A new phase of my life

Well! I mentioned earlier that this year probably got something hidding for me. I just started my postgraduate studies in International Business, a course that runs for about a year and a half. This is a better start than the previous incidents I mentioned in my earlier posting. In fact not only did start my masters but also I moved to a different country; I am now in Dubai, UAE. Thats right I am doing my masters in one of the universities based in Dubai's Knowledge Village. I just arrived early this week and I am trying to settle down specially that I was late two weeks from the start of the semester. So far so good, the university seems to be well established and with a good reputation and more imortant I got good company at the university's residences. It is an apartment of three bed rooms with Internet and Sat TV services and two students per room. I have to catch up on whatever I missed.
Those of you who are in Dubai I will get in touch with you soon.

New years.. so what?

Its that time of the year where all get excited and prepare to celebrate yet the end of one year and start of a new year. Some of us get busy planning the celebrations and some are busy making resolutions; ladies want to lose weight and gents want to shape up. Its funny because if we just rewind the tape a bit we will realise that we didn't accomplish much of last years resolutions in fact some will find that next years plans are typical to last year's.
Well this year is giving me a different feeling with mixed up happenings. Dec 31, 2007 I returned from the Holy lands in Saudi Arabia after performing Haj and my spiritual battery is charged up. At the end of Pilgrimage and just before I returned home something BIG was being planned for me that if it succeeded it would have completely changed my life; guss what? I almost got married and don't ask because I have no answers. On Jan 2, 2008 I return to work from leave but it was like a touch and go at the office as I was informed of my contract termination with a number of other colleagues of mine due to the end of the company's contract in the country; its a long story!
I think it was an interesting end of 2007 and beginning of 2008. I hope for the best Inshallah.

Change is good!

And Call on people to perform Haj

It is certainly the wish of every Muslim to perform Haj (Pilgrimage) as it one of the five pillars of Islam. It is also a unique form of worship that involves spiritual and physical activity. Haj as many scholars refer to is an International conference where millions of people from 100s of countries and nationalities come together.
Well I was among the lucky people chosen by Almighty Allah to perform Haj last year (1428/2007). It was a last minute thought and it was actually after the deadline for visa application. As you know every country has a quota of Haj visas that gets granted every year and so you got to apply early to get your visa. Alhamdulilah my visa was facilitated and off I set to Saudi Arabia. The moment we touched down in Jeddah and I entered the so called Pilgrims City at the airport I realized am in for an experience. The pilgrims’ city is a huge part of the airport at Jeddah designed to house all the people coming for Haj. Every country got a a portion assigned. You see flags, you hear different languages, you see people of different colors, etc.
It is amazing when you are in the Holy Mosque in Mecca and Medina or in Arafat and you look to your right and you see a strong young man from Nigeria, to your left you see a young humble lady from Lebanon, in front of you an Indonesian man leading a group of 15+ ladies, and suddenly you feel someone holding your shoulders trying to lean on you; you turn around and find an old man in his 80s from Afghanistan. I am talking here about hundreds of Thousands or even millions; statistics say 3 million plus people perform Haj. All these people dressed similarly, facing same direction praying to Allah in deferent languages and with different emotions and feelings. Even though it gets crowded at times to the extend that you cant walk but you actually gets moved by the flow of the crowd yet you don’t hear voices raised nor people getting angry at each other. Everyone is busy asking for forgiveness and relief. At times you may start loosing your temper but the moment you look and you see the Ka'aba at the center of the holy mosque (it is said to be the center of the globe) you forget about worthless Duniya (vanishing life). I could see people smiling and happy in the crowds, they are happy for this golden opportunity and pleased that their sins are being forgiven. I could also see people crying and losing their voices regretting the past years of their age wasted in worthless worldly actions and pleading for forgiveness. You see mothers praying for the children to be lead in the right direction and you see young people praying for their parents.
I must not forget to mention the tremendous effort and resources put forward by the Saudi authorities. Imagine the logistics required to cater for more than three million people at the same place and time. These people like to be transported, they need food and drinks, they need medical attention, they need toilets and bath rooms, they need security and safety measures, they need communications, etc. A big five goes to the Saudi agencies represented by the Ministry of Haj, Health, Police and National Guard, Communications, Transportation, and the list goes on. There is off course always room for improvement so hopefully next year Inshallah we will give them two thumbs up. Lastly I would say if you can afford to go for Haj don’t hesitate and do it especially if you are still young and energetic because believe me it requires some strength.
May Allah accept our Haj and good deeds.

Job insecurity!

Nothing can be more annoying than not knowing your job status. This is usually experienced when working in projects that do not have definite end dates. In other words you will be employed as far as the project is still on and once the project is over or suspended you are out.
I have been in such a job for the last five years. Working with a big American company with projects worldwide. The first project I was in finished in October 2005 and luckily at the same time there was another project with the same company in the same country so ii got transferred to this project and my job was not affected doing the same stuff and earning the same money. The company is contracted by the U.S government and it is usually renewable every three months. We got used to the fact that the contract is almost automatically renewed so no worries. To everyone’s shock after three years the contract was not renewed and was awarded to a competitor company.
We all started to scramble and panic thinking now what? Are we out of jobs? Should we start job hunting or chill out? Luckily enough the manager of the new contract in the competitor company worked with most of us in the past and he was very much willing to hire all of us. Splendid! We could not ask for more specially that he is willing to pay us the same salaries if not better. Ye ha.. way to go.
As we started to wind up and prepare to make a move we get the news that our current employer won a new contract starting in three months and this is a promising project with a lot of funds so we have good prospects. This is great news but very much confusing. What’s gonna happen now? Will we retain our jobs? Or shall we be released and rehired after three months? Should we be patient or move to the new company?
The current employer is dragging their feet in telling us officially what’s going to happen to us end of month and at the same time the new company is willing to hire NOW but their contract is only for three months nothing is confirmed after December 2007.

Keep in mind that these two companies compete just like Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola do, so you can imagine the game they are playing and poor us lost in the middle. Believe me you do not wann be the grass where two elephants are fighting.
Believe me this is a total mess! Talk about confusion and uncertainty!

We continue to scratch our heads. What do you think? This is a dilemma

Wake up Alarm!

Last week was a shocker!
A colleague and close friend whom I worked with for the last four years or so sharing the same office passed away suddenly. This was very shocking and shaking to all of us in the office. He was neither sick nor complaining from any illness. He was ok till the last moment I left the office. Two hours later after I left him in the office he passed away of an apparent heart attack or God knows what.
This guy was great! He was the hardest working among us. Working long hours everyday under tremendous pressure yet keeping a sincere smile and sense of humor. We lost him as a brother who cares, as a friend who is always there to help, as a colleague who drove us all towards success and achievement.
You all saw car accidents where one car breaks suddenly and then a series of following cars hit from behind because the drivers were neither alert nor ready to act swiftly so you end up with three or five cars hitting each other. This exactly what happened to us we all crashed and now we are trying to accept the incident and recover from damage. We may fix the physical damage but can we fix emotional damage?
Our empathy is that he passed away in the holly month of Ramadhan while he was fasting and buried during the late night prayer time. We ask Allah the almighty to accept him with His mercy and grant him paradise with the prophets and righteous. We pray that Allah almighty grants his family and friends patience in accepting His will.
This is a waking alarm to all of us that life is short. We need to plant the good seeds to harvest tomorrow.

We will remember MO for his smile, for his can-do attitude, for his willingness to help others always no matter what it takes, for his broad ambitions and looking at the bright side.

This is a call for us to change. Change our attitude. Change the way we look at life. Change and think good of others.