Ali Siddiq

"grief is love w/nowhere to go" shattered by the loss of Shahid sb, the closest thing i had to an Uncle thinking about how easily he loved us, the beauty he found in the ordinary, how he helped us see that beauty through his paintings and his life, and how terribly i miss him

Thread: I left Pakistan when I was two years old, sitting on the lap of my mother, journeying from Punjab into Sindh and then Karachi and finally London, shortly after General Zia ul Haq passed his infamous Ordinance against Ahmadis in April 1984. /1

I'm very dark-skinned, even by Ugandan standards and I travel a lot, but the only place I ever feel safe is when I'm in Africa. I love Emirates, but every single transit through Dubai is a nightmare of resolutely ignoring stares, hushed whispers and pointing, sneering adults.