Halloween

Its Halloween ....

Be Afraid ....

Be Very Afraid ....

* Top picture from a Muslim school fancy dress day in aid of charity, taken earlier this year.

Halloween is always celebrated on 31 October in the western world, its a pagan tradition that became a Christian event after Christianity came to Europe, the name comes from All Hallow Eve which means All Saints Day. Today it has lost all of its Christian connection and its just an event where mainly children dress up in scary clothes and some of them would go knocking on other people's homes and saying trick or treat the people in the house then would give the kids some sweets or a small amount of money otherwise the kids would play a trick on them! It is a bit of fun for children although many adults dress up in fancy dress as well and go to scary events at night.

Well enjoy your evening and do not have nightmares!

An Angel

Today the Libyan community in London buried an Angel. A tiny 7 months old daughter and grand daughter of friends.

I heard many people say to her family"Allah Yerhamha"God forgive her" but what there is to forgive? she was an angel and will always be an angel, her family have been patient and dignified. We prayed Salat Al-Janazah while her tiny white coffin was in front of us, it was a powerful sight.

May Allah give her family patience and bless them and make it easier for them to cope with their precious loss. Ameen.

Libyan Eid Party in London

Yesterday we went to the Regents Park Mosque for the usual Libyan Eid party which is always held at the second day of Eid.
This party is organized and paid for by the Takaful Trust Association , the party was scheduled to take part between 5 & 9 pm, we arrived at 5:30 to make sure that we get a parking space as these are limited.
The party took place in the basement, 3 halls were hired, one for men, one for women and the third hall was where bouncy castles were set up and it was for the children and for mums and dads to meet and enjoy watching their kids play.
When I went to kids area, the bouncy castles (4 of them) were being set up, the first thing I noticed was broken glass on the floor so after complaining that this area is for children a miracle happened, a cleaner turned up and removed the broken glass! This mosque while being the biggest and best in the UK is not known for its cleanliness as mentioned in a previous post.

Many people turned up as usual, some of the men wore traditional Libyan clothes, I usually wear mine to this event but this time I couldn't as I was busy during the day and did not have enough time to change.

At the entrance to the men Hall.

There were 2 bouncy castles for boys according to their age and 2 for girls, the girl's bouncy castle was happy and full of well behaved girls.

On the other hand, the boys were typically Libyan even though they were all born and raised in the UK, the bigger boys dominated both bouncy castles were very rough and violent, my 6 year old son along side other little boys were stamped on by these boys and even though they were told to behave but this never happened, many of them fought each other and even beat up each others quite badly, some of these boys were a complete disgrace and for this reason I spent a long time in the play area to protect my kids. Above picture shows boys just starting to play in the bouncy castle.

The bouncy castle about one minute later and that is how these boys behaved all night, they tried to dominate the girls bouncy castles but thank Allah failed. Some of the older boys found couple of boxes somewhere in the mosque containing hats, caps and scarves which I suppose were donated to the mosque, they brought them in play area and all hell broke loose, they attacked the boxes, started piling up the hats on their heads then throwing them on the children and some of the parents as well, I managed to call some of the men and we restored order after these boys had a good telling off but that did not last long.

Queues were formed 3 times by the children, first time they were given chocolates, second time for crisps and the third time was for the Eid gifts, I thought this was unnecessary as it was very tiring for most of the little children to stand up in queue 3 times at up to 15-20 minutes a time, it would be better to do this just once and let the kids have everything, by 8pm most kids were tired but they knew that they were going to get gifts, my son was tired that he just wanted to go home and didn't want to wait for the presents, my daughter was so exhausted she sat down and couldn't queue for her gift so I had to do it for her, gift time is like a war battle, the queues last only until the presents arrive then forget it, each child for him or herself! many parents do not interfere and leave the kids to fend for them selves but no not me, I was their for my kids and made sure they got what they wanted.

girls waiting patiently for their presents

Libyan girls looking fantastic in their Eid clothes, MashAllah and all very well behaved

These kids look familiar, could they be mine??

All the gifts for the children were of good quality and the children were very happy to get them, in general the party is well organised but it could benefit from more organisation and adult supervision of the children, The Altakaful trust provided the party with lots of sweets and Lebanese pastries and small pizzas and plenty of soft drinks for the adults and the children, they should be applauded for their efforts and making this a very happy day for the children and the adults and for that I am very thankful to them.




