Panoramic shot I took of the Holy Ka'ba. I took 3 photos with my iPhone and then used an app to stitch them together

I got back last week from Hajj.  And let me tell you , it was a great trip!  It’s the second time I go, and there was a significant difference compared to last time.  This year I went on behalf of my late father.

For one, I went with a luxury hamla (Hajj tour operator) and we stayed at the Al-Tawheed Intercontinental Hotel, which is right next to the Holy Mosque.  The place was very comfortable, and being so close to the Holy Mosque made all the difference.

The tour operator

The hamla is called Golden Tours, and their level of service was just phenomenal.  They really went out of their way to make the trip as comfortable as possible.  But what really impressed me was the Sheiks they brought along.  The scholars were both Al-Azhar graduates.  For your information, Al-Azhar based in Egypt, is the most prestigious Islamic university in the world, and one of the oldest (some say the oldest) in the world.

Whenever they lectured they did it with compassion and love, and from a true understanding of Islam.  The hamla I went with back in 2005 were highly professional, organised and dedicated, but their religious views were very strict.  I guess it’s no surprise as they were organised by a Salafi group.  They were strict on segregating men and women (men sat in the front of the buses, and women in the back and I could not sit next to my wife), and the whole atmosphere had a spartan, disciplinary air to it.

The Egyptian group in contrast was relaxed and easy going.  Though everyone was very religious, there did not seem to be any hint of a fundamentalist mentality.  There were men and women’s tents (in Arafat and Mina), but women visited the men’s tent regularly, and there was a common area where people mixed and spoke freely.

I have to say the whole experience was great.  Of course the hamla was extremely expensive, but to be honest it was worth every fils.

Well organised

I want to commend the Saudi authorities for keeping the whole Hajj well organised and running smoothly.  There were almost 3 million people this year, and as far as I know there wasn’t a single fatality.  Of course with so many people there still is a lot of pushing and shoving, and lots and lots of garbage everywhere, but overall it went smoothly.  Alhamduilah.

On the Saudi hospitality industry

One thing that takes me by surprise every time I stay in a hotel in Saudi is how poor the service is.  It’s strange that such a country known for it’s hospitality has such a second rate hospitality industry.  I’ve noticed many times in different Saudi cities that hotel and restaurant staff are generally poorly trained, demotivated and blunt – both Saudi and expats.  It always takes me by surprise and makes me wonder why it’s like that.

But to be honest, that did not take away anything from the overall experience.

What I prayed for

I had a long list of things I prayed for.  Predominantly, I prayed for my father. I also prayed for my family, my mother and other members.  I also spent a lot of time praying for peace and prosperity to return to Bahrain.  I prayed fervently that reconciliation would happen, and that Bahrain starts a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  I prayed until I almost cried.

I also prayed for the following people:

- King Abdullah and King Hamad, and both the Saudi and Bahraini Leadership.

- I prayed for the people of Bahrain.

- I prayed for Bahrain’s opposition leader (yes I did, and I prayed for them, not against them) [لهم و ليس عليهم]

- I prayed for wise men to prevail, and for the madness to end.

I still pray for it.

PS Here are some photos, I hope you like them.  Talk soon.

In the Holy Mosque.

In Mina

With Sheikh Muneer and Shiekh Ramadan

King Fahad Entrance to the Holy Mosque

With new friends at the Jamarat (stone) throwing

One of the pillars at the Jamarat

2.8 million people attended Hajj this year

Worshipers doing Tawaf around the Holy Ka'ba

Worshipers at the 'safa' location

Its been seven months and two weeks since February 14th 2011. The day my life, my country, my home, irreversibly changed. Seven and a half months of fighting. Seven and a half months defending. Seven and a half months of hate, of sadness, of worry, of hope. Its been a frightening roller coaster, and I have a feeling the ride isn’t even half way through.

