Dear Dad

Dear Dad,

Another year has come and gone. And once again, it was a busy exciting year. Here's what you missed.

December
Ethan joined the Little Theatre's Pantomime production again this year. He had many smaller parts, but his big piece was playing a rat. His costume was unbelievably hot. Am sure he lost a few kilos with the costume and being under the hot lights.

December also means Christmas. This year, we decided to go home. It's been 5 years since we had Christmas in Canada. It was also the coldest Christmas in almost 10 years. Not sure why it picked this year to be so cold. We spent time in Ottawa with Rasool and the family, and we made great use of your condo. New Year's Eve, Karim and family, and Karima and family came over. We all went for dinner, then came home to hang out. All the boys had sleeping bags in the living room. It was great to wake up New Year's day surrounded by family. You and mum always said the way you start your year, is how you'll end your year. So we began the New Year surrounded by love. Good to know love is what we'll have all year. 

January

Afraaz came to visit Dar and taught a couple classes at school. He then performed a concert over the lunch break. 

February

Exciting news. Remember how I went back to Harvard in the summer. Well, I spoke to the dean of Project Zero about their online courses, and this month I have begun working for them! I am an online coach for their Visible Thinking course!

March

You missed a milestone this month. Scott turned 50! Can you believe it? 

Ethan decided he wanted to try skiing, so off to Switzerland, he went, on his own, well with some schoolmates. He had a great time and didn't break any bones!

This month, one of your nieces became an author! Faiza wrote and self-published a book. It's fantastic. Tell all your friends to get one. They can order theirs here. 

April

April was a little sadder. Scott and Rehanna's house caught on fire. They have been living with Shelina since then. Could you pull a few strings there and ensure their home is finished in time for Khaled's birthday? Thanks

April was also Kids Rock time. This year I wrote the script for Peter Pan. I also directed it. Ethan was my Captain Hook, and as usual, he was fantastic!

May

This month, Scott and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary and Hailey turned 5. You were missed on both occasions. 

This month also brought some changes. Scott accepted a new position, so we learnt we were leaving Dar and heading back to Lusaka, Zambia. 

May also meant that your other granddaughter graduated high school. Imaan is off to BC come fall. You were greatly missed by her and everyone else at her graduation.

June

June meant packing up our house in Dar, and then Ethan and I headed to Canada. Mum was already there, and Rasool and fam came to visit. We all had breakfast at Rashida Aunty's. Can't remember when we were all together. 

July

Ethan turned 12 this month. Can you believe I will be the mother of a teenager next year? We spent the day at the beach with the cousins, followed by dinner with the Maneks. It was a perfect day.

July was also didar in Portugal. Mum went with Massi. They then went to Spain. It was good she got a bit of a holiday. But, once again, you were missed. 

July also means Theatre Camp for Ethan. This year they put on Aladdin. When Ethan was in the fifth grade, they put on a production of Aladdin. Ethan wanted to play Jafar, but as you may recall, he got the part of Aladdin. Well, this time his dream came true. And what an amazing Jafar he was! Once again, he was thrilled the Manek's were able to attend. 

August

This month brought new adventures. We moved to Zambia and Ethan started school here and Rasool went on a family vacation. They keep promising to come to visit us, but they opted to head to the East Coast this year. 

September

Our family grew this month as Amin-Mohammed became a dad. Welcome, Kin Jamani. We're thrilled to have the Jamani name continue!

September wasn't good weather in Ottawa. They had a tornado and the power went off. Some people didn't have power for nearly a week. Now, while I'm aware that those of us used to Dar life are used to this, Rasool and the rest of the city were not. So please, could you keep an eye on them, and make sure they don't have to deal with this again? Thanks.

October

Zambia is ok. It's taken some time for Ethan and me to settle here. I'm not teaching at the school, but I found an amazing NGO, Chance4All. They help get sponsorship for the kids of Bauleni so they can attend school. Every Wednesday we meet with the children and help with tutoring, homework, exam studying or reading. I'm working as their Reading Specialist. I love it. Wednesday's is my favourite day of the week. 

