Ali’s mother Ibtisam, recently returned to the United States from Sudan, where she had been living. It was lovely to see the sweetness in her face that she passed along to her son. When I first wrote about Ali last year, his mother, then in Egypt, was worried. She assumed he must be in trouble, and offered to get him a lawyer.

Now, she loves to see him on the blog or in the newspaper – Ali is being discovered by the media — and is justly proud of him. We have invited her to come and visit the farm, she is coming over the next  two weeks, and she has invited Maria and I to Albany for dinner after Ramadan.

I’m taking Ali out to his favorite restaurant at the end of Ramadan to celebrate the holiday and the end of the fast. Today is the first time I’ve met Ibtisam, who is taking English classes now that she is here for good. We gave each other some big hugs.

I told her she did a good job raising  Ali. He translated and she beamed.