Biography 268: Studying in a madrasa.

 Sifat studied in a Madrasa (Islamic Study Centre) for a couple of days or months. As far as I understand, my mom wanted her son to stay and study in Madrasa for a couple of years to learn Islam and follow them correctly.

He went there without making any trouble. But we (sisters and father) were very worried about him. Will he eat properly, will he be beaten up by older students or teachers, can he stay without family, will he get proper study to join the mainstream study, etc again.

But when he came home on the weekend, it seemed he was enjoying himself there. Though the stories he was telling us didn't make us happy. He said he doesn't want to put on a mosquito net because he wakes up in the morning when mosquitoes bite too much. That's kind of an alarm clock for him. We were shocked. He started sitting on the floor. We said, it's dirty, sit on the chair. He said, it's ok, over there; he used to sit on the floor mostly. Sifat became very thin in a short period.

He told us some good things and funny things too. He used to eat food with the principal at their house. He had good food. Sifat also told us that the principal's son-in-law used to stay at his (principal's) house. He liked to during rooh afjah every now and then. He (Son in law) asked his mother-in-law to make him the Sarbat of Rooh afjah by saying, "Amma, Sorbot than (mother, give me a glass of Sharbat)." At the end of the month the students started counting the bottles of rooh afjah to understand how much that son in law drank. They (students) used to make fun of him (the son in law).

I don't know why; maybe my father put pressure on her. Because after some time, my mom decided to bring Sifat back home. We got relieved from the tension.

I am not saying their study process is bad. But it's a very tough life. They run the whole institute on a very low budget and are traditionally very strict. Things can be improved.

Biography 34: Madrasa

 In Saudi Arabia, people called Madrasa to the school. I and my older sister got visa to Saudi Arabia because my mom had got a government job. But we couldn't join to local madrasa as we were not the citizen. There could be other reasons, but this is what I know.

But Alkaseem was a small area and everybody knew my mom. So, the ameer (Mayor) give us permission to sit in school, as a guest.

I have some memories of this school. I and my sister used to sit in the same class. We didn't get any uniform (Government gives to the students). 

I have learned so many small sura (From the Quran) from this school. Later I forget many of them but when I had started learning again, I could remember them.

Our teachers were from Egypt. I guess mostly. They speak Arabic in the class. I didn't understand them, but we could manage with the sign.

It was a girl's school. Their uniform was maxi. 

Whenever any girl felt upset, she uses to put her head on the desk and cover her face with her arms. And the teacher always goes to the girl and asks what happen and tries to solve her problem. I felt I should try this. One day I put my head on the desk and the next moment the teacher put her hand on my head and ask what happen. I felt shame, I shouldn't do this, I smiled and said, "Nothing". Well, we understood each other's language and the teacher left. I never did this again.

The girls in the class used to fight regularly and then make a complaint to the teacher. They use to lie a lot. But my older sister already proved that she doesn't lie. So, whenever anything happened, our teacher uses to ask my older sister (I told you, everybody loves her).

One day when I went outside the class, a girl threw water on me from the water fountain. She was trying to bully me. I felt so upset, my tears come out. But I don't know enough language to explain it to the teacher, but that girl gave her own version of the story. The teacher looked at me with an angry face but didn't do anything. That broke my heart more.

the girls use to come to the school in a truck, it looked like a military truck. I wanted to ride on that too. but never get that chance. We use to walk back home.

In the drawing class, the teacher showed on the board how to draw fruits and vegetables. After that, she cut different coloured papers with the shape of the fruits and vegetables and give them to the students. They glued it on their drawings. I wanted those papers too. But as we were not the actual students, we can't have anything from the school. At home, I have asked my mom to bring those papers for me. She had taken me to the stores and asked me, "Show me those papers, I will buy for you." I wasn't that big to search in the store and find the right thing for me. I never had those colour papers. Later when my son couldn't get anything from anywhere I tried to buy for him. That made him so happy and confident like if you don't give me the thing, my mom will bring it. After coming to Canada, life became so expensive. No matter I much I want, I can't buy all things for my son that he liked to have.