Some of these pictures were taken by our own Libyan Photographer: Mr. Omar El-Houni

Eid Mubarak

Eid Al-Fitr one of the most significant Muslim celebrations, is on tomorrow Monday marking the end of the fasting period of the month of Ramadan, the month that can be hard at times but gives you a feeling of renewal, purification and connection with God.
This year the endless media and political arguments over the "Muslim problems" especially here in the UK have disturbed the peace of Ramadan yet Muslims didn't allow this to distract them from their Ramadan obligations, our faith remains strong and we still feel good to be Muslims at these testing times.
Tomorrow the children will be dressed in their Eid best and will be given a small amount of money or small gifts, many will be going with their parents to the mosque then spend the day with their extended families or will be going to the Eid parties organised by the different and vast Muslim communities in Europe. Tomorrow we will all enjoy Islam at its best.

Eid Mubarak to everyone, InshAllah you get all of your good wishes granted & Thank you all for your support

The Mouse Trap

I went to visit a friend of mine yesterday who is an animal lover, he has a lovely black cat called Chicken!, this cat has a problem with bringing mice into the house, usually they are little tiny mice that she does not eat, she just likes to chase them around the house then kill them and leave them as a present to her owner, he is very disturbed by this natural behaviour and is always trying to save these little mice which he thinks they are cute (I don't!) few days ago chicken brought in this little mouse but my friend managed to save it before Chicken caused it any harm, the mouse was really stressed and even when it was put in the garden it just stood there not moving. So he decided to put it in a little box with some seeds and moist bread and shredded tissue to hide under and then put this Little box inside a big glass enclosure that used to house a Water Dragon that died recently of old age, this was done to protect it from the cat.
The mouse apparently gained strength and started to jump outside its little box into the main enclosure but what my friend failed to notice is the plastic container which the water dragon used to swim in and still had some water in it. Yesterday the mouse was so healthy, it jumped so high and straight into the water container, it drowned.
My friend was a bit upset when he told me what happened, I wanted to laugh but said nothing until I looked inside the plastic water container and saw the little mouse dead and floating, I burst out laughing so loud and just could not stop, he was angry with me telling me that I am a great support but I just kept on laughing, I am not cruel and although I am not crazy about mice but the whole thing was so funny, the mouse came back to life gained so much strength just to jump in the water and die!
Last night in bed the image of the mouse was haunting me and I just laughed and laughed loudly, I am laughing now writing this post.

My Good Neighbour

This morning as I was getting to my car to go for food shopping at the local supermarket I got a phone cal from my neighbour, he said he was at the entrance of the small park at the top of the road with a lady that has just been mugged, he said he phoned the police but wanted me to come over as the mugger ran into the park and since its small then we might be able to catch him or something, it took me about 3 minutes to get there, as soon as I arrived I saw 3 police cars there and my good neighbour was helping this lady get into one of the cars then he carried a large suit case which belonged to the victim and put it in the boot of the police car, The first thing I noticed was that this lady was Muslim and was wearing Hijab.
I stayed in my car after waving to him, eventually he came over and and told me what happened, he was walking to the bus stop when this lady came running towards him and looking terrified, she told him she has just been mugged by someone who snatched her purse and ran inside the park, he called the police and then called me, he didn't leave the victim as she was scared, she told him that she just arrived apparently from a visit abroad and that her house keys, money and mobile phone were inside the purse and she did not know what to do to enter her house without keys as she is on her own and that she can not phone anyone since her mobile phone has all the numbers of her relatives and friends, then the poor woman said Oh No I have a picture of myself without my hijab in the purse and this man will see it, my neighbour told her that this should be the least of her worries and that he is sure God understands. How good is this from my Scottish Catholic neighbour? He left her with the police and asked her to contact him if she needs any help, I am not sure if the police got him but as my neighbour said he hopes that this scum bag gets a horrible disease and lives a long time a life of misery and suffering for what he did to this defenseless woman to which I replied Ameen.

This man has always been helpful and caring towards anyone without giving it a second thought. I am proud of my good Scottish Catholic neighbour and really wish the best for him.

Cleanliness is part of Faith

Going to the mosque today for the Friday prayers inspired me to write this, its about image and cleanliness.
As I was sitting in the mosque listening to the sermon I noticed the guy next to me was bare foot and his toenails were long and extremely dirty, my first reaction was why isn't he wearing socks to cover his dirty feet? If that was not enough, he started to play with his feet with his fingers and SHOCK HORROR I saw that he had some sort of infection on his foot and he was actually playing with it, I felt so sick I wanted to throw up all over him but instead I chose to get up and sit somewhere else, this is something I often notice at this mosque well especially now that my nose is not blocked any more, its the bad smell of dirty socks as soon as you enter and the filthy state of the toilets that once I didn't have Woduu and when I went to the toilet, it was so filthy that I refused to wash and did not pray, unfortunately this is the state of many mosques in London, yet you go to shopping centres or a cinema and their toilets are spotlessly clean and have attendants working there none stop, mosques either have no cleaning attendants at all or they are sitting outside listening to their MP3s.

