Dear Readers

I know what you are going to say…. It has been such long time that we haven’t heard from the crazy French girl with her silly pacific and empowerment ideas. Well, my dear friends, family and readers, I got terribly down over the last few months because my dad died on 6th September at 12:33 pm. Yes, that strong man I loved and I will love forever and I terribly wanted to impress passed away unexpectedly whilst I was on business trip in India to fulfill one of my dreams to develop and deliver a Sales and customer service training for a renown toys chain. Dad suffered 2 mini strokes that were not diagnosed or even looked at until I went to Mayotte to fulfill another dream of mine to hold the very 1st Festival and forum to better prepare future students for their lives outside of the island. At first, I was angry at my dad for not telling anyone that he had the 2 mini strokes, then I was angry at my mum for not looking after him then I was angry at the whole healthcare system who failed to detect the strokes and to take care of him and finally I was angry at myself because I wasn’t there when they happened and when he died.

I cried for days in my hotel room in India and barely ate as I didn’t want to carry one the journey without such an important figure in my life. I mean he raised me – actually mum contributed a lot- he made me laugh, cry, angry and he instilled some of my most fundamental values as you can read in this article https://emancipermayotte.com/2017/07/07/our-dear-mahorais-fathers/

 

As a good friend of mine told me 3 days ago, what goes up, must come down. The happy, energetic, enthusiastic, positive and bubbly girl and who literally does a 2 people’s jobs and could still go to an hour and half Zumba class after that was sadly gone. I couldn’t get out of bed as I thought my guardian angel i.e my dad is gone and will no longer watch over me until one of my very best childhood friends Amina reminded that it was all the contrary. He will do a better job now that he is no longer physically present on this earth. So many people told me those words before, but they never sank in until a few days ago hence my presence again on social media.

I meant every single word I wrote in this article https://emancipermayotte.com/2017/03/22/do-you-want-to-be-successful-start-by-counting-your-blessings/ so I cursed myself not to ever happy or successful again as I lost one of my most fundamental blessing. To top all of that, my 10-year relationship also collapsed a few months before dad passed way therefore I strongly believed it was self-fulfilling prophecy, what do I do now that I don’t have 2 of the most important men in my life?

The same theory of what goes up must come down works the other way around too. I touched the rock bottom as I didn’t eat much (actually not healthily), didn’t work much, didn’t exercise, avoided any social gatherings unless it was critical such as the wedding of dear friend and mentor Joe Gleeson. I must go up and appreciate the road to recovery. I am starting to count my blessings again i.e despite the break up, Duane has been very supportive, my most loyal and dearest friends »my girls Chariffa and Moitsou » were there and pulled me through. I have no idea how they put up with me hibernating for 3 weeks in Montpellier and only getting up to eat and watch some TV and go for walks sometimes with them, god bless them. Duane’s mum was also incredible and lifted my spirit every time I spoke to her on the phone and I am also grateful to have her in my life. I am grateful for my mentor Joe Gleeson and her husband Gustavo Lima for inviting me to their wedding and inviting me for my very first football match. I also inspired by my alter ego Tafara Houssaini, my partner in the « Empower Mayotte » festival who constantly reminded me of our achievements although I didn’t realise the impact we had until I read this article again http://lejournaldemayotte.com/societe/emanciper-mayotte-un-festival-inedit-centre-sur-la-valorisation-des-talents/

 

To my wonderful Zumba friend Fran Sheldon who dragged me out on my birthday and to all of you who have sent me kind messages and checked on me on a regular basis, that’s for instance Marina Anguiano Sole, Fanny, Soya, Elmir and my wonderful baby brothers Amou and Abdou who make sure that I still laugh and enjoy life. To my detractors, watch the space as I am not done yet because I still have so much live and to experience and I still have a parent left who still wants me to fight so citizens of the world let’s reclaim our inner power and achieve great things!