Hafsa's artwork at KIBF

Hafsa participated in an art competition organized by HibaKidz. Over a thousand entries were received, Subhanallah. Here is the announcement of the competition.

Hafsa's painting got selected for displaying at Hiba stall in Karachi International Book Fair. Come and visit Hiba stall! :)

 

 

Young budding artist

Lately, Asma has taken great interest in painting. :)

Unusual Dawah project

Through our trips to Latvia and his encounters with non-Muslims, already for quite a while Uzair has been concerned about inviting people towards Islam. And, of course, it is only a natural wish that he would want to see all the people he truly cares about as Muslims.

Recently, he has been inspired by a popular non-Muslim personality and wishing very much that he would also become Muslim. As he expressed this his wish, we sat down to think of ways to invite this person towards Islam. Mamma mentioned how the Prophet (sa) used to send letters to distant people for inviting them to Islam. So we decided that Uzair would also write a letter to him, pointing out the advantages of Islam and why that his favourite personality should become a Muslim - and Uzair did that. Then, we looked in our bookshelf for a small book, which would explain all the basics of Islamic teachings, photocopied it and included it along with Uzair's letter. Next, we searched online the postal fan-mail address of this person (we could not find his email) and mailed it to him, along with our Duas that he would receive this letter, read it and think about what Uzair has written. If you have read this post, please, make a Dua for this person as well - Uzair will be very thankful to you!

Window painting

After arriving to Latvia, Vecmamma (grandmother) gave to Uzair and Hafsa as gifts window painting kits. They were excited and got to work right away. Now, after two weeks, two windows of Vecmamma's home have been fully decorated.

How to do the window-painting? You need special paints for it and a plastic sheet, on which you make the drawing first, later peeling it off and transferring onto a window.

How to tell the parts of the world in forest

As we walked through the forest to our favourite spring for collecting some fresh drinking water, Mamma called us to the one of the trees, saying that she wanted to tell us something. She asked us to look closely at the bark of the tree all around, if we could notice anything. Upon examining the tree, we saw that one side of it is covered by moss. Mom then told us that all the trees grow moss on the northern side of their trunk to protect themselves from the cooler northern winds. Thus, the side with the moss on is facing the North - and from there, you can easily figure out the rest of the sides of the world - South, East and West.

It is helpful to know this quality of trees in case you get lost in woods, so you don't end up going in circles, while figuring your way out. It is also helpful for determining the direction of prayer. For example, if we know that in Latvia the direction of prayer is nearly Southwards (a little towards East), looking at moss on a tree can help us determine the approximate Qibla.

Hafsa's first artwork with acrylic paints

While watching M.A.D. arts and crafts presentations in Karachi, Hafsa always wished to have the acrylic paints that the presenter was working with for making perfect paintings. Well, her Dua got answered - Vecmamma gave her an artist's kit with acrylic paints and even a real canvas in it! So here is first Hafsa's own made wall painting on real canvas - it's hanging in Vecmamma's living-room.

It's time to travel again!

It's been two years since our last visit to Latvia, so it's time to travel again! Early in the morning on June 1st, we boarded Turkish Airlines flight for Istanbul, from where we would catch our connection to Riga, Latvia. We stepped into the plane with some worries in our heart and recited the traveling Dua, as all of us still very well remembered our last flight Istanbul-Karachi, which ended with an emergency landing (due to some electrical fault in the airplane), delaying our arrival to Karachi for whole 12 hours. At that time, after finally arriving to Karachi, Uzair swore that he would never fly again... :) but here we were again - on the plane, arriving to Latvia safe and sound. :)

This time around, Asma had her very own seat - she was feeling quite important. Propped up by two pillows, she even managed to watch a cartoon in the small screen, which was fit in the back of the front seat. It was her first experience of using a headset all by herself as well, which she considered a very serious activity. :) Although the ear-pieces kept on falling out of her tiny ears, we managed to keep them in place with a head-band.

  

A happy moment

When we heard HibaKidz (http://hibamagazine.com/hibakidz/) announcement about a photography contest featuring pets of kids, we were very sorry we couldn't participate, as we didn't have any pets. Later, however, HibaKidz allowed kids, who have no pets, to take photos of any other animals and send them in for the contest.

On the last day of submissions for the contest, we got rrrrrreallly lucky - Allah (swt) gave us the chance to participate! In the morning, our Mamma found in the back of our house an eagle!!! It seemed to be unable to fly. We couldn't see any obvious injuries on his body, so we gave him some water and let him be our guest.

As we looked at the eagle, we got the idea of taking photos of him and sending one in for the HibaKidz photography contest. And that's what we did! Here is the photo we sent in:

The one-liner we gave for the photo was as follows:
"What are you looking at? I'm not a pet - I'm a predator with shaaaaaarp claws!"

After sending in the photo, we were eagerly waiting for the results to be announced. Today was the big day and here are the results:

We are thankful to Allah (swt) for this success!!!

