To a New Dawn: Letters of Solidarity Anthology

DEANNA EL KHOURY, 18 Nottingham 25th July 2020 Big Umi (Zainab Bibi) Al-Jannah Dear Big Umi, I am with you now at Chadderton Cemetery. My uncle, Ajmal, and my auntie, Bashshas, are here. And my grandmother (your daughter), whom I have always called Umi, stands with us too. I stand alongside my parents and my brother, yet I feel as though I am standing the furthest away from your grave.

Your grave. It is a forest of flowers that my relatives have planted for you. And at the top is a little plaque stuck into the mound of soil. You will have this plaque until the gravestone has been made for you. It reads: ‘In Loving Memory ZAINAB BIBI Born 07/06/1931 Passed Away 24/04/2020.’

Of course, we don’t exactly know when you were born – I hope we didn’t get it too wrong.

Aged 18 and I still call you by the name invented for you before I was even born. As you know, Umi means ‘mum’ in Urdu. I began calling your daughter Umi at family gatherings when I heard other relatives refer to her in that 10