Born in the Land of the Maasai

To write this blog post, I sat down with my mum to have her shed some light on my birth.

These are things I knew about my birth;

1. I was born in the Land of the Maasai - Arusha, Tanzania, 82.6 km from the tallest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro.
2. I was born the Easter weekend of 1966 - the Saturday - April 9th.
3. I was the first born child of Sultan (Sully) Kanji Mohamed and Aminmohamed Jafferali Asani.
4. They had me 10 months after they were married. They were only 24! 
5. I was born in a little clinic in Arusha.
6. My dad wasn't there when I was born. He had a new job and couldn't get away.
7. Dr. Strochnider was the German doctor who delivered me.

The Maasai.

The Clinic I was born in.

And these are things I learned about my birth today;

1. Arusha was never my home. 
2. My parents lived in Dar-es-Salaam.
3. My mum came to have me in Arusha because her family lived there and she'd have help. 
4. My mum was way past her due date - I should have been born the end of March.
5. Some wise woman told my mum to have something called 'Agrol' (http://agrolinside.com/ - YIKES!) so the baby would come quicker. It worked!
6. My great uncle (Ebrahim Mohamed - we all knew him as Abha and we were all shit scared of him as kids! drove my mum to the hospital).
7. There was no family with my mum when she had me.
8. I weighed 6 lbs 6 oz.
9. My mum never held me after giving birth, she fell asleep (heavily drugged apparently)!
10. My grandmother (Sikina) and a great aunt (my mum can't remember which one, Malek (kaki-aunt) or Gula (kaki-aunt)) were our first visitors at the clinic.
11. My uncle, Nizar drove us to Nairobi to meet my paternal grandmother, Zerakhanu Asani (a four hour drive and I didn't ask if they had baby car seats in those days!). 
12. After a month in Arusha, my mum and I took the train home from Moshi to Dar-es-Salaam to see my dad for the first time!

Arusha's Most Famous Landmark - The Clock Tower!

My First Abode! My Grandparents home, next to the Greek Club in Arusha.

I have a baby album that I was hoping to upload pictures from, but I can't find it!  From what I remember, there's a picture with a piece of my parent's wedding cake, a picture with a dog and one with my nanny.

This link takes you back to the day I was born and what was going on in the world!
http://takemeback.to/09-April-1966#.VsqA_5MrKu4

Thank you for sharing Day 2 of 50 with me!