![]() Only a single camp fire was left burning. The garrison was almost deserted with bodies littered all about. It took us ten days to travel to kaffa, the place I first witnessed the black death itself- Artra mors. Four fortnights had passed without the Mogol soldiers asking for their regular supply. I had followed father to supply the dried peas. Mother had eight children, with five dying before they celebrated their second birthday. Sometimes I followed him, and other times I stayed home to till the land with my two brothers. ![]() Every fortnight, Father would deliver dried out peas for the soldiers at the garrison, and in turn we got paid in lands that were used to plant more peas. Father was spared given his affiliations with the most influential pea farmer’s daughter, he was considered a Mogol. The Mongols didn’t want to trade no more with the foreigners, Janniberg, the Khan of the golden Horde waged war against the foreigners. Trouble had broken between the local Mogols and the foreign settlers in kaffa. It started with the Mogol soldiers who were besieging the walls of Kaffa. Father would go on for months and then return with goods from Ragusa, a place he promised he'd take us, A placed he never did. I was there when the artra mors started. Father had met mother in Kaffa, she was the daughter of a local influential pea-farmer and they had moved out of Kaffa to settle in a pea farm on the outskirt of the city It was what mother had wanted. There was always something new in Kaffa, be it a tunic or some new kind of food. I could still remember it's ancient walls, fortified by two concentric stone walls. Foreigners moved into Tartar and the city thrived. Father was a merchant who brought wool, flax and dried nuts from Ragusa to kaffa-which was then slowly turning to a center of commerce given it's proximity to the seaports. The tubes on his nose reminded me of the scarecrow we had in our little village in Tartar among the people of Mongol. On his nose was a long tube with little holes allowing just enough air in. He wore huge spectacles strapped to his head, and for a moment he looked like a misplaced ' kamelon'. Metal strings were attached to the tip of his fingers, and a thick cloth was worn across his face save for his eyes and nose. He was dressed in a heavy black cloak and his hands were adorned with black gloves which covered the entirety of his elbow. The first appearance of the plague doctor would put even the black death to a fright. His footsteps were loud owing to the metal boots worn which were a knee long. Sometimes, the bread had molds on them, and the berries were too dry. I rose to my feet after hearing the approaching footsteps of the plague doctor. The food was dropped a distance from the ship and then we came out singly to pick our ration. Only a dozen of us made it to Ragusa that rainy morning. Old ships and Cabins were also used to hold a number of us in and our food was given to us by slaves of the plague doctors, for this slaves were never allowed inside the city. Half of the crew and passengers had died on board and their bodies hurled into the ocean on the instructions of the priest. We were eighty persons in number that left kaffa six months before. I was among the six that barely survived the quarantinio. Most importantly, it’s a direct line to attempt safe passage for Afghans in danger.It was the fortieth day, of been held up in the ship that conveyed us from Kaffa, to Ragusa. “Raising five million dollars in less than 24 hours for this rescue mission has given us, and so many around the world, hope for humanity. ![]() “The internet can be a force for good,” Quarantino stated on his Instagram page, which currently has over 767,000 followers. Initially, posting funny memes, the musings morphed into serious social commentary. Tommy Marcus, known by his pandemic pen name, Quentin Quarantino, is a University of Michigan grad who donned the alter ego in the early days of COVID-19 as a humorous way to cope with the stresses of life in lockdown. Soldiers Finally Celebrates 4th of July as an American Citizen RELATED: Afghan Translator Who Saved U.S. Per the GoFundMe page, “Every $1,500 raised represents a seat on one of the planes, and a life saved.” If you do the math, Quarantino says that every $550,000 will buy two airplanes out of Kabul. The asylum seekers will be transported in family groups, and the funds raised so far should translate into the evacuation of thousands of refugees. The GoFundMe campaign hopes to help these human rights lawyers, activists, translators, journalists, and artists-all of whom are “at imminent risk” of being killed.
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