Dear Readers

I am sure you missed my positive and pacifist words, well the wait is over!

I am not fanatical about making new year’s resolutions but this year I decided to make 2 wishes namely spending quality time with my friends and family and above all to focus on myself, my happiness and to prioritise on my needs and objectives. So far, so good ( touch wood), I feel lucky and blessed to have been able to travel since January last year. I had to travel to Montpellier to visit 3 of my best friends Moitsou, Chariffa and Fanny, then off to Barcelona with my baby brother Abdou to visit my Spanish friends Marina and Patricia, then to French Guiana via Paris to visit my 2 childhood friends Elmir and Laety, went to my homeland Mayotte to see my wonderful family and my friends Soya, needless to say that it was great to be home. I have recently visited my baby brothers and nephews in Besancon and I am now visiting a high school friend Laure aka Dahabou in Paris.

Along my travels, I got to meet phenomenal people and to hear stories about other fellow mahorais living outside of Mayotte who have exceptional successes but unfortunately those successes remain unknown or are not celebrated enough so I would like to give a well deserved shout out to all of them.

I would like to put Djedid Mouhoussoune on the spotlight, who after obtaining his A-Levels at Mamoudzou High School in 1998, went on to be admitted into a military High School in Autun then obtained an Engineering degree in 2004 in Paris. After his graduation, he then opted for International Volunteering Service within a company in Singapore and has been living there since 2004, congratulations my friend!

Djedid and myself are not the only ones who chose to live abroad, other mahorans live and work in the USA, Japan, Canada, Mexico or in Mainland France or other French Overseas departments. My 2 very best friends are phenemonal people. Moitsou does an exceptional job as a healthcare assistant in a trauma hospital Unit in Sète. As for Chariffa, she is a social worker who supports and helps Montpellier homeless families…. girls I am so proud of you. Let’s not forget my baby brothers Abdou, Amou and Sidi. Abdou, is an entrepreneur who seized an opportunity in the expansion of the fibre optic business and created his own company in 2015 in Marseilles. As for Amou and Sidi, they are both soldiers putting their lives at risk to protect the nation.

 These are few of the many successes and unfortunately some people wanted to stay anonymous for fear of attracting too much jealousy or as they say in Mayotte « for fear of the evil eye », which is a real shame. So many young people need to hear, see, and read their inspirational stories and our elite in Mayotte need to know that they are missing out on impressive talents for fear of change. Life is unpredictable but what is guaranteed is change. I hope our politicians/elite will accept our contribution to the society in Mayotte.

Some like Moiri Zoubert, Soyarta Madi or Amina Soilihi, Darline Daroueche to name a few have decided to return back home to contribute to the economy. Moiri with a business partner has created a travel agency called MIQAT Voyages. As for my beautiful Soyarta, she is a private nurse working up and down the area of Mamoudzou to look after our mums, our fathers, grand-parents and children. Amina is a government official at the CAF ( social and family aid services) who assists families with claiming social and housing financial aid, she is the go to person in that organisation, so proud of her 😊. My newly added friend Darline Daroueche, wealth manager and founder of a fashion company Maydressing.

I hope these people inspire you as much as they inspire me to continue the fight to empower our fellow mahorais through out my blog posts and my actions. For instance, I have partnered with a training company called DAESA to organise the very first Erasmus Plus between Mayotte and an EU country.

Stay tuned, there is more, a lot more to come 😜.