2faced Ismail

It turns out Ismail and I go way back, same school, a friend of a childhood friend.
I was to find out in Congo that I knew the guy from my early years. It really is a small world. A random conversation in the group chat on happenings back home led to this discovery. I don't remember him that much but that's a surprise given how vivid my memories of my early years are. But he was there and one day I'll remember, I sure will.

I had suffered a personal tragedy a few months before joining Africanews. I had been trying to make sense of the situation, I still am. Once Ismail realized the connection, we had a private chat and something he said sparked light in a very dark place for me. Like I said forging ahead after that tragedy is a lot of things, difficult, confusing, painful. The light he sparked has helped make sense of the times and find my way a step at a time. I'll always be grateful for that conversation though he may never remember what he said. 
So here's classic Ismail - tough and yet sweet, like a pomegranate. He will try to contest this softness but charle, je m'en fou. It is what it is. It's a façade, the toughness. 
See, Ismail grew up in a place where you had to be tough to survive. You needed steel & grit plus a lot of street-sense. He's the polished version of the typical but I believe he has also been shaped by his many experiences: a nature-nurture situation at play. Which side of him you get depends on who you are to him, I guess.
He thinks he's tough but you have to meet Inna to know he isn't at all. He may look like a meigida but like we say in local parlance "everyone has a master". I'm not suggesting Inna is and I'm not suggesting she isn't. I'm just saying Ismail isn't only what he comes across to be.

He may change, life has a way of shaping you, smoothing the roughness, revealing the shine, changing perspectives.

You can never say for sure how anyone's journey will fan out. It would be boring if you could. So I'm excited to see if Ismail becomes tougher or softer. I will be there to remind him of what he used to be like - he'll only be too happy to if the tables were turned.