From #Egyptian hieroglyphs to #Taiwanese Atayal letters. From #Turkish kilim carpet cultural coding to Mosque environment research. - 🤔 “Reiting, how did you end up living with a Turkish family?” “Reiting, how did you end up in Middle East?” “Reiting, how did you get to know Islam?” These are the question I’ve been often asked since my early 20s by journalists, friends, strangers, and even in dating. Sometimes, when I’m really not in a mood to explain all the details, I just give a vague answer, “God put me on this path.” - 🙋🏻‍♀️ And the full story is that: As a 21-year-old student in the Top 1 interior design college in Taiwan, I still felt something was missing in the design system I was in. There was very little attention paid to the indigenous culture in the design world as most of the fortunate students in the design colleges are from han-chinese based families and middle to higher social classes in Taiwan. I saw the opportunity in the national competition and I wanted to apply its resources to give equal creative opportunities to the tribes by developing a design education program for the students in the Taiwanese aboriginal tribes, to help them commercialize the products for selling to tourists. From my research in the Atayal tribe in the mountains of my home city, I found a priest who does research in the cultural coding on ethnic textiles and ancient letters from Egyptian hieroglyphs, Sinai hieroglyphs, Semitic letters, Atayal letters, Greek letters to Roman letters. 😲 The Taiwanese Atayal tribe is best known for its weaving techniques. During the World War II, they hided all the messages into the pattern on garments as a communication tool to protect themselves from the Japanese invaders. I was inspired from interviewing the priest and looked further into similar practices in other regions, and found the Turkish kilim. So I departed from Taiwan and got on my trip to Istanbul. I ended up going through many bazaars and mosques spending a huge amount of time sitting in the mosques taking notes of their interior decorations and observing the praying muslims.

I’ve thought long and hard about what views i wanted to put across, simply because i am never one to just jump on a bandwagon. Yesterday, we saw that 2 countries who have been at war with each other agree to a ceasefire. Are we happy? Well, on the one hand- yes! Because it means the Palestinians can actually breathe after being exposed to cruel, inhuman and intolerable treatment via sleep deprivation due to the fear of bombs being rained upon them. They started swapping children to increase the chances that someone would make it out alive from each family. On the other hand- no! Because a ceasefire just means no firing. It doesn’t negate the following: 1) apartheid practices by Country I; 2) the ethnic cleansing of the population of Country P; 3) the consistent encroaching of land belonging to Country P by Country I by forceful and unlawful means; 4) the remaining fact that refugees from Country P cannot return to their own country or that the land that they left behind remains confiscated by Country I; 5) there remains the non-return of land confiscated forcefully and unlawfully by Country I to Country P; 6) that there is no right to life, identity, self determination and and freedom from persecution either in daily life or the entrenched laws and systems put in place by Country I; 7) that Arab countries mostly remain silent even now; 8) that the USA is still selling arms and sanctioning apartheid carried out by Country I; 9) that the UN is still ineffective because there is an overriding power of veto; 10) the International Courts still haven’t ruled it as war crimes on the grounds of apartheid or returned Country P its rights and lands; 11) The Government of Country I still don’t realise that being anti apartheid and anti- zionist is not being anti- semitic so will continue to play the victim card; 12) the Government of Country I still thinks it is not the terrorist. SO many complex thoughts going through my head. So much that still needs to be done. So much healing that still needs to be carried out mentally, emotionally, physically, sociologically, politically, economically and geographically. Wish IG allows us to write essays, not short posts.

During @capriceofficial live with @shiraz_shukrun & @orin_julie just now, they kept emphasising that they are hated by being Jews. That the 'war' is about the Jews, not the land. Girls, you're being racist of your own race. As if you're still traumatised by the holocaust, the anti-semitic. Move on. Get the facts right, we don't hate Jews, we hate the zionism idea; oppression, occupation, terrorism. Anti-zionism is not anti-semitic, at all. Zionism doesn't represent the Jews, it represents apartheid. We strongly believe that all lives matter, regardless. Learn to put yourself in others shoes. If Shiraz was brutally offended by being compared this issue to the Nazism, then guess how the Palestinians would feel now.? Show some empathy, and feel others. You want peace and love, we want that even more 🖤 I don't know how this video relates to my writing but anyway harap2 dorang baca la ye dak, walaupun taknak faham. Penat sis tulis dan tahan carut 😅😂