It has been seven and a half months of mixed emotions. There were days where I was filled with rage, rage at watching people destroy my country, rage at reading the lies and twisted truths in the media. There were days, particularly the early days, of fear. Fear that we’ve lost our country, fear for my life and my families lives, fear that violence will escalate to a level of no return. Fear that this country will burn to the ground with hate and civil war. There were days when I felt hopeful, hopeful that this can be fixed, that its not too late, that there’s a solution. There were days of pride and patriotism, and love. Love for this country, for my home; for the highways,alleys, beaches, schools I’ve grown up in. For the people I’ve known all my life. There were days of hate, hate for those who did this and continue to do everything in their power to take my home from me. But there were also days where I felt a little more forgiving. I wanted to forgive and forget, but it never lasts. Every time I try to forgive and start a new page, something always happens, a protest, an attack, something, that makes that glimmer of forgiveness in my heart disappear.

It breaks my heart, BREAKS MY HEART, to see what Bahrain has become now. There are cops everywhere on the streets. There are rioters clashing with cops every night. The smell of tear gas has become a normal everyday thing. If you look up, chances are you’ll see a helicopter in the sky, keeping an eye on things. And somehow, at some point during the last seven months this became ‘normal’, like its there, and its ok, like we’ve gotten used to it. It SHOULD NOT feel normal! When the hell did that happen?? I want my country back. I want things to be the way they used to be. To feel safe. To feel the stability and comfort I felt.

Recently its all gotten to me. I think I finally broke after months of dealing with the hate, fighting back the lies, seeing how evil and vindictive humans can become when they have a cause. I feel like a loved one died and I’m trying to grieve and move on but I can’t. Its hurts so much. A kind of hurt that eats deep down in your soul. Yes, I smile, I laugh, I go to work, I live, but …I’m sad, really sad, like there’s this dark gloomy cloud above me that follows me everywhere I go. I feel an ache in my heart that won’t go away. A sadness, a constant worry, a constant feeling of ‘impending doom’, and I don’t know how to make it go away. I don’t know how to make things better. Sometimes I’d be sitting with people or doing something normal like having a meal or watching TV, and all of sudden I have this urge to cry. The tears are in the corner of my eyes, but I don’t dare let them flow, lest someone see this weak side of me. I just want to sit down in a dark corner alone and cry my heart out. I know it doesn’t help or make anything better, but I don’t care. But I don’t let myself do that. I try to fight it and lift myself up. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t know if its normal to feel this way, I don’t know how long it will last, I don’t if I or Bahrain will ever go back to being normal again. I like to believe we will recover. I’m adamant to not give in to this sinking feeling of hopelessness.

I don’t know what to do, but I’ll try.

Mohamed Mustafa

====

Mohamed Mustafa is a 29 year old Doctor who occasionally blogs about Medicine and politics. You can follow him on Twitter @MoMustafaMD.

A couple of days ago I was sitting in a room with a small group of peers, going through an unusual leadership workshop.  The workshop focused mainly on doing soul searching within, and focusing on values.

The facilitator was an American leadership expert who has various degrees in psychology.  She explained some of the psychological processes human beings go through in times of crisis, and what’s fascinating about that is that it felt like she was describing EXACTLY what happened in Bahrain!

I want to share some of these insights with you, here goes:

The Human Brain:

The human brain consists of three main parts, the cerebral cortex, the reptilian (basic) brain, and the limbic part.  The cerebral cortex is the “rational” brain.  And what can happen when we are very stressed or very afraid, the cerebral cortex shuts down and we function on a much more basic level, with the reptilian brain.  Here we don’t act rationally and focus more on survival, and will do and say things to protect ourselves.  Hmm, sound familiar?  Seems to me that a lot of us in Bahrain are at this level.

The Escalation Process:

It is as follows:
Irritation –> Frustration –> Resentment –> Anger –> Rage
The escalation process must be stopped at resentment, before things get worse.  At this stage the resentment must have an object (could be a person, a group, a race, a sect or even a nation).  It’s at the resentment stage that people “build armies”  and begin to feel justified in their anger.  Again, this is so familiar.  Ask yourself, when it comes to the Bahrain crisis, who do you resent?

Our 3 Basic Needs:

According to our psychologist expert, human beings have three basic needs, which are the need to be:
1) Valued.
2) Loved.
3) Accepted.

As I understood it, these needs can exist on a personal, family, school, neighbourhood and societal level.  And it’s when these three needs are not met that problems arise, and the opposite emotions occur.  They are shame, fear, anger and hurt.

False Pride vs. Authentic Pride:
False pride is when you are proud of being part of something because you think it’s better than something else.  Authentic pride is when you’re proud of belonging to something for it’s own sake – without thinking it’s better than something else.