Where I live in north London there is a big Jewish community living there, there is the Orthodox Jews and there is the liberal Jews, I see both of these communities going to their synagogues every Saturday morning, the Orthodox would be modestly dressed and liberals would dressed like celebrities, both would have their best clothes on dressed as if it is a very important occasion to them in their finest clothes.
Of course the same applies to the Christians who go to church on Sundays.

Again they are dressed in their Sunday best and looking really good, you find this in any Christian church whether church of England, Catholic or even churches where mainly black people go and these are usually quite a sight as they do take extra care in really dressing up for the occasion, especially the women with their wonderful hats.

Unfortunately comes Friday and what you see is mainly men with very long and unkempt beards wearing knee length dress like Jalabia and short trousers underneath, to be honest looking like they need a good bath, some of the ladies are wearing long huge coats that are sweeping the roads as they walk and collecting dirt, yet they do not seem to be bothered!

Islam is cleanliness, washing 5 times a day then wearing the same dirty socks and clothes is wrong, they stink and they offend people around them. Why can't all of us consider Friday a special day where we dress and look clean, why can't we be clean not only on the inside but on the outside as well. I hope that I didn't offend anyone by writing this but this applies to London where I live and where many Muslims like me are complaining about the dirty conditions most of the mosques suffer here and the unclean image that many of our Muslim brothers and sisters have yet they do not do anything about it.

Special Number Plate

This Mercedes car was parked outside the mosque where I prayed last Friday, this special number plate is actually L1 BYA but in the UK any number plate that is considered special can be sold for a massive amount of money, I am sure this number is worth a fortune.
I am glad that this number plate is actually owned by a Libyan family.

Other number plates that I have seen in the past include: JUL1E, N1SMA, KAR1M & ROBB1E (it was a Rolls Royce and Robbie Williams was sitting at the back). I once checked the price of this combination for a friend: NB1 the asking price was £17,000!

Schools

Three week ago my children moved to a primary school near our house, my daughter who is in year 3 and my son who is in year1 used to go to a Muslim school in London that has been having problems and is due to close down at the end of this term (December 2006) all pupils from this Muslim school will eventually be transferred to Islamia School which was founded many years ago by the former singer Cat Stevens, now known as Yousef Islam, I did not want my children to go to Islamia School for reasons that I will talk about another time. My kids have been trying to adjust to their new school for the past few weeks, it has been difficult for them as they are missing their school friends and former teachers, my daughter has been doing very well but my son is having problems adjusting to the new school, he is still very upset and every morning would cry and asks if he can go back to his old school. Few days ago during assembly my son yawned and was seen by the headteacher who instantly told him off and ridiculed him in front of all of the school and if that was not enough, the headteacher came behind my son and smacked the back of his head.

My children are actually well behaved and that is due mainly to the faith school that they used to attend which really taught them how to behave and how to respect other people, obviously my son was very upset about this incident and is now really traumatized and very scared of going to this school again.

There are laws in this country protecting children from being touched by anyone including teachers, I am furious at the headteacher who should have known better, he knew my son was having trouble adjusting and now he made it much worse, how dare he smack my child? I grew up in Libya where some teachers used to hit children which now I look at it as child abuse, I remember on 2 different occasions when I was in Secondary school, 2 student were hit so hard by the same teacher that one of them had a broken arm the other a broken collar bone, it is for these reasons that I would never allow a teacher or anyone to hit my children.

How do you deal with a headteacher? if it was a teacher then you a complain to the headteacher but this way im having to go and complain to the same person that did this incident but I have to deal with it and tell him that I would not tolerate anyone hitting my kids even if they were rude, there are other means of punishments.

I will not let my children go through what I & many Libyan people went through in Libyan schools back in the 70's. I am not sure if hitting students in schools is still happening but that is something that I have been thinking about a lot, if I decide to go back to live in Libya, will my children be protected from some of these teachers that actually gain pleasure from hitting children!

I'm on toot

Yesterday I was added to toot blog list, which is an Arabic site that chooses what they consider are interesting Arab or Arab related blogs from around the world, they have a voting system as well for grading each blog, in case you want to vote for me :o) I have found some Libyan blogs in there, I am surprised & pleased that they chose me.

Many thanks to the toot team

An English Garden

Few days ago I decided to go and visit a Garden Centre since its the end of summer and the end of my time off work, the best place in London and possibly the UK for garden centres is Crews Hill in North London, its a short drive out of London (Enfield) yet as soon as you get there it feels like you are in the countryside.

What I like about Crews Hill is the fact that there are about 10 garden centres situated near eachother, in fact all you have to do is park at one of the garden centres then you can walk to the others.

