Granny Weatherwax was often angry. She considered it one of her strong points. Genuine anger was one of the worldās great creative forces. But you had to learn how to control it. That didnāt mean you let it trickle away. It meant you dammed it, carefully, let it develop a working head, let it drown whole valleys of the mind and then, just when the whole structure was about to collapse, opened a tiny pipeline at the base and let the iron-hard steam of wrath power the turbines of revenge.
At least 50 people have been taken to five hospitals for treatment as hundreds of residents in the 27-storey, 120 flat, Grenfell Tower in north Kensington have been evacuated from their flats in the building that caught fire just after 1.15am.
A local woman told HuffPost UK: āMuslim boys saved peopleās lives. They ran around knocking on peopleās doors. Thank God for Ramadanā
Khalid Suleman Ahmed, 20, recently moved to Grenfell Tower with his auntie and lives on the eighth floor.
He said he would not normally have been up in the middle of the night but had stayed up during Ramadan for Suhur, the meal before Muslims begin fasting again during daylight hours.
However, upon realising there was a fire he immediately began banging on his neighboursā doors to wake them.
He told HuffPost UK: āNo fire alarms went off and there were no warning. I was playing PlayStation waiting to eat suhuur (beginning of fast meal) then smelt smoke. I got up and looked out of my window and saw the seventh floor smoking.
āI woke my auntie up, then got clothes on and started knocking on neighboursā doors. Every house opened except two – I saw the other guy later on so only 1 family unaccounted for. My next door neighbour was fast asleep.
āThe whole corridor went black with thick smoke. I didnāt think it was serious at all me and my auntie thought it was an isolated incident but weād just evacuate just to be safe. When we went out and were taken by the firemen to a safer place then we saw that it still hadnāt reached our house – 20 minutes or so later our house was gone. The firefighters were very quick. They immediately started work.
āPeople were calm walking out but when they realised loved ones were missing or unaccounted then they started to panic. Once we were outside it started to spread more.
He added: āI would be up this late on a Friday night possibly but never a random midweek night unless it was Ramadan. There are a lot of Muslims living there and people choose up to stay up and wait so it was certainly a factor for me and others. It probably did save lives.ā
A witness also told Sky News that Muslims who were awake had been a ālifelineā.
i canāt imagine how many lives he saved, how many families are intact and together, because of his actions.
And the Muslim communityās generosity has been unparalleled. The Al-Manaar Mosque (244 Acklam Road , London W10 5YG) is accepting donations, which itās distributing directly to families evacuated from the building: clothes, toiletries, etc, as well as cooking free meals people evacuated from Grenfell. If you do have clothes, food, or any basic amenities you can spare, you can drop it off there, or:
Rugby Portobello Trust, 221 Walmer Road, W11 4EY
St. Clementās Church, 95 Sirdar Road, W11 4EQ
Tabernacle Christian Centre, 210 Latimer Road, W10 6QY
I feel terrible whenever I hear my parents talking to each other about our householdās income. We only own a South Asian store, where we sell like spices, henna, frozen Desi foods, hair products, skin products, daal, etc (typical Desi store stuff). Thatās our only source of income. It used to be okay-ish back in elementary and middle school, but ever since these American stores started to sell some of these things (at prices higher than their worth), less people have been shopping at our store, hence our income declining.
Please, Iām begging y’all, support your local South Asian stores, and shop there if you need any of those āSouth Asianā items (if there is a South Asian store near you). At least 60% of the owners are likely going through the same as my parents. Also, I can almost guarantee youāll save money shopping at the local Desi stores as opposed to stores like Safeway, Vons, Krogers, etc.
for those that may be unfamiliar, here are some neat products you can usually find super cheap at SA stores:
– coconut oil in massive bottles. get that stuff in bulk, itās exactly the same as the overpriced shit from whole foods or w/e
– cool unique drinks like mango and lychee juice and coconut water with jelly. also limca and thums up, which are soooooo good. trust me.
– super cheap pretty jewelry. maybe not real gold and silver, but youāll find the same types of bangles and chains that UO constantly rips off for muuuuch cheaper
– sometimes super cheap designer knockoff bags, if thatās your thing lol
– henna! I know thereās a lot of debate over whether this product can be used by non-brown people, but if for whatever reason youāre going to use it (please avoid traditional designs if ur not from a culture that uses it), do yourself a favor and buy yourself tubes of the paste from south asian markets. theyāre usually really precise and easy to use, and unless you have an allergy to the plant, better for your skin than those sketchy artificial stick-on stencil messes they sell at hobby lobby or w/e
– henna hair dye too! and other nice hair products like neem oil
– maybe this is just our old local store, but ive seen many pirated (and non-pirated) copies of Bollywood movies on their shelves
– incense!! they usually have nice varieties and also cute holders and candles too
– obviously, there is also lots of great food and produce typically available. Asian desserts and snacks are really unique and fun to try, so check those out too
support local businesses owned by POC and immigrants!!
Itās okay to dodge the White People Tax on food if doing so benefits the community of its origin! š
Mmmmm. Blessed are the South Asian shops, for providing marvellous deals on beautiful important foods for starving scientistsā¦..
Arab shops, too! Not everything in the OPs list is there, but thereās a lot of really good grocery stuff and little gifts like tea sets!
The more I look at them the more I realize howā¦pretty? majestic some primates are. I think my brain just sort of defaults monkeys and apes as being āuglyā visually dull looking when many of them look freaky as hell in the best ways possibleĀ
Okay look, I know I just reblogged something about how people who only like certain animals are fake, but look, I hate monkeys. Some monkeys, like these ones and others, are awesome creatures that look really pretty and cute and everything, but for the most part monkeys make me feel literally sort of sick to look at.
They are one of the few animals I genuinely do not like and I feel bad about it.
You must be logged in to post a comment.