Hi friends,
I spent what feels like most of March in Cairo with my friends at the NGO Road to Freedom, where we were delivering aid to many of the Palestinians who have been displaced into Egypt over the last few months, forced to flee their homes in hopes of surviving a genocide.
As I shared in my latest letter, there’s a lot to process, and I’m yet to have any real headspace in which to do so. For now, check out some of what we’ve been doing on my Instagram, as well as my thoughts on how rage is a powerful fuel and a balm against helplessness. Please also watch these chats we had with Jood, the most amazing 10-year-old girl from Gaza, whose life has been upended by the ongoing aggression.
Since coming back to London a couple of weeks ago, RTF and I have been busy organising an iftar for 100+ people, that we hosted this past Thursday, with proceeds from the night going towards our continued efforts on the ground in Egypt. Thank you to all who came down! It was such a wonderfully galvanising evening in which we premiered a mini doc of some of the work we did and are doing for Palestine, heard from some incredible Palestinian speakers and ate some delicious food cooked up by Mursal of CuePoint, with kunafa cups for dessert from Saffron & Honey bakery. If you don’t yet follow me on Instagram, you can rectify that here for a drop of some photos from the night, which I’ll be posting soon.
If you weren’t able to make it / don’t live in London but wish to support, you can do so here. Thank you and God bless!
In other London event news, this coming Friday, April 12th, I’ll be speaking at the opening night for the Talking Textures exhibition. Having recently begun my curly hair journey (I wrote about how I’m in the process of decolonising my hair and my mind here) I’m very much looking forward to taking part in this!
Talking Textures is an analogue photo series shot by Yeliz Zaifoglu delving into the hair, beauty, fashion and culture of Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) regions. Dedicated to providing the SWANA community with the representation we deserve, the weekend will include thought-provoking discussions and workshops, tackling important issues surrounding hair.
The exhibition runs from 12th - 14th April. Get a ticket to come down on the launch night for:
A panel ft ME hosted by Dalia Al-Dujalli (Founder of Road to Nowhere)
Exclusive access to the photography exhibition
Free food, henna, and tarot card readings.
Free curly hair care starter packs provided by Only Curls
Dj set from Zaytoona
Performance from ‘Cypriot Goddess’, Tahini Molasses
I’ve got a code for FREE tickets for paid subscribers of this newsletter, so if you wanna come down, press ‘reply’ to this email and let me know and I can send it over :)
In case you missed it:
Now, onto the reccs!
In this instalment: women who run with the wolves, doomscrolling a genocide, finding a writing life of one’s own, Al Rawabi School for Girls (and more!) I hope you enjoy it.
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