Kuchora Henna

Henna is for everyone. Or, at least it should be so I can practice applying it when I get home. I've been taking henna lessons for two and a half weeks and am having a blast. I take lesson with two other girls, Rukiyah and Hafswa, 2 hours a day with Thursday and Fridays off (the Muslim weekend, instead of Saturday and Sunday). I also have two more hours worth of homework after each lesson. Here's a pic of my class. Rukiyah is on the far left, Selma in the middle and the camera shy Hafswa on the right.


As I mentioned before, I'm a tad obsessed when it comes to henna. My teacher, Selma says she can tell I love it because of how far I've progressed. I think she is always comparing me to the last mzungu (white tourist) who took henna lessons from her who apparently wasn't quite as much of a henna fanatic as me. Well I'd been doing drawings of hand designs for 2 weeks and was advancing so quickly that last Tuesday Selma decided I was ready for my first test; to create my own henna designs on the spot! I must admit I felt a little sweaty under my hijab (Muslim head wrap, which usually makes me sweaty anyway cause it's so hot). Anyways, here's what I came up with.

And…I passed! Now I can move on to the feet! Alham-dulilah! The test was to see if I could create my own flowers without copying my teacher's designs which is, as a student, what I usually do. Selma and my fellow students really liked them a lot. Yeah, I felt happy.