Rag to Riches

Last weekend in London, after texting our cousin in Brunei, we found the large Wing Yip store in Cricklewood along Edgware road close to Brent Cross. This is the closest you can find here in terms of what are available back home. The store is set up as a normal supermarket for one half of the building while the other half is a warehouse with long lines of tall shelves.

Apparently this Chinese store chain is the largest in UK and the owner Wong Wing Yip was the first Chinese to become a tycoon in UK. When he arrived in UK 50 years ago he only got 10 pounds.

The kids are now on a mid term break. During this time Faris is already on his third books while I could only managed half a book whilst in Syria. Reading my book related to Pakistan, it is very disheartening to know that some children living on the foot of the Himalayas have never had the chance to read books let alone go to school. Their life remains locked in century old tradition and cycle of hardship and poverty. So for us living in a privilege society when children do not cultivate a reading habit, that would be such a shame when you think about many poor children not born with the same circumstances as our children. They would have longed for books to read and education to change their life.

On a different subject, there weren't much news about the weather anymore nowadays. After weeks of flooding in the tropics, heavy snowing in UK and fires in Australia, the news now are more on entertainment albeit can't really get away from the current economic crisis. There seem to be calm in the air now, things seem to be turning around in the world market, some positive movements in politic such as in Zimbabwe and in the different foreign policy approach taken by the US administrations - there seems to be some good feelings all around. What ever it is, we hope it will last. Al least this Monday will be something special for our country.