The Five Levels of Genocide:

1) Avoidance.
2) Verbal abuse.
3) Discrimination.
4) Violence.
5) Murder/genocide.

The facilitator shared a very interesting opinion.  She said that as human beings we cannot kill another human being.  What we do first is we “dehumanise” the other first, which makes it so much easier to hate and kill the other side.

I’ve seen many documentaries which show how the Nazis dehumanised jews.  They created many propaganda cartoons in which jews appear as rats or similar creatures.  They did this again during the invasion of Russia, where they again dehumanised the Slav race and depicted them as sub-human.  This made the mass killings of Jews and other “inferior” races so much more palatable to the German soldiers.

Our facilitator informed us that in Rwanda, the Hutu called the Tutsi “cockroaches,” which again made it so easy for them to kill, because they did not see them as human.  Sound familiar?

Today I saw a very disturbing profile of a guy on Twitter.  It said “the Hindus are men that worship cows, and the Shia are cows that worship men.”  This racist comment most likely comes from a person whose brain lost the ability to function rationally, is missing some deep needs and is at the Discrimination Level.  And there are many like him here in Bahrain and in the rest of the GCC.

Of course there are others on the other side who dehumanise Sunnis and royalists – someone called me an “Al-Khalifa dog” after the AJ Stream interview – and have degrading things to say about naturalised Bahrainis and foreigners.

Reconciliation is The Only Solution:

I know I know there is so much pain and anger, and yes serious violations occurred.  But we cannot continue like this.  Bahrain’s reputation internationally has been shred to bits, and our economy is going down the toilet – fast.

The protestors might not have been able to topple the regime, but they are certainly succeeding in crippling the economy.  Ask any business person and they will tell you how bad business is – it’s really bad.

So the social, economic and political climate is bad and we’re all suffering, I think it’s time to reconcile.  And we need to do so asap!

What Reconciliation Is And What It Is Not:

Let me share some Twitter messages I got a few days ago when I Tweeted about reconciliation:

Of course these are valid points.  So I think it’s worth pointing out that reconciliation is not about kissing and making up, and forgetting about the past as if it didn’t happen.  Reconciliation needs to be a detailed, facilitated process which allows for anger to be released, emotions to be expressed and grieving, and then healing to take place.

It needs to take as long as it needs to take.

Further, reconciliation needs to happen on two levels.  First, on a political level, and second on a societal level. The first is between the government, the opposition and the people of Bahrain.    There needs to be serious reconciliation there.  And if it does not happen, the crisis will never end, and more attempted revolutions will take place, every 5 to 10 years.

The societal reconciliation needs to happen between the people of Bahrain in general, and Sunnis and Shias specifically.  We have to create programmes and projects that bring people together.  The government, and more importantly we as a society, have to make sure that there are no more radicals in this country who compare people of a noble sect to animals.

Of course, one assumes that this will take place in addition to deep-rooted reforms that will address some of the shortcomings of our current system.

What I’m Doing About It:

Lest you think I’m preaching but not practicing, here’s what I’m doing to try to bring the people of Bahrain together:
- Reading books and educating myself about Shiasm.  I heard so much BS about the other sect that I decided to find out the truth for myself.
- Promoting moderation as much as possible, and I’ve recently invited other moderate writers to contribute to my blog.
- Making sure the message of how bad things are economically is reaching the government.  I stressed this to HRH the Crown Prince in one of my visits to his majlis.
- Having conversations with the “other side” and making sure I do more listening than talking.

A TV Quote:

I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but a couple of months ago the series “Game of Thrones” was released (based on the best selling books).  In one of the episodes, Eddard Stark (the main character) says to someone angrily “you expect me to make peace with my enemies??”  The other guy replies calmly and says “Who else should you make peace with, your friends?”

I’ve been criticised more than once, saying how can I ask for reconciliation when I took sides.  Yes I took sides, but I’m willing to listen and make peace with the other side…

I hope you are too.

