her and later decided to employ her at the resort to help her with finances. Ofcourse the worry now was how was she going to manage in her pre- during and post pregnancy phases. Late nights were not easy for her as guests would come in to the resort at any time and ask for tea/coffee and food. Even late night they cooked for us. It's business for them.

So Sophie and I became friends over sunrise walks - and practised our Arabic with one another :) Pure joy.

I have decided to organise some zakat from Singapore to be sent to her - Taka was telling me she wont be able to work with a few months old baby in tow. And she has no other form of income - parents dont have money/income, take money from her, husband doesn't give maintenance. (Typical of men in similar scenarios - i spoke to several island folk and found many cases were like this. They would be having affairs and mistreating their wives. Even the tour guide I had my initial contact with was telling me when I asked if he was married he said yes with two children but he didn't like going home. So he worked longer hours and 'fooled around'. When i asked him why he did that he said he was 'enjoying life'.) It's amazing how quickly i lose my respect for pple who say such things and with such casualness.

Later on Gili Air I met another person - a bar tender. I was walking on a hot day looking for Indonesian food. Came to the last hut where again on the menu i saw only sandwiches, chips etc... which I had no deisre to eat. The bar tender by then had asked me where I was from and said smthg which pleased me - he said "Welcome to my country". Usually having travelled in these countries where people yell out to you a nationality they think you are, it becomes tiring to be called 'India!' (i have given up explaining the Pak-Singapore connection). You take on a nationality! So when this guy didn't yell out a country to me, I actually turned and had a conversation with him. He also offered to get me nasi bunggus (local food, rice with small fish, some cabbage/veggies) and we talked about several things. One of which was on serving alcohol being muslim and he said everyone did it, everyone drank. I was surprised he would give me an answer as that.

So that saw the long conversation i had with this chappie extending into niat, actions, words, iman and you name it we went and discussed at great length. In the middle of all this a very senior man looking half-aboriginal, joined us. He shared how the local Muslims were on the island. The boss of the pub was a muslim man and the young chappie I was speaking to said it was required of his job to taste the cocktails before they are served. So he drank but 'a little'. Again our conversation stretched over many horizons. I wondered what the difference was in saying "I partook in a crime (I didnt really participate in the ___[eg rape] but watched from a distance)" and actually carrying it out. We talked abt what the main message was on alcohol. It was very clear. What is made forbidden for you, do not make it permissible. You can't mince that.

I told him he was such an intelligent guy i didn't see him as a bartender for long. He then shared with me his plans to run his own business with his brother - operating boats.

We talked more and the old man interrupted and said the night before he had a dream where he saw a girl talking to the young chappie over things that many others had tried to tell him but he wouldn't listen. Yet this time round he listened to this female. SubhanAllah i felt i was put in that situation for a reason.

3 days later that young chap had decided (entirely on his own) he was going back to Bali where his family was and fix up his business plans. He had felt some movement within him which is what I'm always hoping for in the young people i do the youth training workshops with - and alhamdulillah he had made some decisions for his own future.

Meanwhile my highlight of the holiday lay several meters under water - mashaAllah what a spectrum of marine life - every trip I make whether is it to the Perhentians (Malaysia), to Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park off Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (northern Borneo), or off Mersing (East of Peninsular Malaysia) i see different alive things and all sooo beautiful. This time I had the fortune of borrowing my friend's underwater camera and although it was my first time using it and had it firmly clasped onto me and around my wrist some of the shots are not so clear.

The homely turtle who swam in front of me for a good 5 minutes and i didn't lose sight of her/him cos it came surfacing to the top and going down again - sweet angel. All this time watching me from the corner of its eye :) it made me smile and I felt comforted in my heart. Like this we saw several other turtles - HUGE ones... but so unafraid of humans. Must be the tourist/traveller element.

And the myriad of fishes, razor fish, clown fish, silver fish, baby reef sharks then the marine lief - anemones, sponges, tubes, corals, nudi branchs... the list is endless. All so awe-gaping and wonderful.

After every underwater session it humbles you immensely to live above the land. We forget there is a life under there, all so teeming and active. Wonderful, mashaAllah.

Pics can be seen at the facebook link. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=609831819&aid=69188

Post script: 2010 - The young bar tender chappie had tried doing his boat business with his brother for 1.5 yrs and then returned to Lombok to get work again.