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  

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“)

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!

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  

Staying focused.
Keeping track.
Setting priorities.
One step after the other.
Praying for assistance.
Believing in HIS guidance.
Being thankful for what is.

Many times I have already written about TEA here, about this coloured scented hot water drink that I love so much.
I drink it all year long, nearly all the time, every day – expect of my one cup of milk coffee in the early morning.
And as it gets colder and colder here, as winter begins, what could be nicer now than a nice cup of tea and some crafting on hand? – time to give an ode to this preferred beverage of mine; but instead of talking myself, I let talk others and suggest to visit those two sites…

“If you are cold, tea will warm you; If you are too heated, it will cool you; If you are depressed, it will cheer you; If you are excited, it will calm you.”  - By Gladstone

“Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company. “

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.”  – Thich Nat Hahn

My personal and long-time favourite teas are: Earl Grey, Jasmine and Ginger Hibiscus.

And what do you tell about tea?

Happy, peaceful, warm and comfortable week to you friends!

Life in these mountains is beautiful, simple and sometimes rough, especially during winter, mashaallah. As the days grew shorter also work reduces. The harvesting is done, the roofs are repaired, and the hard work of preparing for a frozen winter is over and no more field work to do – difficult for those who have not stored enough food for the cattle for the coming cold months.
  
  
  

Life concentrates now around the house with the tasks of cooking, washing, feeding the animals and also crafting. One gathers in the kitchen, in front of the stove, with some embroidery or weaving work at hand, in the living room under piles of blankets and with a warm glass of tea, or outside on the sunny terrace. 

Nature seems to go asleep: the leaves are fallen; the crows come down the mountains to gather in the valley; the storks are almost gone; the fields become brown and children play where several weeks before the crop was still growing. The skies are clear and blue and the air is fresh. The sun still warms a lot, but the shadow is freezing cold. The mountains are covered in white and some first snow reached already the ground – A hard winter can be expected. Family, fire and food give comfort now and the trees hold already the promise of new live, of green leaves and warmer days, inchaallah.

Happy solstice!

Thank you so much for all the interesting thoughts and comments concerning the compost toilet. I think it is a tough subject and a lot to discuss about; I will definitely keep you informed about its use on the long run, inchaallah.

But today it is time for something more edible: bread and cookies.

This weekend I finally had some time to sew some new bags for the school.
The pupils of ours are divided in several groups and every school day another group has to bring bread for the common breakfast-break. Every day, during our end-circle, we give to everyone of the group a cotton bag in which they will bring the homemade flat bread for the next morning. Using those bags, they are reminded to bring the bread and they use that bag instead of using plastic – that’s simple educational green living in action, you see.

These bags are very simple and easy to sew; made of old fabric or sheets, squares sewn together with one short sling on the top, nothing special but very nice and useful (even for other things).

And after having finished the bags, I made some cookies, rolled oat cookies, to be precise. Again something very quick and easy, nothing special, but really yummy:

Rolled Oat Cookies

350 g flour

250 g rolled oats (Haferflocken)

6 table spoons of brown sugar

200ml milk

200 g melted butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix all together until you have firm dough. Roll little balls of the size of a walnut and press them flat on the baking sheet. Bake on 200°C for about 5 minutes. Done.

Bismillah! And have a blessed week!

It’s nearly two months now, that we used our school’s new compost toilets for the first time and I think it is the moment to give a first update: I am totally taken with it. They are just great!
 
A year ago some friends gave us the idea to build toilets that do not need canalization or water tubes; toilets of which one’s business will become compost earth to be used in the garden; Toilets that do nut flush away three liters of fresh and pure drinking water after every session; Toilets that do not need more than a seat, a bucket and some sawdust.
And because we always tend towards greener ways of living, we immediately wanted to give it a go and we searched the net on how to do it.
In the beginning it all sounded a bit strange to us and we feared that going to the loo and not flashing it all away with water would be something smelly and dirty. But the idea of re-using human manure for the garden, such as we also use animal manure, appealed very meaningful to us.  After having read several blogs and articles about this topic, we were totally into it. It all made so much sense and seemed so easy, practical and good. It matched the school’s low budget and our values at the same time and it gave us the chance to try something new in this valley which could become a longtime solution to ecological problems that begin to crop up here.

We built a little traditional clay house in the yard behind the school with two separate rooms for the boy’s and girl’s toilets. The carpenter made two wooden boxes with a top to open and a regular seat. Inside we put a metal bucket and beneath the box we put one basket with sawdust and one for the used cloth-pieces (instead of toilet paper).

Everything looks really nice and clean, and after having explained clearly to the pupils how to use the toilets, all works very well now. There is nothing disgusting or nauseating, nearly no smell (not more than in a normal toilet) and no dirt expect maybe some sawdust on the floor. When you open the seat you only see wooden snippets and after having done your business you simply throw a handful of sawdust into the bucket to cover everything.
When the bucket is full, I take it out and bring it to the wooden compost box behind the house – again nothing disgusting is to bee seen, and the box gets filled now with sawdust, human manure and vegetable leftovers from the kitchen.
I am really looking forward to see all of this slowly becoming rich, nurturing earth, inchallah.
But until then, I simply enjoy the easy maintenance of our new toilets and the feeling of practicing something really green and good. Alhamdulillah.

For more information look here:

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Composting-Toilet  

http://humanurehandbook.com/humanure_toilet.html 

http://theorganicsister.com/on-composting-toilets-and-humanure/

http://www.tcpermaculture.com/

http://sallygardens.typepad.com/sallygardens/2008/01/excrementation.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compost_toilet

Or write me an email, if you need further instructions.

We had rain and snow the whole week, and sometimes no electricity. Grey days, lots of clouds and a harsh cold are coming into that valley. Subhanallah. It seems as if a hard winter begins early this year.

I love this time of the year, I love these rare grey days when it is wet outside but cosy inside. It makes me feel very very thankful for having a warm place called home, alhamdulillah.
And I love the moment when we heat on the first fire in the morning.
Then I know it is time to put on two or more layers of woollens, I know it’s time to finish some old knitting and this is also my favourite time to grab a good book and a warm cup of tea in the early mornings and to make myself comfortable in front of the chimney.

Normally I read a lot of non-fiction books about pedagogy, religion and green living and it has been a long time since I last read light fiction, but these days I am really into an old favourite of my youth: dreaming, remembering, and enjoying Lucy Maud Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables”.
And over the last days I was also really fascinated by reading two very interesting biographies:  

About the green soul of Wolf-Dieter Storl: “Ich bin ein Teil des Waldes“ and
about the deaf actress Emmanuelle Laborit: „The Cry of the Gull“ („Der Schrei der Möwe“). Both are absolutely inspiring books. 

Thanks God fort he gift of reading!  

What is on your bookshelf these early winter days? What are your actual favourite books?
Wishing you a blessed Friday and a warm cosy weekend, friends!