I Started Gardening
A few months ago my neighbor here in Doha surprise-gifted me with 4 beautiful plants. Rahima is an amazing gardener, mashaAllah. She has the same size courtyard as I do but she turned hers into a fully landscaped desert-garden oasis complete with herbs, vined vegetation, flowers of all sorts, hanging plants and several lotus flowers. I on the other hand had a bare open space. It felt low-key shameful to have so much outdoor space but nothing in it.
But honestly, I was afraid.
I’ve murdered plants before.
A green thumb-haver I was not!
But, I did admire…
My friend Rahima loves plants like I love art. They are both beautiful things. One beautifies the outdoors and the other inside. In fact, there are actually indoor and outdoor versions of both.
But, when she gifted me with this plants – one of them being massive, I had to accept. As I rolled the plants over to my place I prayed that Allah would make me a good custodian of these plants, his creation. I placed them outside and I began taking care of them – watering every other day, as I though she had instructed.
And then the neighborhood cat came… just one week later and CAN YOU BELIEVE IT POOPED IN MY BIGGEST PLANT!!!???
The plant started looking less beautiful about a week later, the leaves were looking dry, she was looking less lively and full and I started to blame the cat.
Thankfully earlier this week, I told Rahima about the dilemma and she assured me that for sure, it was not the cat, I just needed to give the plant more water.
HE HE HE….
Such is the nature of scapegoating, right?
Instead of watering the plant every other day, here in Doha, until it actually gets kinda cold (it’s December, so… maybe January or February) then these plants will need water every day!
MMMMkay! So, that’s what I’ve been doing. In the meantime, I also gained some more confidence and purchased a few smaller plants. One is on the window-sill of my at-home studio space. It’s a reminder that with care things flourish.
Another surprise thing that happened this week is that it has rained most of the week here in Doha – a desert. As I write, it’s actually pouring rain.
Plants that I didn’t even know gave flowers are blooming with color right in my backyard. They are revealing themselves in a way that even my upgraded care has not. Plants struggle to grow here in Doha. This is a reminder again that when we take that first step, Allah assists with the rest.
It makes me wonder, what would beauty with real attentiveness allow for me and for others to reveal from our own selves.
One might say, these plants don’t really belong here in Doha. The soil here is not rich enough to sustain their life. You might be surprised that we buy imported soil from Germany of all places.
Why?
But, people yearn for this beauty. We are almost all in fact imports here – about 90% of the population in Doha are expats trying to thrive and sustain a beautiful life in a place where plants struggle.
But, you quickly realize here that there is a lot of care and attention to making things beautiful.
It takes tremendous effort and creativity to make things thrive where they don’t naturally belong.
This is something that I admire about Black/ African people of the diaspora. It’s one thing to choose to be somewhere else. With choice there is a level of preparation for the mind, body, and spirit.
It’s another thing to be forced and to have forces against you in that new journey and new home.
When Malcolm X returned to Ghana in 1964 he was named Omuwale, the child who has returned home. Of this he said of his new name,
“(It) means in that dialect, “The child has returned.” It was an honor for me to be referred to as a child who had sense enough to return to the land of his forefathers — to his fatherland and to his motherland. Not sent back here by the State Department, but come back here of my own free will.”
-Malcolm X
My 2025 print Malcolm X in Turban reflects on this return. I realized when I saw the original archival photo that I had never before seen Malcolm X in front of a garden. I wanted to expand that beauty by presenting my own garden of lotus flowers.
I’d love for you to join me for a guided journaling session on December 28th where we’ll reflect on roots, renewal, and how art can be a mirror for care and transformation. RSVP via this link to reserve your spot and download the journaling prompts.
