Beads

I got my beaded necklaces fixed. This nice lady re-beaded them for and we had a really nice chat.  Where she learned the trade. She has her products at Farmington and Libassa. 

Kavita was the Tin Woodman

 

We helped Kavita make a Tin Woodman costume for school. You were supposed to be a literary character. I think Kavita was the only one. Apparently everyone else was a store-bought police man, army man or super hero. 

Kavita attends HILA: https://hilalib.org/. 

Here is the video of the costume-making: Tin Woodman from Wizard of Oz costume DIY. 

Work out on the Hill

I love these moments on the Hill. This community of folks working out is so pleasant and cheerful. Can you see any unsmiling faces? See the sunset shots.

Rishi Sunak makes PM

 

Want to work internationally and travel the world?

I have actually heard this from a European SOAS classmate. They don’t want to live in their own country and Development gives them a way to see the world. 

Thank you, Global South . Thanks to you being colonised by us, we can continue dominating you, travel as international class of bureaucrats and professionals  . You don't need a class revolution! 

Passage from Marvelous Land of Oz

Kavita's reading The Marvelous Land of Oz. While reading it out loud to me, the name of one of my favourite songs "wonders never cease" popped up. And, "comrade" popped up too! I was told recently that L. Frank Baum was very interested in politics and, one can find a Marxist analysis in his stories.

This is a video from our channel of Kavita reading the whole page: Passage from Marvelous Land of Oz. We both will be reading passages from books we are reading. 

Kavita is almost 10. She has to decide how much more she wants to be on social media, have her videos on YouTube. Is this what she really wants to do? 

My reading of liberal Western democracies

My reading of liberal Western democracies is that the liberal project has solved feminist/racial question by representation, inclusion and diversity crap. They recruit black brown men and women to their system and outsource the capitalist/imperial /racist project to them. System doesn't change. But optics look good.

Olives

 

So, Kavita is obsessed with olives. She can go through a single jar of olives in 2 days. She even likes to drink the juice. 

You know why the EU thinks it can call itself a garden and rest of the world a jungle?

You know why the EU thinks it can call itself a garden and rest of the world a jungle? Because they know they are the barbarians who colonised us and sent us to our Middle Ages. They know when they came to loot and plunder us, we had long ago, mapped the stars, invented algebra and astronomy, built the Pyramids, and, even created egalitarian matriarchal societies long before they they learned how to even bathe! They know when they de-throned our Kings and Queens, they de-stabilised us, sending us into a chaos and subjugation. They know they enslaved us! They came to loot us, take our treasures to put in their museums. They know they destroyed our cultures, languages and heritage disconnected us ourselves. They know we had pluralistic and far more advanced ideas about gender while they are only now discovering it! What gardens? The most beautiful gardens have always existed outside of Europe. So, even now that they continue to loot us, subjugate us in their hegemony, they know they can look down at us and talk about a garden they have.

Please see: EU's Josep Borrell under fire for calling outside world a 'jungle'. 

Also, read Marwan Bishara's Josep Borrell as Europe’s racist ‘gardener’. 

Pencil boxes and childhood memories

 

Why does the pencil box evoke such intense nostalgia and memories of school? 

This pencil box was common during my school days and, back home in Pakistan, these are still so common! Here, apparently, not everyone has it.

So, Kavita told me that one of the boys in her class asks over and over again if he can see her pencil box. It made my heart tug because children are so innocent and, they have such fascination with simple objects around which their lives revolve.

I can still remember the innocence of childhood when I did not have many concerns and worries other than being nervous at school or not knowing how to make friends. And, as we progressed into higher grades, the huge burden of studying , exams and carrying all those books was one's complex world. I used to feel anxious and, internalise my parent's conflicts, their own homesickness for their families but still the world was small and, who knew all we had to face later on in life?

I love asking Kavita about her school days. There's so much interesting information.

"How was school today? What was your favourite part of the day?"

Kavita: "Recess. I got to play with my friends."

"What did you study? What happened in class today?"

Kavita: "The children are more behaved with the new teacher."

"Why , what are the children doing?"

Kavita: "They are so loud. Some of the misbehaving ones go around the class room singing loudly. One boy keeps going to other's desks and puts his elbows on their desk."

"Fourth graders are so noisy ? What do you do the whole time? Are girls also 'misbehaving'?"

Kavita: "Yes, they are. I am quiet. One girl asks everyone if they want a knuckle sandwich."

"What!"

The highlight of my day is waiting for Kavita to come home and then I ask her, ' what did they give you for breakfast and lunch?'

So, Kavita's new school , HILA, serves breakfast and lunch! Kavita gets to eat an amazing variety of food: sausages, donuts, fried chicken, French fries, pizza, cassava leaf, joloff rice.

So far, so good.

Can’t wait to read Tomb of Sand

 

Biden, Imperial Presdident, dares to say Pakistan is dangerous

 

Bead rings for children

I bought these rings at an arts and crafts fair held at SMART Liberia. I bought them for Kavita and her friends. 

My favourite spices

 

LOVE this protest