Wadi El-Waleh Adventure

Salam!

My brother and I went to an exciting trip tp Wadi Al-Waleh between Madaba and Karak, this Valley finally connects to Wadi Al-Mojeb in the South. It was a great trip and we had fun with the new friends we met. The was hiking, swimming, abseiling, and much more fun activities! I publish some pictures here, hope you enjoy them.

Ali at the equator against the Dinosaur bird

Salaaaam Alllllll!

I'm still alive :) All ok. Not much news from my side. But here are some of my new African experiences:

I went to the Equator line yesterday (5a6 Al-Estewa2). It was interesting having one leg in the north and another in the south. Basically, we drove 2 hours, took some pictures, then drove back two hours back to he hotel :S

We saw people putting fish in front of their cars they say this keeps the fish fresh, personally, I think that the diesel smog from other cars will certainly give it a spicy flavor :)

We went for Friday prayers at Mo'ammar Al-Qaddafi's mosques , it's huge Mashallah, but it took more than 30 Years to build ?! apparently some corruption was involved in the early 20 years of the project until Qaddafi of Libya stepped in as part of his African reach out strategy.

There is a huge bird called Maribu Stork (or what I like to call dinosaur bird) (attached picture), that is scattered all around the city. When It's standing, It can reach 1.5 meters! Wing span is Huge, but the meat of that bird is not edible, so people usually leave it alone, but if you see it flying above your head BE CAREFUL! They say that the birds dropping is Huge, and is very acidic that it can burn your hair and clothes and harm your skin! BOOOOMBS AWAAAAAAY :)

Anyways, that's what I've been up to, what about you? What's your latest?

Take care and stay in touch,

Ali Lord-of-War Jafari

Poverty, Violance, and Copyrights in Africa

Salam all,

Work has been so hectic this month, and since the Jinja trip I didn't take any weekends, but this Sunday was an exception. I made sure it was by working until 9:30 PM on Saturday!

We went to Speke Resort in Munyonyo on the shores of Lake Victoria. It was a great day; we had fresh Tilapia fish with chips, went on a boat trip, and just basically chilled! Whenever I go to such a beautiful place, I always have my family and friends on my mind, and I recite verses from the Quraan, Sorat "Ya-Sin":

قال يا لبت قومي يعلمون بما غفر لي ربي وجعلني من المكرمين

"Would my People know (what I know),For that my Lord has granted me Forgiveness and has enrolled me among those held in honour"

If you want to see a video of the boat ride, click on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykt5ipntqiw

When we were on the river bank, they told us that this lake connects to Rwanda, and that while the war (or ethnic genocide) was happening in Rwanda, more than 800,000 man, woman, and child were killed in the course of 100 days! Basically it was one tribe (Hutu) getting rid of the other minority tribe (Tutsi). They said that dead bodies of Rwandans would wash up on the Ugandan side of Lake Victoria! When they said that I got goose bumps (ASH3AR BADAN)I! They said bodies of children would wash up with a stick impaling them like they were barbecue! They said that the two tribes sometimes married from each other, and when the genocide started, the Hutu tribe would give a hacksaw to their men, and under point gun force them to not only to kill their Tutsi wife, but to cut her up while doing so… They told us that the only remotely safe place were the mosques, Muslim minority gave sanctuary to loads of people of different faith while people were being slaughtered. Rwandan Muslims played a key role in humanitarian efforts during the 1994 genocide; Muslims have been noted and honored by the national government for their roles in saving the lives of people regardless of their faith. Many people attribute the recent spread of Islam to these humanitarian acts.

On a lighter side, there is a great direct marketing scheme going on in Uganda for singers, I saw a truck with huge speakers and a band playing live while touring the city. They told us he is one of the prominent Ugandan singers, and that because of the piracy going on and non-existing copy right protection, singers would play their music on top of such trucks, and sell their albums directly form the back of the truck! Omar Al-Abdellat should try to do the same! But I think he will be stoned to death before he'll be able to sell a single CD :P

Before signing off, I want to point out that we are all blessed with so many blessings from Allah that we take for granted; Security, Electricity, Clean Water, Connectivity... I mean, only 10% of the population here have access to electricity, not to mention telecommunication and clean water! And that is not even a worry for a huge segment of people who don't even own a home! I remember a prayer taught to us that goes:

الحمد لله الذى عافانا مما ابتلى به كثيرا من خلقه
Thank Allah for he has spared us of many ordeals he tests others with

Take care and Stay in touch

Ali Jafari

Ugandan Legends

Salam all!

