Showing posts with label family history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family history. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Ain't no road muddy enough....!
Growing up in the California high desert, I hated the rainy season. The roads got so muddy. After Mama and Brother Fateen divorced, we lived on the land by ourselves. One season it rained really bad The roads were treacherous. One morning we left the land to go to the tutoring center mama had opened. The drive was horrible, most of the way mama had a rough time keeping the car straight. The car kept slipping and sliding in the mud. But she had managed to make it through. Soon we go to Calusa road and the entire road was muddy. Mama tried to drive through it but the car got stuck. Had Hakim, my older brother, or Brother Fateen been there, they would have gotten out to push us out. But they weren't, it was just us, Mama and girls. Mama did not ask us to get out and push the car, nor did she have to. A family that works together, stays together. Me and my sisters just looked at each other, then jumped out to push the car out of the mud. Being scrawny little things, it took us a while to push the car out of all that mud. We pushed and pushed and pushed, finally the car jolted out of the mud causing us to land face first in the mud. Me and Mas was covered from head to toe. Ahlehm had a good laugh at us since she did not fall in the mud. Lucky for us, the tutoring center had a bathroom and we had trunk full of clothes. Mama had decided we should stay at the office because the rains were making the roads undrivable and we were nowhere near the end of the rainy season. Mama was so proud of us that day. The whole day she told her friends how we acted responsibly without her having to ask us. Looking back, she did a great job teaching us how to be responsible little adults, but then we had a wonderful role model.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Geography on Wheels
My mom could hardly be called a traditionalist; she never did things the old fashion way. She longed to raise us in a Muslim country but when she could not make it happen, she decided to do the next best thing, make her own Islamic community. So what did she do, to the astonishment and horror of her mother and family, she sold our home on east 31st and bought 5 acres of land in the middle of nowhere. While other kids went to school, she home schooled my sisters and I. Our home was our school and the library was our classroom.
When my brother graduated from High school, mama decided to give us a geography course we'd never forget. My brother was going to school in Washington DC, so she loaded everyone in the station wagon and took the family cross country. One of the highlights of the trip was when the whole family sang "Images" by Wali Ali and I got to sing the lead :) It took us three or four days to get to Georgia where my dad lived. Along the way, we stopped off in Arizona where we got to see an Indian reservation. It was fun, though I didn't see any teepees which was rather disappointing. We went to a mine a searched for jewels. In Texas we visited grandpa's sister, Aunt Viola. I think at the time, she was the oldest living relative in our family. It was so interesting to meet that side of the family. She lived in an old house that was built just like the homes of slaves you see in the movies. It was a miracle that we went there when we did, because two or three days later, Aunt Viola died.
We continued our journey. I remember while driving through Mississippi, my brother told Bro Fateen not to stop because the scenery reminded him of scenes out of "Mississippi Burning". When we finally arrived in Georgia, it took us for ever to get off the freeway because Mama kept missing the exit. Every time she passed the exit she'd shout "SHOOT!" and hit the steering wheel. I think it took four or five tries before we finally got off the right exit. We laughed the whole time, she even gave a chuckle once we got off.
The trip back to California was even more fun because we got to spend all the coins my dad had saved up over the years on Fish sandwiches and french fries at Mc Donalds, Jack in the Box and Burger King. In the end, we traveled through Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. I guess that was the beginning of our travels together as a family. We later went on to travel to Jamaica, Sudan, China, and Malaysia.
When my brother graduated from High school, mama decided to give us a geography course we'd never forget. My brother was going to school in Washington DC, so she loaded everyone in the station wagon and took the family cross country. One of the highlights of the trip was when the whole family sang "Images" by Wali Ali and I got to sing the lead :) It took us three or four days to get to Georgia where my dad lived. Along the way, we stopped off in Arizona where we got to see an Indian reservation. It was fun, though I didn't see any teepees which was rather disappointing. We went to a mine a searched for jewels. In Texas we visited grandpa's sister, Aunt Viola. I think at the time, she was the oldest living relative in our family. It was so interesting to meet that side of the family. She lived in an old house that was built just like the homes of slaves you see in the movies. It was a miracle that we went there when we did, because two or three days later, Aunt Viola died.