November

Ethan took part in the school play. The theatre teacher was putting on a production of Fame Jr. The high schoolers were given the leads, but Ethan's teacher was quite impressed with him that she wrote a part for him. He stole the show. You'd be proud. 

So I had grandiose plans to post this yesterday, on the anniversary of you leaving us, but I had a very busy day and planned to post it in the evening. However, the power went off, but that just means I can share with you how my day yesterday went. 

Remember how I told you I started working for an NGO. Well, every Wednesday we meet at the Bauleni Special Needs School. Some of our students go here. But we use their conference room to work with the kids. Yesterday we had a Giving Back Campaign. We fed 700 children and arranged for small Christmas presents for each child. You were definitely there, watching over us.

I miss you, dad. Not a day goes by I don't think of you. 

With love

Father's Day Interview

We're a little late posting this. But better late than never. Ethan's much older now than when we first began this. The first time we tried this was in 2010 and Ethan was 4 years old. You can see his responses here. Ethan's about to turn 12, so his responses are a little more thoughtful and mature.

1. What is something Daddy always says to you?
      "Do your homework!"

2. What makes Daddy happy?
      "Ummm people not stealing his stuff! I'm just joking. People who do their jobs right."

3. What makes him sad?
      "When I don't do what he asks. Or when either Mommy or I get hurt. That makes him sad."

4.  How does he make you laugh?
      "He tells me Dad jokes. They're not funny. But it makes him laugh."

5. What was Daddy like as a child?
       "All I know about him as a child was that he was really skinny. Oh and that he was born in
          Canada. And I don't think he wore glasses. He had a brother named Greg. And two caring 
          parents. Boom! That's all I know."   

6. How old is Daddy?
     "50! Ha, I know that!"

7.  How tall is he?
     "I don't know...how about 6 foot? 5 foot 8?"

8. What is his favourite thing to do?
      "Watch TV and play the racing game on his iPad. And swimming. And telling people what to do.          He likes that!"

9. What does Daddy do when you're not around?
      "I don't know what he does, I'm not around. He swims, plays on his iPad, tells people what to do.
        I don't know."

10.  If he becomes famous, what would it be for?
         "For telling people what to do. And for his swimming. He's a fast swimmer, like that butterfly               guy. What's his name? I don't know. Oh ya, Michael Phelps. He's the next Michael Phelps."

11.  What is Daddy really good at?
          "Didn't I answer this already? He's good at running a trucking company. He's good at telling                 people what to do. He's good at swimming. He's good at driving. He's good at looking young.             Yeah, I'm done."

12. What is he not very good at?
          "Ummm....baseball. Hahaha, he's going to hate me for saying that, but it's all I can think of."

13. What does he do for his job?
        "He runs a trucking company. Isn't he like a COO or something? He basically runs the place in              Zambia."

14. What is his favourite food?
         thinking for a very long time...."I don't know. I was going to say pizza but I don't think so.                  Maybe anything maa makes. He likes her cooking. And meat. Anything with meat. Like bacon.            Yes, bacon. That's my final answer. Boom, got it right!"

15. What makes you proud of Daddy?
       "How hard he works."

16.  If he were a cartoon character, who would he be?
         "Donald Duck!"

17. What do you and Daddy do together?
        "We play board games, we talk, we watch football, we argue, we swim, we play football. We do           stuff!"

18. How are you and Daddy the same?
       "We're both smart."

19. How are you guys different?
       "He's older than me, more mature, faster swimmer. He's smarter than me, even though I said we            were both smart."

20. How do you know he loves you?
       "Because he tells me every day. He's a nice person, he hangs out with me, he does what I like to            do. He follows my passions."

21.  Where's his favourite place to go?
      "Work! Ha, no home. He likes to go home a lot."