Last week we had our annual Big Bang.  As usual, we closed shop and had two days where we just focus on learning, fun, and team building (see our 2009 Big Bang here, and our 2010 Big Bang here and here)

Sadly, we were a lot less Team Members than in previous years, as Zen-Do and the Seef DreamBody Centre were closed.  But God willing we’ll grow more locations in the coming years.  On Day one I gave the Team a presentation on the seven habits of highly effective people, we then had a Bosu workout with trainer Roberta Trzebinski, followed by a Sushi School lunch, followed by bowling, followed by go-karting followed by dinner!  What an exhausting day!

Day Two consisted of a Reiki workshop with Master Trainer Julie Lomas, followed by lunch, followed by wood painting, followed by our very poplar annual talent competition, finally followed by dinner and karaoke!

I think we’re still the only company on the island who go to such lengths to satisfy and motivate Team Members.  It’s not cheap to do this, and member’s some times get annoyed that we close, but it’s worth it!  I believe in a happy, highly trained and motivated Team, and I’ll go out of my way for them.  And I know that in return they’ll treat our members like gold.  It works and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Anyway, here’s the video of our Big Bang.  Hope you like it and talk to you soon:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlmMq6EYieo

Here are the Crown Prince’s interviews on CNN and Al-Arabiya.  God give him strength in this monumental task that he has ahead of him.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0rYc6S5l6Y

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFZBbWIKrUQ

Well it seems I’ve kicked up quite the storm with my recent blog post about the two DBC members I fired.  Lots of opinions on both sides; some supportive and some (really) unsupportive, to put in mildly.  So, now that a few days have past, and the dust has – somewhat – settled, it might be a good time to reflect on what happened.  So, allow me to share some thoughts and clarifications:

On the decision to fire the members:

I stand by the decision 100%.  It’s not worth keeping anyone, regardless how much they pay you and how “loyal” they’ve been, if they cannot respect your Team.  Besides, who wants disdainful loyalty anyway?  I repeat what I said, anyone who bullies, intimidates or shouts at my Team Members and other members (over and over) has no business being a member at the DreamBody Centre, or Zen-Do for that matter.  The decision was made after all other attempts have failed.  As an employer, it’s my responsibility to provide a comfortable, abuse-free environment for my Team, and I take this responsibility very seriously.  I also have to consider the needs of all of my customers, not just two who insist on having it their way.

Were they mistreated?

There were one or two comments on the blog post about how I mistreated these two ladies.  They were not mistreated.  All our members are treated with dignity and respect, and they were ever so politely asked to leave, with two months worth of membership fees in hand.  Should I have kicked sand in their faces by blogging about it?  No, and I’ll come to that in a minute (see my comments in red below).

On customer service

We take customer service extremely seriously.  We probably have some of the highest standards on the island.  We have training manuals and DVD’s, as well as provide internal and external training for our Team Members.  Every Falakonian (Falak Enterprises Team Member) receives weekly training, every single week, week in, week out, forever.  We’re also the only people that provide money back guarantees.

Having said that, I believe good customer service starts with good Team Member service.  You must ensure that your Team Members (we never use the word “employees”) are treated with dignity and respect, and are well provided for.  Only after you’ve provided for your Team can you expect them to treat the customers well, and go out of their way to serve them.  We have thirteen Guiding Principles that our like our bible, we live and breathe them daily.  Our second Guiding Principle says “We are service professionals and treat our members and each other with utmost dignity and respect.  We always treat people like we want to be treated.” So it was with our service culture and Guiding Principles in mind, that the two members were asked to leave.  You can seem more on my views on this here.

Why did I not see them?

Being the public face of my businesses, and writing lots of blog posts, newsletters, emails, and appearing in the press fairly frequently, people have the impression that they know me and can call on me whenever they want.  If I came running every time someone demanded to see me I’d get nothing done.  It’s not uncommon for someone to walk in, claim to know me and demand to see me, and/or demand a discount.  Nine times out of ten, I don’t recognise the name when I’m later told about the incident.  I have some very capable and well-trained people running the daily operations of the businesses, who have clear guidelines on what to do, and whom I trust completely.  Also, we have clear rules, terms and conditions that we expect all members to adhere to.  These two members have had several incidents in the past, and two separate general managers have met with them before, trying to please them.  And most recently my operations manager has met with them.  Rightly or wrongly, as is my right, I decided not to meet with them, as I didn’t think another meeting would add value.

Are they racist?

