Why not

Jane Stillwater, a 64-year-old citizen journalist who says she loves all religions and is a practicing "Catholic/Christian/Hindu/ Muslim/Buddist," faces East as she does her evening prayer in Berkeley on Tuesday. Chronicle photo by Kurt Rogers

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Minneh K. Kane

Just wanted to keep this in mind after watching an interview on Yahoo. She has bi-racial kids. (Future interview for Kenyans Abroad)

Minneh K. Kaneh, Lead Counsel, Legal Vice Presidential Unit (VPU), World Bank
Ms. Kane, a Kenyan national, has worked at the World Bank since January 1988, and at present serves as a lead counsel in the Legal VPU. Focusing mainly on legal and judicial reform issues, she is currently working on projects and /or sector assessments in Kenya, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Prior to joining the Bank, Ms. Kane worked as a barrister in Kenya for Hamilton, Harrison and Mathews, the oldest and, at the time, the largest, law firm in East Africa. She handled corporate and commercial matters taking cases to the High Court and other courts in Kenya. Ms. Kane has a master's degree in law from Harvard Law School. She is a barrister-at-law of Grays Inn, London, and an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She has a B.A. with honors in English law and French law from the University of Kent at Canterbury, England and a diploma in French law from the Université de Paris-Sud, Faculté de droit de Sceaux, Paris, France.

This was very moving and I wondered if the swimming pool was finished


From Sr. Pauline:

"As you know I have recently celebrated my Golden Jubilee 50 years as a Loreto Sister. To mark this achievement I have launched a SWIMMING POOL FOR LORETO NYAKATO (Mwanza, Tanzania) project. I am appealing to you my past students, parents and teachers to help me to realize this dream I have for our children in Nyakato. I believe that our combined efforts can bring this about. The target is $50,000 and the goal is a swimming pool by the end of my Golden Jubilee Year.

In Tanzania, a swimming pool in a school is not only unheard of, but is not even in their imagination that such a thing could be possible. Yet I believe that a swimming pool would do so much to help our girls to gain self-confidence. Drownings in the lake are common because no one knows how to swim so this is another reason why a swimming pool is needed.

I want our girls to know that they are as good as young people anywhere in the world, and to have the confidence to face the world as well-equipped equals of Loreto students world-wide. They have already left their Mwanza contemporaries far behind because of the unique Loreto education which they are receiving. But there is still a lot of catching up to be done before they will have reached the full flowering of their talents and personalities which I believe they are capable of. A swimming pool for Loreto Nyakato is just one of the ways by which this catching up will happen.

Please help me to make my Golden Jubilee dream come true a swimming pool for Loreto Nyakato, please.

Thank you my dearly loved girls, parents and teachers for doing this for me.


(Sr.)Pauline Boase


Loreto@mwanza-online.com
Loreto Girls Secondary School,
Box 92, Mwanza, TANZANIA

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Who are We and are We Proud to be British?

Answering Haitham al-Haddad's "Who are We and are We Proud to be British? "

Asamalum Alaikum,

I enjoyed your article with a lot of reservations. I googled your name to get a better understanding of who you are. What I found out was a bit interesting and I wonder if you have a problem with being defined as a Palestinian, who grew up in Saudi Arabia and schooled in Egypt. Can we say that your idea of pride would have been different if you were a Saudi national or you had full citizenship in Palestine? I hope you don’t see my view as a personal attach, but just an honest individual observation

I am not a scholar to claim there has been a study, but it is a fact that many non-Saudi Muslims who were born and raised in that "Muslim country" have a negative feeling towards expressions of national pride. When it comes to British citizens (Christian and European) many would say that, the British are proud of their Britishness, but they don't throw it in your face and treat others with disgust. It is true there might be some lingering racism, but it is a FACT the British have basic HUMAN respect. The British do recognize your citizenship even if you are a Hindu. Comparing that to Saudi citizens (white, brown and black) I don't think you would disagree with what many born and raised non-Saudi Muslims would say. I am not claiming you were born in Saudi Arabia, but just in case you were, I can imagine how good it would feel if you were recognized and respected as a Saudi national.

The point I am trying to make is not to disagree with your theological explanation, but to bring you to what OUR MUSLIM reality looks like in the so-called Christian WEST. Could you or any of those Muslim scholars make a similar argument in the outskirts of Makka or Madina. There is nothing wrong with promoting and teaching our religion, but once in a while we have to be honest with the reality we are in. Quite often we select issues and hot topics that do not serve Muslims well, but put many of us on the wrong side of “fighting social justice for all.”

