On every trip there are usually those moments that are so transcendent that you can't imagine yourself ever forgetting them. The recent trip to Tanzania featured a couple of them, the first of which I'll tackle now. On our first day in Pemba we visited a local school, and I'll talk more about it later. At this point suffice it to say that it left me very emotional, and also determined to both do something to help them but also to be a better person.
While at this school, and we were visiting a pre-school that served over one hundred students, I think we saw a little of the best and worst of the human condition. There was distressing poverty but also a tangible spirit, which I'll talk more about later when I post some more pictures. I was looking around the classroom and I noticed a series of dilapidated paper plates that were affixed to the walls, probably around ten feet above the floor. Clearly, they were too high to be part of an active lesson plan for the students, who were young. I figured that they had to be the 99 Names of Allah, which feature so prominently in Islam. They are the names and attributes of God, and they are often prominently displayed in mosques. In the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi I think they are in gold, but they paled in comparison to these paper plates. This may have been the closest that I've ever come to the divine. In the face of poverty and problems innumerable these folks practiced their faith.
While at this school, and we were visiting a pre-school that served over one hundred students, I think we saw a little of the best and worst of the human condition. There was distressing poverty but also a tangible spirit, which I'll talk more about later when I post some more pictures. I was looking around the classroom and I noticed a series of dilapidated paper plates that were affixed to the walls, probably around ten feet above the floor. Clearly, they were too high to be part of an active lesson plan for the students, who were young. I figured that they had to be the 99 Names of Allah, which feature so prominently in Islam. They are the names and attributes of God, and they are often prominently displayed in mosques. In the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi I think they are in gold, but they paled in comparison to these paper plates. This may have been the closest that I've ever come to the divine. In the face of poverty and problems innumerable these folks practiced their faith.
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| On the left you have Al Latif, the Kind, and on the right you have Al 'Adl, the Just. This pairing was random, although it doesn't feel that way at all. Beyond the power of God, how many of our problems in this world would be reduced if not completely eliminated if we were more kind and just. |
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