I'm still alive, escaping from alligators and their sisters ;) Things are much different here, I mean, I've been to yemen, but that was only 3 hours away, here I needed 27 hours (including two stops, one in Dubai another in Adis-Ababa) but oddly enough, I'm in the same time zone as Amman!?

And dangers are really of a different caliber, each day when I walk to my room in the hotel, I must watch out for Mango's falling on my head from a giant mango tree! I usually find some on the ground, so I literally pick mango's from the ground and go have them in my room! Yum Yum!

Another thing cool here is the harmony among Muslims and Christians. I mean, for example, although the country has a president, it also has a king. he is called Kabaka of Buganda. The king here is more of a spiritual and influential post rather than ruler. The king family has two branches, one is Christian, another which converted to Islam. The way that a king is crowned is not straight forward. Actually, the first born of the king cannot be crowned as king. The crown prince is elected from one of the sons or nephews of the King. So sometimes you have a Muslim king, others you have a Christian! the king is now Christian, but the crown prince is Muslim.

We went to Friday prayers the other day, and saw the sidewalk leading to the mosque filled with students wearing cute outfits, and everybody in the mosque was wearing their most beautiful cloths. The yard of the mosque had a huge throne like chair, and many other chairs around it. We didn't quite understand what all this fuss was about. Later, and in the middle of the sermon (5o6beh), two guards entered, one of them, an old man (not less than 70) was wearing panther leather like Tarazan and holding a spear and armor. Behind them entered the crown prince of Buganda! We later learned that it was the prince's birthday! and that all the people came to this old mosque to greet him and wish him a happy birthday! as for the thrown, it was for the christian king! And the granddad Tarzan is the royal guard!

After the prayers, everybody went to greet the prince! And then the prince got out to pay respect to his uncle - the king. When we got out, we saw that the women's yard was separated from the men's yard by a low fence, and a man (orchestra coordinator) was singing to the ladies and they were singing back wish beautiful voices and much enthusiasm, and of course A LOT of drums were there! Yes, drum banging, ladies singing, people clapping, all IN THE MOSQUE! They never really sang Happy Birthday to you, and didn't bring a cake or candles, but everybody was cheering and clapping and singing along! Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures due to security, but it was a scene I will never forget!

We also learned that on Saturday, a similar ceremony was going to take place in church!

I attach some photo's of the temporary office we are in. It's basically a one floor house with a huge garden.

Take care and stay in touch!
Regards,
Ali Afrikano

Nile Source in Jinja / Uganda

Greetings All!

Sorry for not being in contact, but the connection here is sometimes hacked by monkeys. All is well 7amdellah and people are really excited about us here.

Went to see nile source, it was amazing. I'm working really hard. Take care and enjoy!

By The Way..

if you want to see my dancing skills, go to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBfOgUtwUH0

Yemeni Wedding

Salam All,

Hope ur ok! I went to a yemeni wedding on the weekend. In Yemen weddings can go from one day to a week depending on the family. The wedding we went to was only a one day event. They start at around 3 PM with QAT, then the groom comes and they have ANASHEED, then they sit down for what they call " Tea Party" which is basically QAT and tea with milk and HEEL and QORONFUL. Then QAT until MAGHREB prayers. Then the groom leaves for a rest (from all the QAT), and the rest stay on the QAT diet. Then at 3ESHA prayers, the groom comes back with a ZAFFEH and sing along with ANASHEED on SALAT EL NABI and how much the groom is beautiful (or at least that's what I understood)! After that the groom enters for greetings and that's pretty much over. I'm not sure how the event is carried out at the female side, but I'm sure it's basically a Tea-QAT event.

I attach some pictures, enjoy!

What news you have? Update!

Take Care
Ali Ba-Ja3fari