My early memories of growing up in Zanzibar are invariably tied to Nai Misid (an abbreviation of Navi

Masjid or “new mosque”). It was a place we visited very often – daily for the evening prayers and the

commemorations of Wafast (death anniversaries) and Wiladats (birthday celebrations) of our Aimaas (

Prophet and 12 Imams).

 

Nai Misid lived up to its reputation of being a venue of high discipline and had some very colorful

personalities as its regular participants. One such person was Karim Kidege. Back home each person had

a nickname that represented his or her personality, and Kidege meant “bird like.” And Karim Kidege was

in fact as swift as a bird. A slight man over 75 years old in 1967, he was extemely agile and moved with a

speed that younger people had a hard time keeping up with. Remarkably he still served as an Opri, a

volunteer who serves food and drinks to those seated for Niyaz (lunch or dinner) at the mosque. Karim

had a strong conviction that serving at the mosque was a very noble act, and as such continued to do so

through his older age.

 

During Niyaz, we would share food from a Thari, a large round aluminum plate about 18 inches in

diameter. Usually two people would share from each Thari, and sometimes three. The rice was usually

placed at the center of the Thari, and each person would make their own mound of rice on the edge

closet to him/her to eat. Usually we would sit on the floor within the sight of our parents on a separate

Thari with our cousins or friends. If the Thari was served with curry, we would be given a bowl on the

side to also share. The Opri (volunteers) would walk around with a very large thari offering more food to

those who remained hungry.

 

On one occasion I was sharing a Thari with Musu (Mustafa Alloo), my first cousin, and we needed more

rice. The Opri would announce as they passed by “Mathe jo Khaw” (or “additional rice” in Kutchi). On

this day, Karim Kidege was passing by with full Thari of rice and as usual in rush and we indicated we

wanted a refill. He came to us and bent over so we could grab as much rice as we wanted from the

larger Thari Karim was holding. Taking too much and leaving leftovers was an absolute no-no as we

would be scolded on the spot in front of everybody for wasting food.

 

As we began pulling down the rice in very small, measured scoops Karim Kidege became a bit impatient

and began to shake the Thari in his hands to expedite the process. Suddenly, we had a huge amount of

rice on our Thari that we were sure we could not finish!

 

From the corner of his eyes our Uncle Chacha Roshan saw this and came quickly to scold us, slapping us

on our head and telling us how bad it was to waste food. This was in front of everyone. By this time, we

were desensitized to being scolding in front of people – generally it would result is us being needled and

teased by our friends for a little while until there was a new incident that became the latest target for

teasing,

 

After that day, we never again asked for rice from Karim Kidege…just for our survival!