Doc Ahmad Hajiri

  Assalamu Alaykum! (Peace be with you!) I just realized... I haven't talked much about my videos about Sulu in this blog. I have a playlist which you can watch if you are interested in seeing (or maybe visiting?) my dear homeplace.  Just check it out here: JOLO, SULU PLAYLIST You can watch this instead:      Yup, that is all for today.   PS. I am mulling over the idea of transferring my blog from blogspot to wordpress...  hmmmmmm    

  There’s this Facebook Page called “Sulu Cultural and Historical Society” that I really like. (You can check it out here ) They usually upload old images of Sulu, or any old artifacts related to Sulu that are found around the world (usually in Museums). What I really like about this is the fact that they do their research and provide the readers the necessary and factual information regarding those places, items, etc. One of those series that I enjoyed in their page is the old photos of Jolo, Sulu. I saved a couple of those images (screenshot), and then I went on a bike ride a few days back and decided to take a picture of the same exact place in the present time. Kudos to the admins of the FB Page mentioned for all of these! So here they are, I hope you’ll enjoy this as I did! Plaza Rizal  Photo by William "Bill" Fabianic circa 1961     This is the screenshot of the post in the FB Page. It says, “Rizal Park, Jolo, Sulu, circa 1961. Jolo’s Plaza Rizal in...

 Assalamu Alaykum.   I'm writing this post from a blank slate.   It's been a long while since my purposeful blogpost, and yes, I do miss it.   I miss writing down my thoughts.   I miss interacting with my readers (if ever they do exist).   I miss reading my old posts and ponder upon my seemingly-deep-but-not-really thoughts from the past.   I miss writing.    When and why did I stop?   Was it the "busy-ness" of being a doctor? Not really.   Was it the ever-dwindling self confidence I have? Maybe. I still don't know if my words would reach anyone's heart and change the world (No! I never really thought they would).   I have a lot in my mind. At this point in time, in my 30 years of existence... I have known what I am really good at: Making plans... and never actually get to finish any of it! haha!   But really, I wanna go back... I want to go back to writing my thoughts on an empty slate and just let the inks dry and fate d...

 Assalamu Alaykum. It's May 1, 2021, exactly 3 years, 2 months and 29 days since my last post published in this blog. Yes, I am still alive Alhamdulillaah. And Ramadhan mubarak to all my Muslim brothers and sisters :)  I do still check this blogsite once in a while to moderate comments. But my creative mind have long forgotten what it's like to write and publish a blogpost (just kidding, I'm either busy or lazy to publish one lol).  I decided to publish an update because my page suddenly had a spike of views in its long years of hibernation. I already knew why: Lapu-Lapu.  (thanks Lapu-Lapu, Tausug ka man o hindi haha). And yes, I decided to unpublish my most popular post as well, due to its numerous unverified information.  Do I still believe Lapu-Lapu was not a Filipino? Yes. Why? Simple: the word "Filipino" was non-existent yet in 1521. Period. Was Lapu-Lapu a Tausug? I cannot say for sure. Truth be told, I only got these information from oral histories and t...

  Assalamu Alaykum! (Peace be upon you all) Let me talk about the recent successful project we had just this June. It was coined "Books not War: A 'give-a-book' project for the children of Sulu". I will share in this humble post how the project started, how we planned it, the struggles we experienced and finally, how we reached the finish line, Alhamdulillah!  It started with a Message Last October 2015, I received a message from a reader of this blog (and my other blog Tausug 101 ) telling me about her plans. She organized this project where they would collect used books to be sent to less fortunate children in the far-flung areas. By then, they already created an FB Page entitled "Books not War", so we kept that title until the very end. And of all the provinces in the country, they chose Sulu to be the beneficiary. It was indeed a simple yet very generous act of kindness from their part and I was really touched. Maa sha Allah! How won...

Two years ago, I posted this in my FB wall: Every single day I spend in the community, I hear various cases of health problems suffered by me fellow men. Simple problems that could have been solved long time ago. And they all have the common answers when asked "why": "Wayruun siyn" (We had no money) "Way hipagsukay" (We had no means to pay for the expenses/fares) "Way Duktur " (There are no doctors) And yet, every single time I tell them that they don't have to worry for so long, for someday, some doctors would come and stay in sha Allah... they would only sadly reply: "Hisiyu ba utu' in mariy? Magluug hadja sila sin baran nila pasal wayruun mausaha diy. Misan in katan maguy magpalayu' dayn diy, hati' awn mariy?" (Who would even come here, son? They will only make themselves suffer coz they will never earn here. Even people here would want to go out and escape, so who would come here to serve?) W...

“Tell me about yourself.” Our professor asked us before beginning our case discussions. My group mates started by telling their names and then their future careers (future Neurologist, Surgeon, Medical Oncologist, etc.) until it reached my turn. I was still unsure what “specialty” I will go into, so I just answered the question with what I can think of best: “I am Ahmad from Sulu. I love to travel and do photography. My dream one day is to publish my novels.” “Oh, I have been to Sulu a lot of times,” said our professor who is a practicing surgical oncologist in PGH, “my last trip there though was in 1996.” “Ma sha Allah, really sir? That’s nice sir! What did you do there, sir?” “We stayed and volunteered in IPHO-Sulu. Did a lot of charity services doing surgeries for free.” H mentioned names of some Tausug surgeons back then, some I knew by name some I don’t. I was somehow elated to find out that another great physician have visited my dear homeland before. “It was...

Bismillah (Originally posted Sept 8, 2013 on my FB Page) It has been some time since I wrote about my beloved hometown, Sulu. So I decided to fill-up the holes of long absence with some fun facts about my place. In this post we will be talking about one of the grandest landmarks in Sulu: Bud Tumantangis (Bud or Buwd means Mountain). This is going to be a bit long, so kindly bear with me until the end. I will make sure that this post is worth your time reading.  Bud Tumantangis, is the highest peak in the Sulu mainland. It is located in the Indanan-Patikul boundary, Sulu. It is surrounded by green forests and farmlands. Aside from just being a magnificent sight in the place, it also served as an icon, a “unique landmark” among the Tausugs which they identified with their homeland: Sulu. Every single settler, visitor or traveler in Sulu would know which and where is Bud Tumantangis. If a common seafarer comes home from a long journey at the sea, simply looking for this familiar mo...

It came as a surprise to everyone in Mindanao State University-Sulu Laboratory High School (MSU-Sulu LHS). The old, ugly and almost neglected façades of the Grades 7 and 10 were transformed into newly repaired and repainted ones in just one weekend! Only a few knew about what happened and who were those behind it. And those who have no idea where left amazed and yes, surprised. This was how it was planned, and just as how we wanted it to be. The First MSU-Sulu LHS Alumni “Give-Back” project was the first ever project done by the high school alumni for their alma mater without soliciting even a single centavo from their school. It was a spur-of-the-moment event that started from just mere concern for their beloved alma mater to a sudden, successful project, Alhamdulillah. Yes, we started from nothing. It started with the statement “This makes us sad, what can we do?” to “Yes, maybe we can do something small first” until “Let us make it happen then!”. At first, we only thought...