Monday, May 21, 2012

What A Weekend! A robbery, a death, & a flood!


They say, "when it rains, it poors..."! Islam teaches its followers that "verily after hardship comes ease...", some say, "verily after hardship, comes two ease...". I pray my ease comes soon, and in fact, it may have already.....
     I'm actually sitting in my chair with a smile on my face. After this weekend, and all that it entailed, I'm very grateful for my chair, my series of hardships and the flood that I just faced, in my Cookie Shop!
     It all started with a phone call from over seas (my wife's family is from Harar, Ethiopia) that caused my wife to begin to cry and call on God for His Mercy and Help. Her sister, whom we had just been through an ordeal with, trying to find a medicine that cost $12,000 in Ethiopia and $1200 here, had slipped into a comma, after she had been given the shot of Zometa. She had been, probably incorrectly and incompetently, diagnosed with Osteoporosis.  The medicine was suppose to ease her pain, give her the ability to make strong bones, etc.

     An hour later, we were on Skype with my wife's niece, who was explaining what had happened to Furdosah, my wife's sister, when all of the sudden, somebody approached Bakalah's (the niece) car screaming! The man was saying that she had stole her Chot! (Chot is a drug that is chewed and causes effects similar to amphetamines and hallucinogens). The man was part of a crew that sets out to rob people for their belongings. We were astounded and so scared at what we were hearing! My wife is translating and crying at the same time! I can here the tone of her niece, and I know she's fighting for her life and scared to death. She cries out for her husband, who was coming out of a local shopping center or store in Addis Ababa. He flies in and punches the guy in the face and knocks him down! Bekalah is crying. She has her baby in the car and has never experienced anything like this! Her Iphone, with all the trimins, allowed us to see and hear most of the event.(Its hard knowing someone is being robbed or about to be kidnapped in a foreign country and you can not lift a figer.... and its playing out live on the screen in front of you!)
Not far from Bakalah, another group of people are robbing and fighting another couple, and my wife's niece and husband speed to safety! I ask my wife, "what would happen next?". "Will the police come baby?" She laughs at me, smiles and says, "no Yusuf, you have to catch them and take them to the police.....". "Wow, thank God we live here in America!" (The Irony.... it seems that we are moving to a total police state. Can't live with them, and can't live with out them.... That's something to ponder... anyway.)

     A few hours later we get the call that no-one wants to get... "Furdosah past away nana Munira!" Nana is Harar for Aunt. She had slipped into a coma and passed away, just like that. My wife was close to her sister and it hit her hard! Her sister, whom she dearly loved and missed, was now dead.

     Today I did what she usually does, and my duties as well, which is what you do when you love someone. You pick up the slack and give them all the help and support you can. When I walked into our business, a small wholesale bakery, this morning, the bathroom commode had flooded out my business and the one next door....!!!

     When it rains it poors.... but, God doesn't put on us any more than we can bare. My mom was just released from the hospital with organ failure as a diagnosis and death as the prognosis. My DOWNS Syndrome uncle was just released as well. His kidneys are failing, and he continues to suffer from serious UT Infections and blood infections from dialysis catheters. When it rains it poors.... but, God doesn't put on us any more than we can bare.

    When it is all said and done, it is God Whom we can rely... We Muslims say it daily, well, most of us. "Hasbee Allah-hoo Laa Illaha illa huwa 'alayhee tawa-kal-to wa huwa rab-ool arsh al-atheem". (In Good I soly rely on... There is nothing worthy of worship except He... and He is the Lord of the Great Throne"...
   
     and we say...... Ameen!

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