I re-read my blog post a couple of times to see whether I used the word “racist” to describe them, and I noticed I did not.  I used the following phrases “racial slurs” and “racial prejudices” in describing their behaviour. I was referring to the incident in which they commented negatively about one of my Team Member’s nationality, which made me quite angry.

Having said that, I realise that I might have made them to appear racist in general, which I did not intend.  So, I’d like to apologise for that.  I did not mean to say that you are racists.

Why did I blog about it? And take the story to the press?

It’s in my nature to write about the things that happen in my life.  I share the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I thought it was a good story to share, and would provide valuable business and life lessons for the many entrepreneurs that follow my blog.  I thought by not mentioning names it would be fine.

I emailed my friend Stan, editor of Gulf Weekly, and asked him whether he thought it would make an interesting story to write about.  Almost everyone believes in the “customer is always right” concept, so I thought it would be interesting to publish a completely different take on this.  Stan agreed and went ahead and published the story.

On reflection however, I can imagine how shocked the two ladies must have been.  First the shock of being fired from the DBC, then seeing it on my blog, and then seeing it in the newspaper!  What a tough week it must have been for them.  I can imagine how it must seem like overkill, which it was.

So, once again, to the two ladies, I’d like to offer my sincere apologies to you and your families for the stress I caused you during the past week.

On controversy, criticism and insults

I strongly believe in the notion that “NO CRITICISM = NO SUCCESS”.  As my star started to rise in the last few years I’ve developed quite a few fans, and a not insignificant number of “anti-fans”.  Some people seem to adore me, and others seem to hate my guts, and that’s the way it should be.  You can’t please all the people all the time, and nor should you ever try.  You should have the guts to express your opinion and stick to your principles – and accept the consequences that follow.

If you’re called arrogant -and other nasty things- in the process (like the ex-members’ friends and family members did in the comments) then so be it.  I admit, sometimes I find some of the insulting and demeaning comments people leave hurtful, but by and large I have accepted the hatefulness.  Some of it might be well deserved, some might be due to misunderstandings, and some out of plain jealousy, envy and meanness. But the overwhelming majority of feedback is usually positive.

Generally speaking, I don’t filter comments where people attack me.  I’d say that I approve 99% of comments left on my blog, the only ones I filter are the ones that are very obviously spam, or the odd ones where people leave their contact details and expect me to call them “Hi Suhail, I really like what you said, please call me on …”.

Are they welcome back?

No, the DBC is definitely not for them.  Asking them to leave was the right decision, as their behaviour was inappropriate. But I want to again express my apologies for the overkill that followed – it was unnecessarily harsh, and the defensive reaction of their friends and family understandable.

Don’t know if this helped in any way, but I felt like expressing myself.

All that remains is to wish you a very happy new year.

Talk to you soon.

Ministry of Industry and Commerce
Tamekeen
Bahrain Business Incubator Centre
United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
Bahrain Development Bank

And a few others, nine in total, and yours truly was one of them.  I talked about the Five Fatal Marketing Mistakes Every New Entrepreneur Should Avoid.  I must say it was very well received.

When all the speakers were done we sat at different booths where the attendees could approach us and ask us questions.  I was virtually mobbed with people wanting to speak to me.

Some were just fans who wanted to say hello and thank me.  Others had detailed questions about their businesses, or businesses-to-be.  I loved some of the ideas that people had, and some I did not.  I tried to be as diplomatic as possible with the bad ones.

I was approached by a group of high school girls whose project was to create a business.  What really fascinated me was that they had to create a real business, not just a fictitious one.  They were part of InJaz.  I love their energy and enthusiasm.  They had 3 business ideas.  Two of which I did not like, but I liked the third one (I don’t want to say what it is to respect their privacy).  They asked if I would visit their school and I agreed.  So maybe sometime next year.

One lady asked to give her some ideas to market her abaya shop.  I gave her some ideas, but her reaction was “Oh but that’s so much work!”  “Well, are you an entrepreneur or not?” I responded.    “If you are then you’ve got to do what it takes.  Otherwise find yourself a job somewhere in the government and work from 8 to 2, reading newspapers and drinking tea.”  She got the point, but I don’t know if she’ll implement.  There are no short cuts, if you want to bake your cake and eat it, fine.  But you still have to bake first.  And you might have to bake hard.

