World
Small but mighty: Colombia’s Muslim community celebrates Ramadan
Medellin, Colombia – Ziauddin Yahya Iqbal Sandoval, known to his friends as Zia, observes Ramadan with quiet conviction.
The 14-year-old was born and raised in Colombia, where Christianity remains dominant. Nearly 63 percent of the population identifies as Catholic.
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But Zia is one of an estimated 85,000 to 100,000 Muslims in Colombia, comprising less than 0.2 percent of the country’s population.
Within that community, though, is a prism of diverse backgrounds and experiences. Some of Colombia’s Muslims reflect a rich history of migration to the region. Others are converts.
“The Colombian Islamic community is a small one but enjoys more on account of its diversity,” Zia said, as he took a break from serving tea in his uncle Zaheer’s restaurant in the upscale Poblado neighbourhood of Medellin.
On the eve of Ramadan, Muslim communities in cities like Bogota and Medellin prepared for the coming festivities with decorations and prayer.
Golden, glittering letters spelled out wishes for “Ramadan Karim” — or a “generous Ramadan” — above a modest mosque in Belen, on the outskirts of Medellin.
Inside, shoes were lined neatly along the wall. In a small, square prayer room, about eight men of different ages and nationalities stood shoulder to shoulder, bowing in unison.
“The majority of those who come to the mosque are Colombians, but we see people from Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Pakistan and other Arab countries,” said Mu’tasem Abdo, the mosque’s imam who came to Medellin from Egypt four years ago.
He explained how, because Colombia’s Muslim community is relatively small, newcomers sometimes find themselves aching for the festive experience they remember from home.
“A native from a Muslim country can miss the grandeur of Ramadan as experienced back home,” Abdo explained.
Pakistani immigrant Rana Arif Mohammad remembers arriving in Colombia 23 years ago with dreams of adventuring through Latin America. But he too felt isolation as a Muslim in the country.
He settled in Medellin and founded a restaurant where he serves Pakistani and Arabic specialities in his Belen restaurant. But fellow Muslims were few and far between, and he remembers struggling to find a mosque.
“Twenty-three years ago, I met just four to five Muslims, just a few from Lebanon and Turkiye,” Mohammad said.
But Mohammad and others have observed Muslim visibility on the rise in Colombia.
In 2020, for instance, Colombia elected its first Muslim mayor in the border city of Maicao. And Mohammad explained that there are now more Islamic cultural centres and places of worship.
“Today, Medellin has five mosques,” he said, counting the ones he knows.
The Muslim population in Latin America first surged after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. There have been several waves of migration in the century since.
In Colombia, one of the most significant came during Lebanon’s civil war in the 1970s. The conflict triggered an exodus of nearly one million Lebanese people that included many Muslims and Christians.
Some settled in cities like Maicao, where one of the largest mosques in Latin America was built and completed in 1997.
The continued migration into Colombia has contributed to the diversity of its Muslim community.
In Bogota, Sheikh Ahmad Qurtubi speaks proudly of the range of nationalities in his jamaat, or congregation, at the Qurtubi Islamic Centre in the west of the city.
“There are people of different nationalities, approximately 10 or 15 different countries, and we find great diversity in this centre,” Qurtubi explained after delivering the Taraweeh prayer marking the first night of Ramadan.
Though there are no official statistics on the origins of Colombia’s Muslim population, Qurtubi has noticed an increase in Muslim converts.
He estimates that roughly 100 to 200 worshippers in his jamaat are new to the religion. It can be a struggle, though, to build a sense of cohesion, given the different backgrounds of the worshippers.
“The biggest challenge in Colombia is maintaining a stable community that has an impact on society and a common identity,” he said.
“In a community where most people have converted due to different circumstances that led them to Islam, it can be a little more complicated to achieve.”
But Qurtubi said the diversity of his congregation has led to celebrations that embrace the spectrum of Colombia’s Muslim identity.
He described how, on each night of Ramadan, a different family volunteers to cook food for the Iftar, the breaking of the fast.