We continued our journey. I remember while driving through Mississippi, my brother told Bro Fateen not to stop because the scenery reminded him of scenes out of "Mississippi Burning". When we finally arrived in Georgia, it took us for ever to get off the freeway because Mama kept missing the exit. Every time she passed the exit she'd shout "SHOOT!" and hit the steering wheel. I think it took four or five tries before we finally got off the right exit. We laughed the whole time, she even gave a chuckle once we got off.
The trip back to California was even more fun because we got to spend all the coins my dad had saved up over the years on Fish sandwiches and french fries at Mc Donalds, Jack in the Box and Burger King. In the end, we traveled through Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. I guess that was the beginning of our travels together as a family. We later went on to travel to Jamaica, Sudan, China, and Malaysia.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
A True Pioneer
A True Pioneer
When mama decided to leave the city to raise her children in an islamic environment, her husband at the time, Brother Fateen supported her whole heartedly. She left us with trusted friends while she went out the first time to get the desert ready for us. I stayed with her friend, Sis Halimah Mu'min while Mas and Lehm stayed with sister Khadijah Fuqua. When mama set her heart on something, she went into it wholeheartedly. When she first told Brother Fateen her plans of buying land and moving to the desert, he said okay. He left her that morning and when he returned home that evening she had sold the house and was in the process of selling off furniture. A group of them, my mom, step-dad and a couple of friends, rode out together. When they got to the property my mom had purchased, all that was out there was "land". They arrived in the night. All hyped up about the move, they laid out a large tarp and laid out their sleeping bags. They were going to sleep out under the Allah (swt) big beautiful star filled sky. Mama was on cloud nine. As they laid under the starry sky, it was not long before they began to hear the pitter patter of small feet. When they turned on the car lights, they saw mice scattering around. That ended the first night of the fearless settler attitude. They slept that night with their head lights on, while my mom had slept in the vehicle they came in. The next morning, when they picked up the tarp they had slept on, they noticed they had been sleeping on an ant hill. Mama used to laugh and say "Allah (swt) protects fools and babies" every time she recalled this story. Her first night in the desert did not deter her from wielding that land and making it our home for the next ten years. She learned to live with the mice by letting us have cats. She was the fittest woman I knew, at the sound of a rattle or rustle, she could sprint from 0mph to home in a few seconds. My mom faced the hardships that presented itself living in a harsh environment like a true pioneer. No sacrifice was too large for her to make if it meant the well being of her children. Ironically, this was not her last pioneering move. Our story continued!
When mama decided to leave the city to raise her children in an islamic environment, her husband at the time, Brother Fateen supported her whole heartedly. She left us with trusted friends while she went out the first time to get the desert ready for us. I stayed with her friend, Sis Halimah Mu'min while Mas and Lehm stayed with sister Khadijah Fuqua. When mama set her heart on something, she went into it wholeheartedly. When she first told Brother Fateen her plans of buying land and moving to the desert, he said okay. He left her that morning and when he returned home that evening she had sold the house and was in the process of selling off furniture. A group of them, my mom, step-dad and a couple of friends, rode out together. When they got to the property my mom had purchased, all that was out there was "land". They arrived in the night. All hyped up about the move, they laid out a large tarp and laid out their sleeping bags. They were going to sleep out under the Allah (swt) big beautiful star filled sky. Mama was on cloud nine. As they laid under the starry sky, it was not long before they began to hear the pitter patter of small feet. When they turned on the car lights, they saw mice scattering around. That ended the first night of the fearless settler attitude. They slept that night with their head lights on, while my mom had slept in the vehicle they came in. The next morning, when they picked up the tarp they had slept on, they noticed they had been sleeping on an ant hill. Mama used to laugh and say "Allah (swt) protects fools and babies" every time she recalled this story. Her first night in the desert did not deter her from wielding that land and making it our home for the next ten years. She learned to live with the mice by letting us have cats. She was the fittest woman I knew, at the sound of a rattle or rustle, she could sprint from 0mph to home in a few seconds. My mom faced the hardships that presented itself living in a harsh environment like a true pioneer. No sacrifice was too large for her to make if it meant the well being of her children. Ironically, this was not her last pioneering move. Our story continued!
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