Night Sounds
L istening to the girls reciting Qur’aan, preparing for class later this night reminds me of other nights spent under star speckled skies listening to the recitation of the night prayers during the month of Ramadhaan. Climbing to the roof, letting the sounds of the night- crickets, the far away sound of a long distance truck horn, the laughter of a child in the next house- blend effortlessly with the voice of the reciter to create a tapestry of sound that lifted my heart while keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground. I miss those sounds now, miss walking through green fields and returning the greetings of peace to Bedouin women in straw hats, colorful scarves pulled across weather beaten faces. I miss the quiet “Bismillah” of the doctor preparing to...
Following Truth
P eople often ask us why we moved to Yemen over ten years ago now. The answer was simple. Having found the truth, we wanted to follow it, and in order to follow it, we had to gain knowledge. Yemen, with its many strong scholars and teachers and its low cost of living and strong agricultural tradition, had been a long term goal for us from the early days of our marriage. I well remember the tattered Lonely Planet Guide to Yemen that we bought in Colorado and carried with us as we travelled from state to state and city to city searching for someone to teach us while our dream of Yemen remained just a dream. We began in Wisconsin, where I grew up, and in the first ten years of our marriage managed to live in Virginia, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey and New York. Our...
Second Time Around
O ur family has always been very conscious of how everything we do affects the environment- not just our immediate surroundings, but the world environment as well. The children don’t necessarily know the “Reduce Reuse Recycle” mantra, but they do understand the principles and practice these in their everyday lives. The most important “R” we practice, though, is to “Refuse.” We live very simply, and don’t clutter up our lives with lots of extra stuff. We choose what we buy carefully, with an eye towards conservation and how we can get the most use out of each purchase. To that end, we do an awful lot of “reusing” and the children are wonderful at coming up with ways to do this. One of the best ways to reuse containers and packaging materials is...
Crash Course
I sit dumbfounded by your arrogance unveiled you paint the world with your own thick brush blur lines between cultures, traditions personal freedom lost so we all become blind followers of the Western ideal cover girl clones you want us to breathe the fetid air you expel spent, lifeless, carbon copy drones repeat after you ’til we become faded photos in the back of your scrapbook a trophy, dismembered and hung on your wall you can’t comprehend living and dying for a belief framing a life with the words of the Lord of the Worlds following the best of mankind step by step you cannot grasp the strength of knowledge the certainty of truth the spark stays lit ages passed, trials faced, it dances, flashes outward, burns true keep your false promises bloody...
What We Leave Behind
W aiting. Perfecting patience. Setting goals and working towards them one baby step at a time. Looking forward, keeping trust in Allaah. These have made up the last two months, months in which we are in a limbo between homes, out of one, but not yet in another. Walking the bridge, however precarious it may seem, between our home in Yemen and our new home here in Missouri; a bridge that we are building even as we walk, piece by precious piece. Needed reminders of lessons hard learned in times gone by. Everything comes when the time is right, not when we feel the time is right. Each moment is precious, too precious to waste, or in a blink that child’s laugh, that rainbow tinted sky, that crystal snowflake on a limb of green, will be gone. Celebration of family, the...
Between One Breath and the Next
O nce again I find myself in the position of marking time, holding space, suspended between one breath and the next. It’s a lesson I learned long ago, the art of waiting, living on the inhale, knowing the exhale is sure to come. Eau Claire, Wisconsin: My marriage arranged, I’ve said yes to a person I’ve only spoken to a few times on the phone, and seen in a black and white photograph. The only common ground I’m sure of is a great love and commitment to living Islaam. I receive the call- he is on his way from Virginia. Now all there is left to do is wait. Baltimore, Maryland: Nine months pregnant, the specialist tells me the only way my baby will live is if, in his words, someone else’s child gets hit by a car and they donate a kidney to us. They plan to...
Fighting Terrorism With Terrorism: The Story of a Yemeni Seacoast City living in ‘Drone fear’
I was given permission to share this with you all by the brother who wrote it. It is written by someone that my family knows personally, and it takes place in ash-Shihr, Yemen, where we lived for two years. This is the reality that most Americans want to ignore, to turn their faces away from, to avoid speaking about when they talk about “human rights.” And remember, the person behind these drone strikes was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Muslims see this as the sham it is. Perhaps this should be a wakeup call for others as well. Truthfully, I could have added this to my From the Front series here at Yemeni Journey, because now all of Yemen is at the front of a war they didn’t ask for, each person carrying the truth that they are considered to...
About Me
Born and raised in the heart of America, I embraced Islaam and have lived in Yemen with my husband and eight children for nine years now. I'm a writer, translator, teacher, student, herbalist and fabric artist.
2011 Superstar Blogger Award
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