Kwanzaa And Ashura

Yesterday was Kwanzaa . Each candle stands for the following principles:


Umoja [OO-MO-JAH] ("U-N-I-T-Y"  Queen Latifah) - To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, race. (Black Candle) "There is a battle to be fought, there are obstacles to be overcome. There is a world struggle for human dignity to be won. Let us address ourselves seriously to the supreme tasks that lie ahead." Kwame Nkrumah
Kujichagulia [KOO-GEE-CHA-GOO-LEE-YAH] (Self-Determination) - To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves instead of being defined, named, created for and spoken for by others. (Red Candle)
"Up you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will." Marcus Mosiah Garvey
Ujima [OO-GEE-MAH] (Creative Work & Responsibility) - To build and maintain our community together and make our sisters' and brothers' problems our problems and solve them together. (Green Candle)
"I freed thousands of slaves, I could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves." Harriet Ross Tubman
Ujamaa [OO-JAH-MAH] (Cooperative Economics) - To build and maintain our own stores and other businesses and to profit from them together. (Red Candle)
"I am not a millionaire, but I hope to be some day, not for the money, but because I could do so much to help my race." Madame C.J. Walker
Nia [NEE-YAH] (Purpose) - To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. (Green Candle)
"Policies change, programs change, according to time. But objectives never changes. You might change your method of achieving the objective, but the objective never changes. Our objective is complete freedom, complete justice, complete equality, by any means necessary." Malcolm X
Kuumba [KOO-OOM-BAH] (Creativity) - To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. (Red Candle)
"Potential powers of creativity are within us and we have the duty to work asssduously to discover these powers." Martin Luther King, Jr.
Imani [EE-MAH-NEE] (Faith) - To believe with all our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. (Green Candle)
"Keep the faith, baby." Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Quotes from Pyramid Design Enterprises' KWANZAA MOBILE

Today is Ashura .  

Ashura (10 Muharram)

Find this year's date in the multifaith calendar
Ashura has been a day of fasting for Sunni Muslims since the days of the early Muslim community. It marks two historical events: the day Nuh (Noah) left the Ark, and the day that Musa (Moses) was saved from the Egyptians by Allah.
Shi'a Muslim men at the Ashura procession in London in 2002 © Shi'a Muslims in particular use the day to commemorate the martyrdom of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet, in 680 CE.
In Shi'ite communities this is a solemn day: plays re-enacting the martyrdom are often staged and many take part in mourning rituals.
Every year in London Shi'a Muslims gather for a mourning procession and speeches at Marble Arch. The procession attracts up to 3000 men, women and children from many different ethnic backgrounds.  

The paintings of Moses parting the Red Sea and Noah are by Dr, He Qi .

Wiggle Worm

My grandson is staying with us. He has started to walk all over the place , lol . It took my daughter in law , Moe, and I all most ten minutes to get Haroun to be semi still long enough to snap these pictures of him ! They aren't his best pictures but they show you how active he is now he can go where he wants to go , when he wants ! As a dotting grandmother I have to admit he is something else !


My son is in the dessert for a while and my daughter in law called and asked if she could come spend some time with us . We said of course . We have tried this several times in the past and it wasn't very successful before for either one of us , due mainly to cultural differences , but this time , knock on wood , it seems ok !My daughter in law is a big help to me and I really appreciate all she does for us . It is so nice to have Haroun around too !


It is strange to have someone else in the house with us after several years on our own with out kids . It has interesting for all of us . Like remembering to close the bathroom door or not running around in skimpy clothes , lol ! My daughter in law has had to make adjustments also since she is used to her own home . All in , things are going well !


Last week I was pretty busy . I went to Sheila's and had the "works" . I felt like a queen when she finished with me . Sheila does a mean pedicure with a message like nothing you have ever experienced before . I always feel so pampered after a day with her . I don't know what we will do here in Libya when Sheila decides to retire .


I was invited to a coffee for a friend that moved back to the States nine years ago and is here for her sons wedding .It was fantastic to see her once again , especially since I thought we would never get to see one another in this life time . We have stayed in touch through e mails but it's not the same as actually talking face to face . She looked marvelous !!!


One of my other friends here went" home " to visit her family this last month . She also took her married daughter with her husband and little girl , to introduce them to the American branch of the family . My friend was due back two days ago . I called the day after she came back to do some catching up on her trip,when her husband told me she was still stuck in Rome with her son in law. Supposedly when they were going through immigration in Rome on their way back here the Roman officials discovered that my friends new American passport hadn't been translated into Arabic on the back of her passport as the Libyan government requires in order to enter Libya . It didn't matter that she is married to a Libyan, has family here , or even lives here . So , she had to wait until the next day to go to the American embassy there in Rome to get the translation that the embassy here didn't do when they issued her a new passport . Thank goodness she wasn't traveling alone . And thank goodness she had her son in law along to help with money and morale support . Otherwise what would she have done ? This same thing happened to another friend of mine several months ago on her return trip from the States to Libya, also . She got stuck in Germany . Only as luck would have it she happened to run into a employee there in the German airport that was helpful and found her a official translator that worked in the airport to translate her passport for her ... for a hundred dollars . Good thing she happened to have one hundred left from her trip huh ?


Oh, the other thing that happened this past week was my daughter giving birth to my grand daughter . That was the most exciting thing so far !!! I got to talk to my daughter last night after she came home from the hospital and was so overwhelmed with emotion . We talked and talked . It was so good to hear personally from her that all was ok . And I guess that about sums up whats been going on in my life lately .


What about you ? How have you been doing these hot summer days ?Anyone spending time at the beach ? Anyone going on holiday ? If so where ? Is the gasoline prices affecting your summer time plans this year ?