Where My Journey Begins
Weekends in New York City are treasures for those who live there, tourists visiting the city, and anyone passing through. The constant rhythmic beat of this concrete jungle seems to take a pause in the early mornings. Tourists have yet to make it out of bed and birds can still be heard chirping - a rare occurrence in the city!
This weekend, I took some time to read, write, and reflect on my learning over the last couple months. Engulfed in the day-to-day work of being a young professional in the Tech space and hustling to create meaningful content, I don't always have a chance to pause and reflect. I felt it was important I make time to look back and remind myself where my journey began. This shoot with rising Creative Director, Julian Howard, characterizes some of the emotions I felt during my recent moment of reflection.
In recent months, I've begun to think deeply about what I want for my life and how I want to give back to others. I decided to start by looking at where my journey first began and how I got to where I am now.
This is the first segment of my journey.
Situated just North of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in a town called Ha'il, my mother and father lived in a home on the outskirts of the city. One year prior to moving to Saudi Arabia, my father was working for an Insurance company in Khartoum, Sudan. Sudan, a land of almost 40 million people, was a place my family and I called home. Despite its deeply rooted challenges (corruption and famine to name a few), Sudan is a beautiful country full of vibrant cultures, lively music, and dance. Not to mention delicious cuisine lining the streets.
An 8.5-hour car ride through some of the most rural parts of Sudan was the only way my father could make it to the city from his distant town of Kassala. During his trips to the city, he stumbled upon an opportunity to work for an agricultural company in Saudi Arabia. This meant he would leave his family behind and start a new chapter in his life. My father, a man with only a high school education, was getting ready to tread waters he never experienced before.
Before leaving Sudan, my father had one important job: train the person who would backfill his position. That person would be my mother. She lived just miles away in a town called Omdurman in the heart of Khartoum, where she was raised as one of 10 children. She had made it through high school and earned a certification from an English college through a distance-learning program. She was also getting ready to start her first job at an insurance company. Little did she know, the person responsible for her training would be my father.
Fast forward a few months into the job, my father approached my mother's family and asked for her hand in marriage. Being that both families are made up of practicing Muslims, there were several steps to the process. Meanwhile, my father had made the move on his own to Saudi Arabia where he was building a foundation that would await my mother's arrival. After months of planning and preparation, my parents finally got married and my mother moved to Saudi Arabia where they could be together. That's where it all started.
My parents' sacrifice to leave behind their families remains one of the key motivating factors in my life today.