Dear Readers

I read a lot of self help books from the Code of Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani, the Happiness Project by  Gretchen Rubin to Lean In by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and all of them treasure gratefulness for it elevates your spirit and makes you realise and appreciate your blessings before trying to acquire new ones.

Now you all know where I was born but you may not know how blessed I am to be born there excluding the weather conditions, gastronomy and culture. Mayotte made a life changing decision by voting to remain French and to be the only island in the Comoros Archipelago to accept « the French domination, which brought so many opportunities and advantages such as economical, financial and political stability. Our grand-parents were right to fight for this because we are one of the richest islands in the area, which understandably causes a huge flux of migration from neighbouring poor countries. If I wasn’t French, I wouldn’t be able to express myself freely on this blog , I wouldn’t have had the education that I had, I wouldn’t have had the chance to explore the world and visit some of the most amazing countries on the planet without having to apply for visas in some cases, I wouldn’t have met incredible people and surely not my partner who is Australian so let’s pause for a moment to mention the amazing men and women who make this life journey wonderful and let’s also mention those who made it painful but worthwhile.

I am going to start by thanking my parents who brought me into this world unintentionally. After their 6th child, my parents didn’t want to have more children therefore my mum was on contraception pill for 3 years and she did not know she was 4 month pregnant until she went to the doctors for a routine check up and for a nagging stomach pain. Fortunately for me, it was past the deadline to have an abortion so she couldn’t get rid of me. Not only was I not the only one who wasn’t supposed to be born but my brothers Abdou, Sidi, Amou and Soifouane and my sister Halima were not supposed to be born either so I helped even the family as there are 6 boys and 6 girls within it, you are most welcome Mum and Dad!

Life was a start of the blessing my parents gave me but most of all they taught me to be a good and caring human being by inculcating some robust values such as love and respect for others, help and support the less fortunate, compassion, drive to succeed through hard work, dignity, pride, freedom to choose the path to be happy and not dictated by peer pressure, society or family members. I don’t think they meant to teach me the last one but that’s the price to pay when they favoured my education and my happiness against traditions and cultures. To be fair, my dad was the one who spotted my potential and nurtured my drive and ambitions by buying me all the necessary tools for school mostly books. He was the one who encouraged me to pursue my higher education in Europe but little did he or I know that I would become a strong, opinionated and modern woman. It is terrifying for a traditionalist dad to admit he is raised that woman but I am sure that he is proud deep down.

On the other hand, my mum knew that there was « a dormant beast »that was awaiting to be awaken so she used all parents’ best weapon known as guilt trip and emotional blackmail and said things like »I am going to be completely lost without you,I may not be alive by the time you come back as I am old and awfully sick. »It is a fact that my mum suffers from serious health conditions with type 2 diabetes and severe asthma, which have been life threatening at times but she has learned to live with them. It broke my heart to leave her on that beautiful and sunny day of 6th September 2002 but I felt it was the right decision for me and my mum has learned to accept, support and respect that decision.

There are more people who are part of my journey, who keep me grounded and who love and care about me regardless of my look and my financial situation namely my friends Chariffa and Moitsou known as « my girls » or « my refuge », they have been by my side through the good and bad times. My childhood friends Laetitia P and Elmir Boudra who I have known and loved for 20 years and who always remind me how far I’ve come and the greatness I can do to the world but not at my own detriment. My friend Soya who is an incredible woman, mother, a great citizen of the world and she is the one who gave me my nickname « Zanou ». My friend Marina Anguiano Sole who unleashed my feminism side and made me aware of my duality as a woman of traditions and modernity at the same time. My Zumba girls ( Fran, Lisa, Julie, Naomie, Dan and Elaine) for making my life in London fun and exciting and for the great boogie nights we have. My younger brother Abdou who has become an amazing man and father after some tough times, he reminds me that life can be unfair at times but you can either blame others or take actions to make your life better this is exactly what he is doing, I am so proud of him. I am happy to count the Adin family ( Laetitia P’s family) as my adopted family and I thank you for making me discover the place I was born.I am so blessed to have Elise as my mother in law who loves, cares for me and protects like a daughter and I thank you for raising a wonderful loving man like Duane ( I will not elaborate here as he has a whole section dedicated to him on this blog).

Professionally speaking I need to give thanks to my high school teacher Benedicte Noguera, who has taught me to persevere and that hard work always pays off no matter how long it takes, to Antony Tiernan who gave me my first break as Personal Assistant when he said the magic words « I think you will do a great job, when can you start? » , to Petri Palento who taught me that true leaders are kind human beings, to Joe Gleeson who taught me to give myself a break and to always look after myself first before looking after others like in the plane « put your mask first before helping someone else next to you to put theirs », to Therese Hegarty who taught me that the human resources division can be human without breaching any employment laws.

I will also give thanks to those who have intentionally and unintentionally hurt me because I got stronger and better. Thanks to my ex  for cheating on me and for dragging me into his mini dictatorial reign disguised in the AEMM ( association of Mahorais students living in Montpellier), which gave me some materials for this blog, made me aware of some of my weaknesses and strengths and that there are different kinds of intelligence i.e you can be intelligent enough to learn a profession but not intelligent enough  or lack courage to use the powerful tool of journalism to hold politicians accountable for the violence, the shortage of water for months and for failing to truly develop Mayotte. I give thanks to all the unconscious incompetent line managers I have had because I can tell the difference between a good and bad manager and to the awful human beings working in human resources departments who are blindly following rules without taking into account our humanity and thanks to you I learn to be firm but fair when dismissing an employee.

Truth to be told, we can make the world a better place if we pause for a moment to count our blessings. This is exactly what we will do during the Festival in August, please come and share your blessings with Tafara, myself and all the guests.