Away From Home, by Ame Haji Ame's

This is a poem written by one of the students I tutored last semester. I think It is worth posting on my blog.

Away from home in a strange land.
Young people don't greet "Mambo?".
You don't greet strangers in this land.
No anymore "Salaam Alaykum" to everyone.
Here people judge you with your colour,
They don't judge you with your hair and finger nails.
No combing your hair is fashion in this land!
You can't walk alone as you do in Stone-Town streets.
The food is labelled 'Halal' for Muslims.
Drinking alcohol is not a sin but big business
Females smoke more than males in this strange land!

In this land, fish is more expensive than beef.
This land is not English, but they grow English tomatoes.
Here dates are more expensive than apples!
Spices are thirty times expensive in this land.

But good things are here:
People don't walk kilometres for water.
There is no power rationing in this land.
Houses have heaters and not coolers in this land

But money kills people each and everyday.
Innocent people die, criminals live in total happiness!
Crime rate is higher than inflation rate in this land!
Cars are the best transport than bicycles on this land.
Birds don't sing but shout on this strange land!
Cameras are everywhere, privacy is nowhere in this land.
Marriages are no more for the opposite, but for the same sex.
People care for things and not beings on this land.

This land is so strange, making you think of home always.
This land is strange, and has more strangers.
This is a land of fear, and is a land of dreams.

My land is the land of peace,
The land of spices, and not pieces.
My land is the land of people and not things.
My land is the only haven under the sun.

by Ame (A-Zu)