Intentions

stop-sign in Fès-city 

It sometimes is through tests that Allah teaches us lessons.
It sometimes is through uncomfortable incidences that He wants to STOP us.
To hold on.

To correct us, to perfect us, to protect or direct us.

It was an uncomfortable conversation that recently reminded me to correct my own intentions. I shamefully had to realize my own shortcomings and faults.
It was like a waking up call that forced me to think about my sincerity, about my tauba’ (repentance), about my ni’a (intentions), about the weakness of my iman (faith), about the power of my poor ego (nafs), about why I acted as I acted, astaghfirullah,
and it finally forced me to think about our purpose on earth and on how dependent we are from our Creator. Mashaallah.
It was like a call that told me that everything worldly is nothing more than a mere passing, and that nothing here will help or serve me in the hereafter, except Allah’s mercy.

It showed me that I should be more humble, that I should take another direction on how I approach things in this life, that I should purify my own self.
It clearly showed me that I have to strive for more sincerity in all that I do.
It reminded me to focus more on devotion and worship towards Him.
It warned me once again not to worship my own ego, my own needs, nor others or the mainstream. Astaghfirullah (God pardon me!).

It showed me once again that all we do here in this world (dunya) is only worth it, if we do it sincerely for the sake of Allah.
All our efforts should only be made to gain His pleasure and to get His reward on the day of judgement. Ya Rabb!
Those tests hurt.
It hurts to realize that we often are weak, failing and far from perfection.
I then feel humbled and shameful, little and weak.
I see that I have to strive for so many things I sometimes neglect or forget in the hustle and bustle of the everyday life: more concentration in prayer, more sincerity in my work, less interest in human praise, in material wealth and worldy things …
But in the same time, I feel that those tests are a blessed sign from Allah, a sign that He loves us and that He cares for us. Alhamdulillah.
I feel encouraged and hopeful and full of gratitude that He is it who gives us guidance through what He decided is best for us, even if it hurts sometimes. Subhanallah.

Oh Lord, Allah, may YOU guide us all towards what is good,
may YOU give us the wisdom to act in the best manner,
may YOU make us steadfast in the deen (Your religion),
may YOU purify us and make us sincere and honourable human beings, following Your beloved prophet (sas), with the best intentions to gain only Your pleasure in this world and in the hereafter.
Ameen.

“Himmelstreppe” (steps towards the sky) by Hansjörg Voth, Moroccan desert  

icy

 
 

We finally had some snow, subhanallah. The nights are very very cold here, almost like living in a freezer, because not all of our rooms are heated. In the morning the windows are covered by a layer of ice and we usually have no water until midday, because tubes are frozen. During snow storms sometimes electricity goes and nature shows its rough side.

But now the sunrays warm again and during day everything melts – being outdoors is then nearly warmer than staying inside…

I love winter; I love the innocent layer of white that covers everything. I love when nature seems to fall asleep under an icy blanket to gain new energy for the coming season of spring. It is as if we, as human beings, get then also the permission to take things on a slower pace, to focus on our homes and our souls, to plan for the coming seasons, to become calm and centred. Alhamdulillah.

I wish you a blessed warm Friday
and leave you with my actual list of books I currently read:

Sepp Holzer “Wo ein Wille da ein Weg” („the rebel farmer“)
Maria Treben „Gesundheit aus der Apotheke Gottes“ („Health from God’s Garden“)
Wolf-Dieter Storl „Mit Pflanzen verbunden“ (Culture and Horticulture“)

busyworkblessings

Life is busy here, with the preparation of school exams, the caring for some sick family members, with business meetings (oh, I am learning so hard on how to lead a team, mashaallah), with the usual housework and some future planning.
But, subhanallah, I am regaining energy through little mundane things. Sometimes simply rejoicing at the beauty of little details in the everyday brings me so much peace and new motivation: enjoying how some beautiful sunlight falls onto the table, admiring the perfect shape of a mandarin’s peel, feeling the warmth of a fire, watching little birds in front of the windows, relaxing on cosy cushions in comforting colours while glancing through old interior design magazines, seeing the clouds getting greyer and hoping for some snow to come…

I Hope you find lots of comfort and peace in your everyday!
Happy cosy winter-weekend, friends!

