"Asma, you're the most amazing woman I've ever known," Solomon Moïse said as he sat across from her at a corner of this crowded Caribbean restaurant. Clad in a long-sleeved gray T-shirt and long dark blue dress, her long dark hair hidden away by her dark blue Hijab, Asma El-Alem looked beautiful, and was rendered all the more so by the lovely smile that stretched across her pretty but worn face.
Tiredness and recent troubles had taken their toll on her, but Asma's strength and resilience shown quite powerfully in her lovely dark brown eyes. Starting over at age 44 as a divorcee was definitely not an ideal situation, that's for damn sure, but Asma was more than ready to make a fresh start. Her lucky stars be thanked, Asma knew she definitely wouldn't be starting over alone...
Sitting inside the Starbucks located near the O-Train Station at South Keys, Asma took a long look at the big and tall, burly and handsome young black man who sat across from her. Clad in a blue silk shirt, red tie and dark blue silk pants, Solomon looked very handsome, and quite serious. Solomon smelled of cologne, and a few other things which Asma found oddly pleasant...
Born in the City of Misrata, Libya, to an Afro-Libyan mother and a Libyan Arab father, Asma grew up in a definitely complex world. Even though the majority of Libyans followed Islam, conflict between different ethnic groups and segments of society were often thrust to the forefront of the national discourse. Beautiful and vibrant, Libya was nevertheless a fairly dangerous place to call home...
The North African nation of Libya has always been quite diverse, with Arabs, certain groups of Sub-Saharan Africans and others making up the bulk of its population. Although quite diverse, Libya was far from an egalitarian society. One's skin color, religious affiliation and financial status mattered more than the content of one's character, unfortunately.
Growing up in the region of Tripoli, Asma El-Alem saw people of African descent mistreated and disrespected daily by the North Africans, the Arabs and others, and as a mixed-race woman, consciously made the decision to focus on the Arabian side of her heritage, while denouncing the African. Adapting such a survival tactic nearly crushed Asma's soul, but somehow she got over it...
Asma vividly remembered the way her darker-skinned mother Ameera used to get stared at when they were out together as a family. The people who did the most staring were Tripoli's upper-class Arab ladies. They simply couldn't believe a fine Libyan Arab gentleman like Asma's father picked a woman of partial African descent over one of them, it would seem. Eyes filled with hate followed Asma and her family whenever they went out in public...
The Arabs profound dislike of the Africans was all too evident in Libyan society, and even Asma's father Ali El-Alem, a wealthy Arab businessman, couldn't shield his African-descended wife Khadija Osman and mixed-race daughter Asma from it. Libya had never had a Civil Rights Movement, or seen prominent black heroes rise to challenge the forces of racism. The blacks of Libya had been enduring abuse for untold centuries, and no one cared to hear about it...
"Shukran, thank you brother," Asma replied in that soft-spoken voice of hers, and she gently laid her hand on Solomon's. From the moment Solomon first laid eyes on her at a certain Arab restaurant in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario, he knew right then and there Asma was special. The lady's eyes haunted his dreams, and Solomon tried his best to ignore his growing fascination with her.
Born on the island of Haiti, and raised in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Solomon was a man of many talents. A student at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law, a budding artist, and a community activist, Solomon met Asma at a time when he was desperate to make a change. After years of going back and forth between lovers, both female and male, the 31-year-old Solomon resigned himself to the fact that he was going to end up alone.
Indeed, Solomon's relationship with longtime lover Abdirizak Warsame ended recently. Solomon met the tall, handsome Somali stud while working at Loblaw's one night, and the two of them really hit it off. A forthrightly bisexual Haitian nerd and a Somali-Canadian student, two men from different worlds, nevertheless forged a powerful connection. They were faithful to one another, until one of them broke that trust...
"Solomon, babe, I've got something to tell you, this isn't easy for me to say, but, well, you see, I found someone else," Abdi said one morning as Solomon joined him at the breakfast table, following a night of steamy man-to-man sex. Solomon looked at his lover, and wondered if Abdi was indeed trying to pull off a very lousy and improper joke, but the seriousness in Abdi's eyes stilled him. Solomon took a deep breath, and forced himself to be calm, even as his heart shattered into a million places...
"You're leaving me for a woman?" Solomon shouted, and Abdi nodded with sad resolution. That's when Solomon's world turned upside down. After three glorious years during which they lived together in a nice apartment in the Vanier area, that fateful morning Abdi dropped a bombshell on his lover Solomon. The poor Solomon was shell-shocked. He knew Abdi was keeping secrets, but had no idea they were this bad...
"Solomon, I know you're hurt, but it's for the best, I'm a Muslim, being queer is wrong, I'm making the right choice," Abdi managed to squeak out, before Solomon shouted at him to get lost. Thus Abdi left the gay lifestyle, turning his back on his three-year romance with Solomon, and he was getting married to a woman named Zahra. Apparently, Abdi had been dating Zahra without Solomon's knowledge. Heartbroken, lost and alone, Solomon even considered suicide. And then along came Asma El-Alem...
