As a young girl, Felice Fromm befriended an exchange student, Raheem. Their friendship later led to an incredible trip to Kenya in her fifties. Over the years, Felice missed opportunities to travel abroad, but after getting back in contact with her old family friend, she finally found the courage to take the trip she always dreamed of.
JH: What inspired you to travel to Kenya in your fifties?
FF: When I was ten years old, my family was a host family to international graduate students studying in the United States. Of the thirty-seven students that stayed in our home over a period of six and a half years, the one that always had my heart was a thirty-year-old man from Nairobi, Kenya named Raheem. He told us amazing stories about his life in Kenya and took so much interest in all of us. He was a gentle soul with kind eyes, and even at age ten, I knew he was smart.
Over the years he came back to visit us many times. We eventually met his wife, Mamuda, and their daughters, Misbah and Minha. Each year we would get the holiday letter informing us of their family adventures; they had moved all over the globe as Raheem was working for the United Nations. While stationed in Katmandu, Nepal, Raheem sent a personal note on one of their holiday letters inviting me for a visit. At that time, I had never been out of the United States. It sounded exciting, but alas, my fear of the altitude prevented me from going any further than being thankful for the invite. Over the years I had often thought about Raheem and his family, and about that lost opportunity to visit him in a far away land. The early 1980s was the last time Raheem and his family visited us in Los Angeles. I cried when I walked up to greet him. There is something about him that I cannot explain. I was so happy to see him, tears just poured from my eyes as I hugged him, not wanting to ever let him go.
Time passed and the annual letters stopped. We had lost contact. I tried emailing him using the last email address I had, but no reply. I often thought about him, and then in 2003, I Googled his name. The only thing I could find were articles from years before of meetings he attended while working for the United Nations. Then I had an idea, not a good one, but nonetheless an idea. I called the United Nations in New York City and asked for Raheem by name, not knowing a department or anything else to give the operator, or even a clue as to how to find him. As you can guess, that got me nowhere.