Many of these garden centres house aquatic centres as well, where you can see & buy all sorts of coldwater, tropical and the very beautiful marine fish, fishkeeping is another hobby of mine but that's another subject.

Some of the garden centres house in their ground other shops that specialize in stone work, pet care, jewelry and many other things, there are pet shops that sell all sorts of pets from disgusting rats to hamsters, creepy crawlies, kittens, puppies and snakes although you cant help feeling sorry for the kittens and puppies as they are kept in cages or behind glass and are desperate for affection.

There is a big shop as well that only sells birds, from tiny Finches to Canaries, Budgies, Love Birds and all kinds of Parrots and even Macaws!!

Bonsai Trees are very popular and you can find many shapes and sizes, they are so beautiful but need a lot of care and patience.

Of course all sorts of garden furniture is sold here, some really nice but some can be very tacky

These garden centres have huge indoor areas where many plants are kept under their ideal condition and which means that you can visit anytime of the year and still enjoy a huge variety of plants, there are outside areas as well housing many plants that are suitable for the garden.

The British people are known for their love of gardening and tend to spend a lot of time and money tending their gardens which can be a beautiful sight all year round. Of course having well stocked garden centres where absolutely everything to do with gardening helps, all you need is patience and some hard work to gain the beautiful garden you always wanted.

Climbers section where you can find many climbing plants and accessories to help you maintain and train them.

another popular product here is pottery which is available in all shapes and sizes, garden ornaments and pots, some can be very heavy, there are a cheaper alternative made from plastic, while these used to look cheap and nasty, recently I noticed that they started selling plastic pots that look like the real thing until you touch them, I thought they were a good and cheaper alternative.

This section is a favourite of mine, the Cactus range is huge and very beautiful, these are a specialized plants of course in Europe and can be difficult to maintain but they provide you with care instructions even special cactus sand and pots are sold here.

A happy and healthy resident at one of the garden centres

Many Garden centres here have a country furniture section, usually to furnish conservatories, some of it is not very nice though.

By the exit at most garden centres they have a gift shop that sells many small gardening items, candles, metal work and all sorts of home made Jams, Marmalades and really delicious looking cakes.

You can find many cafes serving traditional food and many of the home made cakes and pastries.

It really is a fantastic day out that I really enjoyed and it lifted my spirits. If you are in London and its a nice day, try going there, take your family or friends, children will absolutely love it, so much to do there that one day is never enough. I returned to my car and started the drive back home, within few minutes you are transferred from the countryside back to the big city, I am sure I will be back to Crews Hill again.

Update on INJECTION

Please note that the Video in the previous post does not represent my opinion as I am like everyone else, still do not know who committed this CRIME.
Be warned the video is about 1 Hour 20 minutes long and can be very upsetting.

The main website has a bigger size video if you prefer.

http://www.INJECTIONTHEMOVIE.COM

INJECTION

In Libya in 1999, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were arrested and convicted of infecting over four hundred Libyan children with HIV in a Benghazi hospital. Libyan dictator Moammar Khadaffi proclaimed before the trial that the nurses conspired with the American CIA and the Israeli Mossad to maliciously infect the children. The accused, now known as The Benghazi Six, are still in a Libyan prison awaiting re-trial.


Widespread reuse of disposable syringes is responsible for as many as seven million cases of AIDS in Africa. Public health officials are reluctant to discuss this problem, perhaps in fear that Africans will avoid critical medical care, such as inoculations for malaria and other virulent diseases. The thrust of public AIDS prevention campaigns is on safe sex, and healthcare risks are critically overlooked.


In this investigative documentary, Mickey Grant travels to Kenya, Bangkok, Sofia, Benghazi, Tripoli, Rome and London in an attempt to discover the truth. He follows the trail of syringes from hospital to garbage dump, and then back into Africa’s health care system.


You'll hear moving testimony from leaders of the World Health Organization, Amnesty International, African government officials, the Khadaffi opposition, journalists, medical scientists, doctors, and health care workers. You'll also hear from one of the accused, the son of Moammar Kaddafi, a spokesman for the infected children, and other participants.


Could these healthcare workers have committed this horrific crime? Or, are they scapegoats to divert attention from institutional shortcomings? Is Moammar Khadaffi responsible for this tragedy? Is re-use of contaminated syringes a common practice in Libya and the rest of Africa? Are safer syringes available, and if so, why aren't they in common use?

These questions are explored in INJECTION.


For more information, visit
http://www.INJECTIONTHEMOVIE.COM

The above was not written by me, I will leave it up to you to decide!
If the video does not play then visit the above link to watch the video.
AngloLibyan