The beginning of a fascination

Seyyidah Salme (Emily Ruete)

Anyone entering the library and standing in front of the cabinet wonders ‘who is this and why are these names on the cabinet?’. The two names have intrigued me since I started working in the library in 2012, and the more I got to know the story of the person behind the names and her offspring, the more I admired their history. It even stimulated me to visit Stonetown in Zanzibar, Salme’s birthplace, to see and feel where she originated from and what she left behind for an uncertain future abroad.