I read in a women's magazine somewhere that life begins at forty. Well, for me, I've decided to let that saying be true. My name is Maimuna Sultan-Alzahrani and I'm a Hijab-wearing, pious yet modern Saudi Arabian Muslim woman living in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. I moved here three years ago from my hometown of Dammam, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I never thought I'd live in the West, but life had other plans.
My ex-husband Mahmoud Alzahrani divorced me, supposedly because I couldn't bear him any sons or daughters. Truth be told? Mahmoud ditched me because he wanted a younger wife. I'm forty years old, standing five-foot-ten, chubby and bronze-skinned, with long curly Black hair and dull brown eyes. I'm a chubby Arab woman with a fat ass, and I'm past my prime. My ex-hubby traded me in for a younger model, and I despise him for it.
I came to Canada and sought refugee status. Life is pure hell for divorced women in the Islamic world's most conservative country, and I wanted no part of it, thank you very much. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is no place for a woman on her own. I didn't want to end up homeless or completely destitute, since my parents, Ali and Mariam Sultan were ashamed of me because of Mahmoud's lies and wanted nothing to do with me.
I came to the Capital of Canada, determined to survive and make a new life for myself. At first, things were hellish. As a newcomer to Ontario with no papers, I stayed at a women's shelter. Not the nicest of places. When I did my daily prayers, I asked Allah, the one true God, to deliver me from my torment. What I endured in that place, I shudder to think of, even today.
In my hometown of Dammam, Saudi Arabia, I lived in a villa with my former husband Mahmoud Alzahrani, who was a wealthy oilman. Mahmoud was a rotten bastard and a creep but he kept me in a life of luxury while I was his wife. In Canada, I stayed at a shelter. I lamented my new dwelling but knew I wouldn't stay there long.
The Most High heeded my prayers, and I soon received a work permit and a social insurance card in the mail from the Canadian government. As soon as I got these much-needed documents, I went to a nearby Loblaw's and applied for a job. I didn't want to depend on the social workers and the welfare bureau anymore. I wanted to get a job and earn a living, like everyone else.
The manager of the Loblaw's was a South African Muslim guy named Ibrahim Zithulele. A big and tall, thirty-something Black man with a tough demeanor but a gentle soul. Ibrahim is from the Zulu clan of South Africa. Ibrahim looked at me and told me that he would do his best to help me. Since I wasn't exactly fluent in English at the time, Ibrahim hired me as a shelf stocker, and I embraced my new job. I started working on the overnight shift.
While working the overnight shift at Loblaw's, I met quite a few interesting people. Most of the crew was made up of visible minorities, people of color who had come to Canada from somewhere else at some point. Ahmed, a tall young Somali guy with thick nerdy glasses became like the brother I never had. The kindness and generosity of the Somali people never ceases to amaze me, ladies and gentlemen.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we Arabs are often cruel to Africans, who mostly come to our land as migrant workers or domestic servants. In Canada, I learned to appreciate and respect people of African descent as the fine human beings that they are. I wish people around the world would stop being prejudiced against Africans, seriously. They're among the nicest people around.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I was just as racist as everyone else. I thought of the African migrant workers who came to my wealthy homeland as somehow inferior to me and my fellow Arabs. Never mind that superiority based on skin color goes against every principle of Islam. The beautiful religion of Islam teaches that all human beings stem from Adam and Eve, no matter their color or national origin.
The prophet Mohammed himself, peace be upon him, had an African named Bilal among his friends and protectors, and he treated Muslims of all colors with respect. Of course, many of us modern Muslims have deviated from the true path of Islam and harbor disgusting and vile practices like racism and xenophobia. I am ashamed to say that I once believed such things. Now I know better. All human beings are creations of Allah, and skin color does not matter.
The first thing I did since I started working at Loblaw's was get myself a place to stay. I found a one-bedroom apartment in the Vanier sector of Ottawa. A lot of people in the Canadian capital think of Vanier as a bad place. I grew to love it because of its diversity. In my neighborhood, Donald Street, we have lots of Lebanese, Somalis, Pakistanis, Haitians, and some cultures and ethnic groups which I cannot even identify. What a marvelous place!
I finally had a place of my own and a job. Not bad for a gal who'd never worked a day in her life, eh? My English was improving day by day, thanks to my interactions with people. I found Canadians decent for the most part, although there's an undercurrent of passive-aggressive racism that irks me at times. In the Arab world, if someone doesn't like you, he or she lets you know. We're a brutally honest people. In Canada, people smile to your face and pretend to be your friend while plotting your downfall. It's eerie!
I quickly realized that to have a chance at any kind of life, I needed a Canadian university education. Of course, I'd seen lots of visible minorities with degrees from Canadian colleges and universities working at Tim Horton's because White Canadians didn't want to hire them at jobs worthy of their credentials, but I refused to let that stop me. I enrolled at Carleton University, to pursue a degree in accounting. I've always had a head for numbers, and numbers are numbers whether you're in Saudi Arabia or frosty-ass Canada.
Canada's capital surely makes for strange bedfellows. I struck a friendship with Ibrahim, the burly South African manager at my job. Six feet six inches tall and heavily muscled, with very dark skin, Ibrahim scares a lot of the fake-smiling White Canadians who came to our store. Clad in his customary White silk shirt, Black tie and Black silk pants, Ibrahim was always polite and friendly to both customer and employee. The man is a gentle giant!
The more time I spent around Ibrahim, the more fascinated I became with him. At the age of thirty six, Ibrahim Zithulele had lived in many places around the world. Born in the Soweto township of South Africa, Ibrahim moved to the City of Ottawa, Ontario, with his parents in the 1990s. He studied at the University of Ottawa, graduating with a bachelor's degree in business. Ibrahim looked for work across Ontario, and, unable to find any, decided to go to the States for a while.
Ibrahim Zithulele moved to the City of Boston, Massachusetts, and stayed with his cousin Octavio. While in Boston, Ibrahim enrolled at Northeastern University, where he earned an MBA. Ibrahim worked in the U.S. for a while, moving from place to place. Ibrahim settled in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, and made decent money at his corporate job with Wells Fargo but in the aftermath of 9/11, the U.S. government became hostile to immigrants and Ibrahim returned to Canada. Ibrahim sought a managerial position with Loblaw's and got it.