RECEIVING AN INVITATION FROM AN AFRICAN CHIEF: OUWE DIBBES
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| With the Chief |
Invitation
A letter arrived in my postbox. It was an official invitation from an African Chief from Sierra Leone!
Sander de Kramer, better known as Chief Ouwe Dibbes, the only white chief of Sierra Leone, had personally invited me to attend his official book launch. The Chief had set up children's orphanages all over Sierra Leone under the umbrella of The Sunday Foundation. It was for his organisation that I collected love for the orphan girls of Sierra Leone.
I entered an invitation-only gathering at the famous Bazar, which is known in Rotterdam as the place to be for hipster Arabs. I was a regular there, more then a decade ago during my college years in Rotterdam. The gathering consisted of a collection of Dutch VIP's like Anita Witzier, ex-Minister Ivo Opstelten, the Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb, soccer legend Robin van Persie, Comedian Najib Amhali and many others, but also Friends, Family and a collection of loyal donators and volunteers to the organisation. People were from all kinds of religious and ethnic backgrounds, but tonight everybody was united for the children of Sierra Leone.
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| From right to left: Robin van Persie, Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, Chief Ouwe Dibbes and Comedian Najib Amhali |
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| With Ibrahim of the Sierra Leone Foundation |
Of course I too came to deliver my cheque from Paris! In it was a collection of imaginary hearts from the loving people of Paris. Some of them were beggars, others were generous cooks, or even non-Parisians from the USA and Polen, who offered me free nights in the form of a donation. It were the normal people that made the difference. I had expected a lot from the religious institutions, but what I collected from the normal people of Paris exceeded my expectations. I had hoped to collect 280,- euros in the two weeks of my Paris stay, but I collected almost the double of that: 500,- euros!
I truly had found Allah in the hearts of the people. This night at the Chief's Bazar had the same message. We were the change we were looking for. Each and every person at the event did something for the Children. I took with me my Allahdin lamp and asked the people to make a wish.
Some made wishes for the children of Sierra Leone, others wished for more health, so that they could enjoy life more. One journalist from the Trouw wished for my happiness and promised that he would try to convince his newspaper to do an interview with me. I thanked him for his kind wishes. My Love Pilgrimage got no attention in the Dutch newspapers, but that did not matter. I was not an imam for the institutions. I work for Allah and Allah alone will decide my path and how I will connect to Allah's people.
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| the Chief's wife |
My meeting with the African chief had touched me. He was my hero and the great woman standing next to him was his wife Wendy. A kind and warmhearted lady with a contagious smile. It takes a very special lady to support a husband with an initiative of this magnitude. I humbly thanked her with the most precious gift I took with me from Paris: a holy candle from and with the Notre Dame de Paris. The circle had closed I had found Allah, in the hearts of the people who took Allah's children under their wings. The Ouwe Dibbes family, their friends and supporters.
To read more see: https://www.bol.com/nl/p/chief-ouwe-dibbes/9200000099132904/
With love,
Hajja Salima El Musalima
Avant-Garde Imam
20,- donation from a Parisian
25,- donation from a Parisian ( a former supermodel of Moroccan descent who had visited Sierra Leone a long time ago)
100,- donation from a visitor of the African church Église Amour de Dieu after the Pastor had given me time to speak about my project.
77,- donation from anonymous person from Polen.
87,- donation from Washington D.C.
14,- dinner with a Parisian at home
6,- breakfast with a Parisian at home
36,- donation in the form of a free ride back to Enschede by a Parisian.
14,- dinner at a Parisians home
14,- dinner at a Parisians home
2,- donation in form of free water bottle at Église Amour de Dieu
6,- breakfast paid by Indian guy from café de Folies
20,- donation from Holland
20,- saved on hotel costs by sleeping in home of a female Muslim beggar from the Grande Mosquée de Paris.
6,- saved by having breakfast at Muslim beggar lady in her home.
2,- Algerian Christian church offered me a drink and a cookie.
4,- The spiritual shop owned by a Jewish - Moroccan lady that is close to synagogue de la Tourette offered me two gifts: a hanger and a card.
20,- sleep over at a Parisian donator.
4,- Free crossant and coffee offered to me by Salim, the Algerian barman at café de Folies
10,- Saved on tea and lunch that I had in the home of another begger that I met in the Metro, a lady from Homs- Syria. She had nothing, but was very hospitable to me.
Total: 486,-
I rounded this amount up by giving a donation myself. So I added 14,- to make it a total of: 500,- !!!!
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