A summer night in Libya : 10th of July 2002

I've already posted this piece on my blog but I thought it might be appropriate to post here to show how much I love Libya.

Feeling a little bit blue, I rummaged through some old diaries and came up with this entry . I recall how good it felt to write and wished to share it with you.

Now let me tell you about a summer night in my beloved country.In Africa summer nights are enchanting so imagine how it could be in an African /Arab country on the coast…you feel you have stepped into wonderland ..as if a magician has used a big wand to make everything just perfect !As soon as the sun sets very late at around 8 PM a dark purple light gradually fills the sky and suddenly everything seems somehow dimmer…then the night in all its glory is upon you . I'd be sitting in the swing in our garden enjoying the light summer sea breeze and almost falling asleep with the pleasure, when slowly I would realize that there was a silence within the silence. Truly it is a blessed piece of land. My area is comparable to a village. It is so silent, yet so alive. I could hear the happy trills of the women at a wedding in the 'street ' behind us . The dogs who were resting throughout the day start to roam and cats are looking for a prey and a bit of fun. People are sitting on mats in their own gardens or backyards sipping green tea and eating watermelons . The crickets are singing ..you can hear all that yet the silence is overwhelming so much so that I have the impression that the clicking sound made by my keyboard is terribly disrupting to inner peace. Yet I continue to write because apart from telepathy , e-mail is the quickest way to convey a message.

As the night gets darker, the sky is sapphire blue and the stars illuminate everything ..there are no street lamps ..and so you really feel out of the century ....out of time. The palm trees make a lovely curtain to the velvety smooth sky. I have the impression that I could touch the stars and hold them in my little hand if I wish.The night here is so beautiful it feels like a blasphemy to think otherwise. Then the smell of the earth rises up to your nostrils …you could almost think you were in heaven…At such times I remember even more God's grace & mercy upon us and fall down on my knees to thank Him. I have learnt that you do not pray to God when you are unwell or want something..you have to remember him even when you are full of happiness to thank him gracefully for his blessings.

Alhamdulilah


HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU :)

Libya and the U.S.: Qadhafi Unrepentant

An article by Mohamed Eljahmi, co-founder and a former board member of the American Libyan Freedom Alliance, another initiative that had promises but went down the drain because of some self-interested fame- and power-seeking individuals. The article is very informative and well written:
http://www.libya-watanona.com/news/n2005/dec/n03dec5a.pdf

I can't resist but bring this other piece to light. Mohammed is the brother of Fathi Eljahmi, a Libyan dissident who was brought into the spotlight by the White House, actually by Bush himself, and then went forgotten when Gaddafi was tamed! In Bush's speech marking the "progress in global women's human rights," that he gave in March 2004, he said, "Earlier today, the Libyan government released Fathi Jahmi. She's a local government official who was imprisoned in 2002 for advocating free speech and democracy. It's an encouraging step toward reform in Libya. You probably have heard, Libya is beginning to change her attitude about a lot of things. We hope that more such steps will follow in Libya, and around the world." Well, The only problem was that, by all other accounts, "she" is in fact "he"... Oops, someone made a mistake! Probably this someone googled Eljahmi and passed to Bush the info about Khadija Eljahmi, mistaken her for Fathi. Yeah, right, they're fighting terrorism, spreading democracy in the Middle East, and getting results ===> control over more oil--the bottom line!