Mini-lady Asma

Lately, Asma has taken keen interest in all sorts of lotions and perfumes - she loves to smell nice. One day, Mamma was feeling that Asma has been gone for quite a while and searched the home for her. What she encountered upon finding Asma, was worth of a photography session. She had managed to get to Mamma's cabinet of lotions and beautified herself all over with the content of one of the jars!!!

Asma enjoying building games

Recently, Asma has been interested in all kinds of blocks/building games. She can keep herself busy on the carpet for quite a while, constructing her creations.

 

Hafsa's science project on HibaKidz site

Hafsa's science project (of growing her own salt crystals) got published on HibaKidz website! Check it out: http://hibamagazine.com/hibakidz/science-success-how-to-grow-your-own-salt-crystals/

Traditional West African stamp patterns

As we were studying in our history book about the slave trafficing from African countries to the New World (Americas), we also learned that the people of West Africa often used a traditional technique to decorate clothing and other items. This technique, called adinkra, separated the items to be decorated into squares and then stamped patters onto each square. So we decided to try this technique out ourselves.

What we used:
simple A4 printer paper
poster paints
potatoes out of which we cut stamps of different shapes
ruler and pencil

What we did:
1. We divided the paper into 1" x 1/2" rectangles. We had 8 columns and 11 rows.
2. We used different stamps and colours for making our patterns.

Here are some photos of how and what we did to make our adinkras.

Uzair and Hafsa at work.

Some of our potato stamps.

Hafsa's pattern.

 

Mamma's pattern.

Uzair's pattern.

All three paterns together.



Sumo wrestling

As we read in our world history book about the Japanese samurai warriors, we learned that in times of peace, the noblemen used to keep their samurais busy by engaging them in sumo wrestling. The practice of sumo wrestling allowed Japanese warriors to fight without blades or bloodshed. We learned some of the sumo wrestling rules and made our own sumo wrestling game!

Here's what we did:
1) We used the elongaged circle (more of an oval actually) of our carpet as our sumo wrestling ring (called dohyo by samurais).
2) We prepared ourselves by tying pillows on our fronts and backs, in order to look somewhat like the very heavy sumo wrestlers.
3) Hafsa was offered to make the traditional sumo fighter hair-style, which is putting all the hair in a knot on the top of the head, by she shyly declined the offer... oh well...

Here are some of the sumo wrestling rituals we did:
1) We (both wrestlers - Uzair and Hafsa) paraded into the ring from the opposite sides (actually sumo wrestlers are supposed to have also two attendants each, which we didn't have).
2) We squatted at the oppostie ends of the ring, stretched our our hands and clapped once - this is called the chirichozu ritual. 
3) We performed shiko ritual - exaggerated foot stamping on each leg to drive away the bad spirits.
4) We took a sip of water each - to purify ourselves.
5) We were supposed to throw a handful of salt into the ring each, but since our mom wasn't very happy about this ritual, so we didn't do it.
6) We went to the middle of the ring, clenched fists, crouched down and glared at each other, with the goal of breaking the opponent's focus.
7) We started the wrestling, the goal of which is to push the opponent out of the sumo ring.

We also learned that, according to some experts, thumb wrestling is a form of "mini-sumo".

When Asma saw Uzair and Hafsa getting ready, she came carrying
her own pillow as well and insisted on 'getting ready' for it.



We (both wrestlers - Uzair and Hafsa) paraded into the ring
from the opposite sides (actually sumo wrestlers are supposed
to have also two attendants each, which we didn't have).

 

We squatted at the oppostie ends of the ring, stretched our our hands
and clapped once - this is called the chirichozu ritual.

We performed shiko ritual - exaggerated foot stamping
on each leg to drive away the bad spirits.

We took a sip of water each - to purify ourselves.

We went to the middle of the ring, clenched fists,
crouched down and glared at each other, with
the goal of breaking the opponent's focus.

We started the wrestling, the goal of which is
to push the opponent out of the sumo ring.

 

Peanut art

We love the cool and mild winters of Karachi and all the local winter joys that come along with it: chicken-corn soup, dried fruits, kastoori milk, cofee, coffee, coffee. One of our family's favourite winter snacks is baked in hot sand peanuts. As we shell them, feeling their warmth at our fingertips, the entire room fills with an absolutely delicious fragrance! Even Asma (almost 2 yrs) insists on shelling her own peanuts, while Uzair has come up with a creative artistic expression - he breaks the peanut shells into perfect halves, which he then arranges into a house formation.

Unlike the rest of us, who eat as we shell them, Uzair saves his peanuts for later - enjoying them nearly all at once in a big mouthful. As you can see below, our piles of peanut shells stand nowhere close to Uzair's careful arrangement. :)

Cleaning the peas

Winter is the season of fresh green peas in Karachi. We buy them in kgs, clean them and freeze them for use in the summer months. The cleaning is usually a group type of activity, although not a very popular one, since sitting for prolonged periods of time at one place is considered as punishment by kids. :) This year, Asma (not 2 yrs yet) has also joined the peas-cleaning-team and with very serious efforts, does her best to help us. Amazingly, her tiny fingers are doing excellent work. :)