Hey there. How is thing going on for you. Time flies so fast that it is already the year 2026. The calendar shows that the date is 29th March 2026 as I’m writing this down. Lets lock it that way so that the update that I’m about to share will be as per till that, or might as well I said as per update in the first quarter of year 2026.
So where shall I start first? Let’s start by looking back at what I can recall in January 2026. I would like to start by talking about our maid, Gemma. She has been working with us since December 2019 in which we had employed her to take care of our then newborn son, Che Wan Aiman Wafiq, who was born on 23rd May 2019. So at the time Gemma started working, Aiman was around 6 months old. The reason why we had to get a maid at that time because Serene was able to secure a job with Hamad International Airport. Alhamdulillah for the rezeki given.
So as time passes by, Gemma has been working with us since then until December 2025, or close to January 2026. Yes, that is how long she worked with us for the past 6 years. It was a blessed in a way that she was able to stay with us for that long as it was not easy to build a trust, especially for having a maid who is living out and sometimes we had to ask her to stay in whenever both myself and Serene had to travel without the kids.
So, as we came back from our 2025 winter trip to Beijing, we heard a story that Gemma was caught at Bin Mahmoud metro station by the local police and she got caught for not having a valid QID, which in this case her QID had already expired. We got to know that after she replied to Serene’s message after we have been asking her if she would be coming for work or not as she did not come at the usual time. Luckily both me and Serene were still on holiday at that time so we had no issue with the kids. So Gemma said she cried a lot at the detention centre, or not sure if it was a lockup cell or not, but she said she was begging to be given a chance to check her phone and also to return back our house keys. The police was then gave her the chance to return our house keys and also told her to pack all her belongings as they said that she will be deported back.
So yeah, that was how the story is, she was deported back to Philippines and we had to suddenly manage as it is. It was a totally a turned over for us, especially with the kids, in managing the day-to-day life of schooling. Thankfully, Hana is already 13 years old so we had to get her to manage her other siblings upon coming back from school. Hana would need to take out all the lunch pack, sorted out the food that was not being consumed in a separate container, and washed the lunch pack to make it ready for the following day. So this routine was repeated for the whole of January 2026 until February 2026 when Ramadhan begun.
Serene decided to get a temporary live in maid as it was hard for us to get a replacement live out made. Most of them did not response to our post in Facebook group or most of them was probably not interested when knowing that our location is not within the central Doha area. Yes, our house is located almost the western side close to Industrial Area and the nearest metro station is also about 3.5 km if I measured it correctly. So we actually took the temporary maid while waiting for the maid that we found to be deployed from Philippines. The maid that we found from the agency will be sponsored by me in which I had to apply for the visa via Metresh app. So technically I will the sponsored during her stay over here. But insyaAllah, from the profile provided, she looks like a good candidate and hopefully will be able to work well with us.
The temporary maid that we got is from Kenya and her name is JC. As of writing this, she is still working with us for about one and half months. She is not really that experience being 21 years old in term of not able to cook, ironing, other than cleaning. Well at least some help for Serene at home till to date.
Owh ya, we were supposed to go and see Muse live in Abu Dhabi on 4th February 2026 but it was cancelled by them. Yes, they cancelled the whole remaining tour at other places too (India, South Africa). What was the reason of cancellation? We had not idea at that time. But as I’m writing this, Muse has announced their tour for the new album starting with the tour in North America! So they much have decided to cancel their 20 years Anniversary Absolution album tour and decided to just proceed with the new album. Their last album was out back in year 2023 Will of People so probably just right for the next new album launching at tour! Lets try to see if we can grab it at other possible venue.
Now, here comes the climax of the update. On 28th February 2026, something that we never thought to experiencing happened that shocked us as well as the entire world. The US and Israel had initiated their so called Operation Epic Fury to attack Iran! Yes, they suddenly attacked Iran claiming that Iran was about to have a nuclear weapon and they had to take the preemptive strike before Iran attack them first. The funny thing is, they were having a negotiation with Iran pertaining to the nuclear programme thingy and all of sudden Iran was attacked while the negotiation was on going. The supreme leader of Iran was killed during the first week, or probably during the first few days of the attack.
As Iran was being attacked by both US and Israel, they have the right to self-defend just like anyone else if being attacked. Iran retaliate and sent missiles to Israel and also to US, but not directly to US soiled as it was almost impossible for them to do that due to the geographical reason, since US is thousands miles away from Iran! So, Iran had initiated the retaliation by attacking all the US bases in the Gulf countries, which includes Qatar! Yes, Qatar, in which the country that I’m currently residing, particularly when US is having their largest air base in this region!
For the first time after 8 months, in particular since June 2025, just when the kids finished their music class at House of Music in Al Sadd, roughly around 12:20 PM on Saturday the 28th February 2026, my phone rang with an unusual sounds which was not the typical sound when someone called but instead, a sound of alert received. It was an alert for the incoming missiles from Iran! I immediately turned on to the Al Jazeera news on the radio in my car while driving back home with my Nissan Patrol, trying to figure out what was happening and only to find out that the US-Israel had started a war with Iran.
That was the beginning of it as we have been receiving the alert on daily basis and the loud sounds of the missiles interceptor deployed can be heard. At some point, we could feel the vibration in our house where the windows and doors were shaking. Not sure if that was due to the impact of missiles hitting the ground of the impact of the interceptor being deployed, or the impact when the missiles was intercepted on the sky. The Qatar government had been proactive in managing the situation in which all schools, as well as works had to be done remotely effective 1st March 2026. Thanks to Covid-19 situation that the kid’s school and our workplace can immediately adopt to the online learning or working with immediate effect. Just that this time around it was more due to physical danger happening outside instead of the so called virus that could not be seen.
It suddenly becoming like a new norm for us in receiving the alert and have to make sure that you stayed indoor and not to go outside so that you will not be exposing to the risk of falling debris. Yes, the debris from the intercepted missiles are dangerous as we do not know where the sharpen object or parts of the missiles will be dropping. So always find shelter whenever the alert is out from the phone.
So that was how we spent the rest of our Ramadhan in which we stayed at home most of the since both school and works are all done remotely. The war had impacted the country a lot in terms of economically since Qatar Airways was not able to operate normally due to constraint and risk of being hit by the missiles. On top of that, Iran had also declared the closure of Strait of Homuz which impacted the movement of shipment from the Gulf region to the other side of the world, particularly on the energy sector since most of other countries are relying on oils import from this region. Imagine that Qatar, being the largest LNG exporter to the world had also shut down their LNG production due to safety concerned and also for not be able to transport it out. That really impacted the country when the LNG is one of the main business that contribute largely to the economy.
As of right now, 29th March 2026, the war is still on going and on daily basis we received news that Qatar had successfully intercepted an incoming drones or missiles attack from Iran. We also had a good 7 days streak without any alert or attack since the 1st day of Syawal or Eid, which made it feels unusual for not getting any alert after receiving it almost on daily basis. Just that as of today, the government has announced some relaxation in allowing for gathering to be made both indoor and outdoor, including all the sports activities. Hope that Qatar had some deal made with Iran on the required peace within the country hence why they are so confident on the relaxation provided.
That was all about it on the current summary of the first quarter of the year 2026. I’ve tried the best to summarise and include as much as possible that I could recall. Well you get the idea and more or less it is something like that.
Let see what is up next along the chapter of this year! Stay tune! Hahaha
Khai
29th March 2026
10:11 PM
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