One of the people that approached me was a young man who seemed very smart, started a couple of micro-businesses while still in college, and was working for the government.  Among the businesses he started was importing honey from Nepal.  He said that he lived and breathed marketing and wanted whatever advice I could give him.

I said something like “what the hell is someone like you doing working for the government??”  “I ah… well am in my final year in college, and I graduate next May.  Maybe then I’ll start my own business…” he replied.  “Look young man!” I said “If I see you next May still working for a bureaucracy I’ll lose all respect for you!  Don’t waste your life like this!”  I added with annoyance.

The reason I was so harsh with him was because I could see the entrepreneurial fire in him.  There are people who are meant to have jobs, and people who are meant to create businesses, this young man was certainly in the second category.  Maybe this chat was just the push he needed to start out on his own.

Another person I spoke to was this young man who wanted to open a coffee shop.  If I had a dinar for every coffee shop idea I heard I’d be very rich indeed.  Can we get more boring? I gently tried to dissuade him from the idea.  And after maybe a 10 minute or so conversation he reluctantly agreed with me.

I had lots more conversations and talked non-stop for about two hours.  The hall was empty by the time I finished with the last person, the cleaners were just coming to clean up.

What impressed me was the fire I saw in some of these young people.  And I’d like to congratulate and thank Young Arab Leaders for putting together such a great event.  I’d also like to thank the Kaufman Foundation for developing the concept of Global Entrepreneurship Week.  I don’t know how much this week cost to set up, but it was offered free to all the attendees.  I think a few lives were changed that night…

Talk to you soon.

Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is a global event which focuses on the benefits of entrepreneurship, and helps aspiring entrepreneurs to get ideas, advice and financing.  GEW helps them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators. Students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, employees, non-profit leaders, government officials and many others participated in a range of activities, from online to face-to-face, and from large-scale competitions and events to intimate networking gatherings.

GEW in Bahrain is being organised by Young Arab Leaders (YAL), of which I’m a member.  The week starts Sunday the 21st of November and runs for a week.  For more information on all the events, and how you can register, visit the GEW Bahrain website or call 17 589 855.  If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, I highly suggest you attend.

My involvement:

Last year I gave the key note presentation at GEW, this year the key note presentation will be given by none other than Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, creator of the highly acclaimed The 99 comic book series – the world’s first “Islamic” comic book series.

I’ve not met Dr. Naif, but I heard he’s a great speaker and very inspirational.  He’s speaking on the 25th of November in The Sheraton Awal Ballroom at 7:00 pm – don’t miss this!

I will be involved in two events.  I’m hosting a dinner table tomorrow Sunday the 21st at the ‘Mentorship Madness Dinner’, at 7 pm at the Capital Club.  If you’re at my table you can ask me ANY question on entrepreneurship.  You’ll find that I’m quite open and transparent, and I love to help others.  Also, on the 24th, at the ‘Start Up Circuit’ I’ll be giving a short marketing presentation, and then I’ll be available at a booth to answer any marketing related question you might have.  FYI, I charge a lot for a day of consulting, so you’ll get my expertise for free.  There will also be other experts around to help with everything you need from company registration, to financing, to IT and more.

So, if you’ve ever thought of this whole entrepreneurship business, don’t miss this year’s GEW!  One last thing, here’s the video of key note I did last year.  Look forward to seeing you soon.

If you recall, a few weeks ago I offered 10 women FREE membership at the DreamBody Centre.  I did this in response to hearing the sad-but-true statistic that Bahrain has the most obese women in the world.

Well, we’ve had lots of people apply and we decided on the final ten.  They came in on Sunday and were very excited about their free membership, and very grateful too.

Some of the women were very brave and shared some of the emotional pain they felt because of their weight.  I’m happy to report that most of them also joined the DreamBody Competition.  So who knows, one of the might even drive away in my car!

The ten women are:

Asma Mohammed Sharif
Azra Abdullah
Elizabeth Wuest
Eman Hasan Fadel
Fatima Ali
Lynn Holleran
Najla Srour
Sana Mohammed Sharif
Sana Shaukat
Zainab Khamis

Good luck to you ladies!

I’ll let you know how they get along.  Talk to you soon.