Masoud Salim Mohammed
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MY ENCOUNTER WITH HIS HIGHNESS PRINCE KARIM AGA KHAN : One of the most humbling experiences in my life!
Over the many years that I worked in the tourism industry, I had the privilege of meeting folks from different walks of life and a host of nationalities. Indeed, if there is a thing I miss from my days as a tour guide it is meeting people.
Some time towards the end of December 2005, I was called by the GM of Serena Inn, Stone Town. "Chief, why don't you pass by, I may have some 'VIP' clients for you" , so I went and was given the proposed itinerary, without the names of the VIPs in question being revealed to me, and being a 'VIP Guide' myself, I told the GM, well, let me check my schedule and see if I have time.
The next day I had a prince completely vested in my hands to show him and his 3 friends my beautiful Zanzibar. Prince Rahim Aga Khan(seated with me in the photo) the elder son of HH Prince Karim Aga Khan. The 'dude' was so down to earth and too kind, I had to ask the GM if he was sure that indeed, I was hanging around Stone Town, spice tour, Mangapwani beach and safari blue with a prince? "Yes" , he said. I remember us boarding a boat from Mangapwani back to Stone Town and I was last to board after ensuring that my guests were on board and all set. It was my turn to board and I could not believe my eyes : prince Rahim stood and extended his right hand to give me a hand and his left hand to help take my SHOES on board. Now, I was even more confused.... is this dude really a prince? In the days to come they would invite me for meals, which I politely declined, to give them some space and privacy until on the last day (when my trick to object joining breakfast) sort of backfired, "are we not good enough for you?" , at which point I obliged.
Long story short, Prince Rahim and I exchanged emails, such a good idea because I proved that he was indeed from the Aga Khan family from his email address so we kept in touch and he often asked about my family and my academic progress.
Sometime in 2006, my friend Rahim sent an email informing me that he would be in Zanzibar later that year or early 2007 and when the day was closer he sent another email asking if I had time to come over to Serena for coffee? Well, yeah, my answer was sort of I am not sure I will free but I will make time. Of course I knew I was going to be free and anyway, the Serena Inn was going to book and block me for the duration of VIPs sejourn in Zanzibar.
Soo, the highly anticipated coffee time came and I went to see my friend at Serena Inn, there at the reception, I asked for Prince Rahim room number and nobody dared tell me even though I said I had an appointment with him, so a staff member who knew well about my friendship with the prince told me he was sitting by the pool and so I walked by the extremities of the pool as if I knew nothing and in no time the prince spotted me and called me out loud "hey Masoud, come over."
OMG, there he was seated next to his father, just like any father-son chill by the pool, only that his father, the man whose blessed hands I was about to shake was His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, Imam, 49th Aga Khan, business leader and a great philanthropist. Was I dreaming? Maybe yes, maybe not.
The big shock..............
As I made only about two steps in the direction of HH and was at about 20 meters away from them, Prince Rahim whispered something to his dad and he His Highness, yes, HH Aga Khan stood up straight and still waiting to meet this skinny kid from Zanzibar with no big name or background whatsoever. That moment marked me. His humility left me humbled and forever changed my attitude towards rich people. You remove the 'rich' off their faces and they are just people, human beings. After polite greetings were exchanged me and my friend pulled our chairs aside to sip some fresh juices and coffee and let his dad enjoy the sundowner with other members of the family and soon after sunset His Highness came to me to excuse himself that he was going to his room and to whish me a nice evening. Wow!
Well, I have probably left a big part of this story untold and I rarely tell people, even members of the Ismaili community about this story but today (actually yesterday) 11th July, 2017 marks the beginning of the commemoration of HH jubilee (60th) , he took over the Imamat at age 20 in 1957 and has done impressive works to improve lives around the world. So as a person who has seen this great leader up close and interacted with him and his family, I wanted to take a moment to congratulate him and his over 25 million followers world wide on this milestone.
May he live longer and continue to advocate for greater understanding and tolerance among civilization. Ameen.
#Agakhan60Jubilee
Rahim Bhaloo, hongereni kwa kazi nzuri and thank you for yesterday's invitation.