“The food options can be very varied. Why? Because it depends on each person’s culture and background,” he explained. “For example, I can offer Moroccan food, one person can offer Pakistani food, others Colombian food.”
He believes community events like Ramadan create an opportunity for Colombia’s Muslims to embrace their differences and build communal understanding.
“Knowledge is what allows a community to grow, to flourish … and to have the opportunity to prosper and put down roots here in Colombia,” he said.
World
How Sheila the three-wheeler dodged danger on a record 14,000-mile journey to tip of South Africa
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Englishman Ollie Jenks remembers when his friend first pitched the idea to him.
“It was so ridiculous I couldn’t say no,” Jenks said.
The proposal by Canadian buddy Seth Scott, a fellow lover of cars and crazy adventures, was for them to drive a decades-old British-made Reliant Robin car from London to the southern tip of Africa — a 14,000-mile (22,500-kilometer) journey through 22 countries — to set a record for the longest trip in a three-wheeled vehicle.
Reliant Robins have cultlike status in the U.K. as humble three-wheelers that, in Jenks’ words, were designed to go to the shops and back in 1970s Britain. They went out of production in the early 2000s but remain loved in British culture, especially after a Reliant appeared as the Trotter brothers’ trusty but battered yellow van in the hugely popular sitcom “Only Fools and Horses.”
Yet you couldn’t find a less suitable vehicle to take thousands of miles through tropical jungles, mountain ranges and deserts down the west side of Africa. And that’s precisely why Jenks went for the absurd plan.
Sheila the three-wheeler
Sheila, the silver three-wheeler — one of the last Reliant Robins to be built — was acquired specifically for the adventure. Jenks and Scott set off in October with a can of fuel and a few essential supplies strapped to Sheila’s small roof, and a large amount of blind hope that they would somehow make it to Cape Town, South Africa, near the bottom of the world.
“No power steering, no air con, and it doesn’t do well up hills or down them. It is the most unsuitable car for probably any journey,” Jenks said in an unkind assessment of Sheila’s abilities. “We made friends with the designer of this car, and he’s scared to take it any more than 20 miles.”
Jenks and Scott ignored all the advice and took Sheila on the epic journey over four-and-a-half months that cost in the region of $40,000 to $50,000, Jenks said. They had help from sponsors and crowd funding, and documented the journey on an Instagram page that pulled in nearly 100,000 followers under the title: “14,000 miles, 3 wheels, 0 common sense.”
Attempted coups and airstrikes
They arrived in Benin during an attempted coup. They skirted through northern Nigeria as the U.S. launched airstrikes on Islamic State targets. They were given a military escort for about 300 miles (480 kilometers) through a region of separatist violence in Cameroon.
“Imagine this car in a military convoy,” Jenks said.
And there were many brushes with traffic-related danger, including when an overtaking bus almost flattened Sheila against a cliff face in Congo.
True to form that Reliants are sometimes not so reliable, there were also countless breakdowns on the punishing roads.
Sheila needed her wheel springs replaced in the first two weeks. The gearbox broke in Ghana, leaving them with only fourth gear. In Cameroon, there were clutch and distributor problems and then the big one: the engine blew up.
Through all the technical problems, the kindness of strangers and the intrepidness of Jenks and Scott kept them going. One man got a new gearbox shipped to Ghana. Reliant enthusiasts in the U.K. helped find a new engine to send to Cameroon.
After one breakdown, people helped load Sheila onto a cattle truck so she could be taken to a garage. Mechanics across the continent screwed, hammered and welded Sheila to keep her together, sometimes shaking their heads at the madness of it all.
Where no Reliant Robin has gone before
But there were also majestic moments, the kind that Jenks and Scott had envisioned to make it all worth it.
Sheila cruised through stunning mountain ranges and vast deserts — where surely no Reliant Robin has gone before. She went on safari, driving alongside galloping giraffes, spotting endangered rhinos, and posing for a picture next to a giant elephant.