Is it wrong for an Indian Muslim to say, “Yes, I live in the Dubai and I am very proud of the Muslim-British cricket team captain.” For someone in your position, I totally believe your priorities are off the “Serving-Muslim Well” mark. Please do read my letter with the understanding that, we are on the same side and want the best for Humanity, Muslim or non-Muslim. Let me conclude by saying that I am a proud naturalized American citizen and a proud father raising two American kids. I cannot allow anyone to take that away from them.

Interesting vindication and not all Muslims are on the “Us Vs Them” train. At a Muslim conference in the USA, “Dr. Alkhawaga, a psychiatrist, said the rhetoric is "very troubling." In fact, he proposed that the integration of pure Islam with American culture at its best would make "a perfect marriage."

Read the rest of “From the emotional to educational, topics vary at Muslim confab.”
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08307/924770-85.stm

Proud American Muslim,

Mohamed Ahmed

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Million Man March Pledge

I was there and it made me very PROUD.

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"The Endorsement from Heaven,"

Greetings Obama supporters,

This is my take on Kristoff's Op-Ed titled, "The Endorsement from He*&%$."
The heading is very loaded and it is supposed to have the same Bush "fear effect." Hell is a negative and in this case it's deeper meaning is nothing but, MUSLIM; ISLAM; ARAB; NON-CHRISTIAN; OTHERNESS; THEM and all the negatives that don't apply to "US." Us could be anything, depending on where one stands or sees themselves. Does the other leaning towards McCain make the Obamans better human beings? I don't think so.

The use of the new code word which is beyond HATE, connecting a religion followed by the OTHER, yes ISLAM to fascism is something despicable and it's effect is the same as "Hate yourself" as well as "I hate you because..." Why should anyone try to make Muslims hate themselves? Why should anyone make any human being hate themselves? The only reasonable answer is, the opposite of hate is a bit too hard a path for many. LOVE. (just putting those letters together, yes, LOVE has a calming effect.)
Here is a link to I love you in many languages
LOVE LOVE LOVE NAKUPENDA, Je t'aime, Ngiyakuthanda, mein ap say muhabat karta hoon
I also could not understand how Kristoff after writing:
(1) "The U.S. chose a very confrontational route," in Somalia.
(2) "The greatest catastrophe is the one endured by ordinary Somalis who now must watch their children starve. "

His conclusion was beyond basic logic that, "the only winner has been Islamic militancy," which also means, MUSLIM, ISLAM, ARAB, NON-CHRISTIAN, OTHERNESS or THEM. One wonders who the losers are. If WE, US, not THEM are the losers, then who else are the winners. One in New jersey or Oklahoma cannot see the Somali mother as US nor anything near our humanity, but THEM. Yes, that Somali mother watching her starving child must be a WINNER too. Bush believed in Us Vs THEM and after thousands of innocent deaths, many have come to an intelligent conclusion that he was very wrong, and the human as well as DOLLAR value has been too high a price to pay.

We all have to refuse the "Us Vs Them" mentality and promote building bridges between all human beings. We have come too far as a species to accept and allow a pilot to drop death on those who don't even have running water nor the mobility to go to the river. It is about time we supported our troops to feed the hungry, fight disease, celebrate our differences and never to allow the destruction of a school, hospital, dams and all that makes us human.

I was not supposed to write or share my thoughts, but to tell you the truth, I feel good and free.

I totally believe Obama will be the next president of the USA, but just in case, you never know what the GOP magician has under her/his pants. If at all something very bad happens (God forbid), we saw it in 2000 and it is still possible. I will be able to say, "five days before the election, I was free and felt great." I will work very hard the next 5 days to hold on to this feeling of being FREE by knocking more doors, making more calls and do all that is possible to help Obama win the presidency and bring POSITIVE CHANGE.

We can do it! Yes We Can!
Being an Obama believer, I HOPE and wish the Obama era will be filled with basic humanity to the OTHER. We have come a long way to go back to FEARFASCISM. ( I deeply apologize to all those beautiful letters especially A and F)

"Dehumanizing even the worst of the worst, in a way diminishes our humanity."

The whole world has voted for Obama, now they are counting on YOU and ME.

Change We Can Believe,

Mohamed Ahmed

I posted this letter on other sites
NewYork Times (comment 335)
The Philistine

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Hamza Yusuf Speaks

Muslims in the USA

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Saudi Solutions ( a very telling statement)

This is a very good documentary about Saudi Women. The ending is very perfect. The prince seems a bit arrogant, but in a way he is trying to solve a very serious problem. Slow but Sure is the best way.

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