 

The School – an Annual Report

 

Salaam aleikoum dear friends and readers,

Over one year passed since the opening of our primary school “école vivante” in September 2010, mashaallah – A lot happened over this year: a lot of work and personal growth, a lot of joy and blessed moments, subhanallah. I would have never been able to imagine how this whole project enriched and in which ways it changed our lives, Allahu akbar. God is the Best of planners and I am deeply grateful and happy to give you some actual updates:

As you might remember, last spring I travelled, together with our daughter and our class teacher, to Switzerland to an advanced training in our partner-school – and as every time, also this meeting was a most helpful and enriching time and the intercultural exchange took again place both ways, alhamdulillah.

 

In early summer’11 motivated friends from Germanycreated a circle of friends called „Ait Bouguemz e.V.”, that is a registered non profit association with the aim to support our project, inchaallah.

Soon after, we went online with our own multilingual homepage (I still have to translate some parts into English and French, but alhamdulillah, it is already very detailed in German).

In July’11 already the summer holidays began. Our 16 pupils reached the expected aims and a beautiful celebration with all the children, families and friends marked the end of a successful first year and the school got, both locally and internationally, positive feedback and encouraging approval, Alhamdulillah!

Due to generous donations we were able to add new furniture and a classroom and to become larger after Ramadan – more than half of our own house is now for the school.
The team was extended by a new teacher and after the busy time of the new enrolling we have now, since September, 24 pupils, mashaallah.

 

During the whole last year a continual supportive exchange took place with our Swiss partners and in October two of their lovely teachers came to visit to further develop our trend-setting pedagogy together with the local team. These times are always very inspirational and an important part of this interreligious and intercultural project.

Since November a French language course for the young women of the valley takes place outside the main school hours and other public activities are in planning. We have lots of demands and many new ideas and it is such a blessing to feel accepted by the public, alhamdulillah.

Further donations allowed us recently to finally finish the pupil toilets in the backyard of the school. As you already know, they are so-called compost or humanure toilets and now our school also sets ecologically seen innovative examples.

 

The new year awaits us with many new adventures, plans and duties, inchaallah, and actually we are looking for a brave and motivated volunteer who is proficient in sign language or in special needs pedagogy (especially for hearing impaired children), to help us with the development of an education department for deaf children to be integrated in our school.

In order to exist, to grow and to develop the école vivante we are further dependent on your help and donations and we ask for your ongoing financial support!

Apart from sponsorships, which are to secure the existence of the primary school, further donations are now necessary to extend the school, to build new workshops for the public leisure centre and to organize a school bus.

The bank-account-informations can be found here at our website.
Donations in Germany, France and Switzerland are now deductible from tax.

The illustrated annual report, which you can download here, shows in detail the past, the now and the future aims of the whole social development project école vivante.

And the article, which appeared this summer in the English „Sisters Magazine“, shows again how everything began.

 

I am so very thankful and pleased to share this promising development of the école vivante with you all, alhamdulillah!

The whole team thanks the donors and supporters for their help, our friends and partners for their engaged cooperation and enriching ideas, all visitors for their motivating interest and all people for their good thoughts, encouraging words and prayers.

I especially thank you, dear readers, for your ever faithful visits here on this blog and for your lovely and thoughtful comments, and I wish you all the best for this New Year! 

May Allah bless you all, may He shower you with His mercy and provide you with lots of joy, happiness, fulfilment, peace and His pleasure in 2012, and may He always guide us on the right path, ameen.

I am looking forward to meet you here again this year, inchaallah,
masalama,

yours itto xxx