More than 120 days after setting off, she rattled into Cape Town last month on an engine that began badly overheating in the Namibian desert and had been touch and go for about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers).
“This is a great underdog story,” said Graeme Hurst, a South African car lover who followed them on Instagram and came to see Sheila. “I see the farcical kind of comical nature of it … but also the sheer admiration. I mean, they have utter tenacity.”
In South Africa, Sheila was put on temporary display in a showroom for high-end cars and was the center of attention ahead of the glittering Porsches and Mercedes, showing off her broken side window, her petrol-stained windshield, her bent tire rims, and her countless dents and scratches.
She will rest now and be given the thorough service she deserves, Jenks said. Eventually, she’ll be driven to Kenya, put on a ship to Turkey, then make one last trip back to the U.K. to find a home at the London Transport Museum.
Jenks said he felt triumphant after reaching Cape Town, but relieved to have survived and finally be out of the tiny two-seater.
“It was like driving a motorized coffin,” he said.
___
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
World
Pope Leo urges Africans to stay and ‘serve your country’ instead of migrating as displacement climbs
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Pope Leo XIV last Friday urged African youth to work toward improving their own countries rather than migrating elsewhere in search of better opportunities.
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church directed his remarks to university students at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, during an 11-day apostolic journey in Africa.
“In the face of the understandable tendency to migrate — which may lead one to believe that elsewhere a better future may be more easily found — I invite you, first and foremost, to respond with an ardent desire to serve your country and to apply the knowledge you are acquiring here to the benefit of your fellow citizens,” Leo said.
While displacement in Africa has steadily increased in recent years amid economic and political challenges, Leo said each country’s rising generations should be “committed to society,” reflect their nations’ needs and confront systemic issues at home.
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Pope Leo XIV speaks as he meets with the community of Bamenda at Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in Bamenda on the fourth day of an 11-day apostolic journey to Africa April 16, 2026. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
“Africa, indeed, must be freed from the scourge of corruption. For young people, this awareness must take root from their years of formation,” he said.
“These are the witnesses of wisdom and justice, of which the African continent needs.”
He added that through education and spiritual formation, “you learn to become builders of the future of your respective countries and of a world that is more just and humane.”
POPE LEO SAYS HE’S UNAFRAID OF THE TRUMP ADMIN AFTER PRESIDENT CALLS HIM ‘TERRIBLE’ ON FOREIGN POLICY
Pope Leo XIV delivers a speech during his visit to Central African Catholic University as part of his Africa tour April 17, 2026, in Yaoundé, Cameroon. (Ahmet Emin Donmez/Anadolu)
According to the World Migration Report, most of Africa’s displacement occurs internally within the continent, with 21 million Africans recorded as living in another African country in 2020.
Overseas African migration has also steadily increased, with figures more than doubling between 1990 and 2020.
In 2020, roughly 11 million Africans reportedly migrated to Europe, 5 million to Asia and 3 million to Northern America.
MORNING GLORY: LEO’S LAUNCH
Pope Leo XIV visits Central African Catholic University as part of his Africa tour April 17, 2026, in Yaoundé, Cameroon. (Ahmet Emin Donmez/Anadolu)
The causes of displacement are largely attributed to political conflict, corruption, violence and economic hardship, including widespread poverty.
These factors are particularly pronounced in countries such as Somalia, one of Africa’s largest sources of refugees; Nigeria, which is riddled with natural disasters and economic pressures; and Sudan’s surrounding areas, where civil war, political instability and food insecurity have driven large-scale displacement.
The Pope’s remarks come just days after President Donald Trump criticized Leo on Truth Social, calling him “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy.”
The backlash followed the pontiff’s criticism of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and his appeal for a return to peace.
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Tensions between the two boiled over several days before the Pope said last Saturday that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate the president.
Leo has insisted that his position is focused on bridging divides among nations and promoting peace and reconciliation.
Lebanon’s disaster management unit raises the death toll from weeks of Israeli attacks to 2,454, with 7,658 people injured.
Published On 22 Apr 2026
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