quote from above link But I can't blame Fifa because this is a Somali problem. Many Somalis have been sending letters to Fifa each claiming to be the new chairman of Somali Football Federation. even in football

The maid did it? :rolleyes: That this guy runs a gay group distracts from the real issue of HIV amongst Somalis. BTW, someone else must be doing something for HIV Somalis....

Well welcome though I don't think u need it. Back from a ban as a moderator. Good stuff.

Somali men are so blinkered. Hilib and bariis! UD, Thai food rocks. It's halal for the Thai Muslims that don't do alsatian a la suugo. Go seek some out. I crave Thai food. I cooked a meal once that had my father declaring, 'That was the best curry I've ever eaten!'. It was Thai and he's very Somali and all hilib, hilib, hilib. There is hope for you yet. Ngonge, did u say side kick?

LOL Northerner, she should say she'd been to a Somali restaurant the night b4 where she picked up something nasty bug whose spelling has 25 consonants. They'll never bring up Somali food again. LOL. Sad indeed. No decent foodie place in all of Wembley?? It's little Somalia for God's sake. A good business idea for anyone that way inclined methinks.

Try and turn it into an evening do if they're adamant on trying Somali food. If not go Thai. I don't think there's anywhere in Wembley that's Somali and salmonella free. Wait, do they even serve chicken or is it hilib all the way? Why are we so dirty in our eating-out places?

Forget lasers.. if the tattoo is small or deep, the entire area with the pigment can be cut out and the gap left behind sewn back together... if the tattoo is too large, skin from another part of the body can be grafted onto the pigmented area.. Lasers are for wusses. Happy removal.

Inaa lillaahi wa ina ilayhi raajicuun. oh our lil sis, I have prayed for paradise for your father and patience and strength for you and your family.

Thanks Nur. Recently for many nights I could not sleep easily and when I did my sleep would be disturbed by dreams, neither good nor bad. My problem, well I didn't actually have one! I had decided to do something positive with regards to certain people I knew including myself. All night the enormity of the tasks would keep my eyes wide open- how would I pull it off? Who would help me? Where to start first? Help!!Help!! My father wanted to know if I was sick- I need my beauty sleep and it showed! One night frustrated, I thumped my pillow and said out loud, Leave it to Allah. I fell asleep immediately. When I awoke I was singing Zain Bikha's 'Allah is enough for me'. I hadn't even heard it for some time and yet my subconcious had produced it as a result of that last thought I'd had. It was the first good night's sleep I'd had in a week. Later that night I received an email from a friend and some of those 'how-will-I?s' have some answers. Each time I let go- the world is not mine to control- Allah provides me with a solution. I'm a fool. Allah is enough for me. Zain Bikha- Allah is enough for me P.S: I've been nearly hit on the road too many times to want to remember. Each time it made me reflect. Look where u're going woman.

no words

Nice read . Such extremes of could-bes! God rules regardless.

Bringing that Friday feeling back..last night I dreamed I was shopping in an exotic market; can't remember if I bought anything. We got to one end of the market and my friend wandered into an area which looked dirty. I was about to tell her to get back out of there when I saw her reach out and take some food that was being offered to her by a hand. She took the food and put it into her mouth. I looked further down and saw stall after stall of poor people. I don't know why they were there but one of these poor people was sharing food with my friend. I turned back into the nicer part of the market and bought apples, then some oranges(for the poor people); the seller was being weird with me.. ..I woke up and realised I hadn't given anything to someone in need for a while. For shame. Going to do something about that, inshallah.....

One dua going right up! Allah ha kuu sahlo. When u're feeling up to it, please contribute to this section, inshallah.

^ don't be giving them ideas. Wherever I lay my hijab, that's my home.

So it's my fault and others like me that these kids don't perform?? These kids need to take responsibilty for themselves. That's what lacking in the youth- a sense of responsibilty. I heard discouraging things too. I switched schools at one point and the management damn near de-railed me from my path. One Maths teacher would refuse to even LOOK at me when I had my hand up with the answer to the questions he asked. Did I let that get me down? No. I was going to succeed despite him. Did I let it get me down when he predicted me an E grade when he had known me 3 weeks and I was an A grade student? No. No way. No racist a*seh*le was getting in the way of my confidence. When he ignored me in class and nobody else had the answer but he continued to look at everybody but me I spoke the answers loudly and clearly into the silence and he still didn't acknowledge me at first. No amount of whimpering or simpering would have gotten me anywhere positive with him. I didn't like him but I didn't have to. I wore him down with my answers. A couple of months later when I scored 97% on an A level Maths mock exam he was waving my paper around like it he had something to do with it. And in a way he did, he pushed to do even better. Neither papa nor mama nor the community is going to get you through it. U have to fight for yourself and fight smart!! I wish to God these kids didn't let their environment and society's expectation of them affect them but it does. I've merely stated my observation. If it makes for painful reading then so be it. I don't expect everybody to want to go to university but damn it get through school! If u want that house in Hargeisa, u better know how to work through those figures they quote you, u better know a little about design or be willing to learn, u better know how to read, comprehend, communicate effectively and analyse. But, to say 'academic achievement isn't the Somali way'...Puhlease! Thats the very reason half of us are in this cold miserable Qurbo world! If it were the Somali way the older people would be more encouraging! And we're not here for the education but we're smart if we take advantage of it. We're here because we made a bl**dy mess of that place called home.

^that's what I'm talking about! This issue is on my mind quite often especially now. I know one kid that is talented and was doing well at school. Now I see him with a lowered confidence in himself and the future. WHAT THE HELL GOES WRONG AND WHEN? This girl who went to Cambridge can only be an inspiration for those with some ambition. U can't identify if u don't aspire to be..something..anything. I remember getting a thrill when the sixth form head called me into his office and said he wanted me to apply to Oxford and Cambridge. My Maths teacher wanted me to do a Maths degree; he practically made me promise. In the end I did neither Maths nor attend Oxford/Cambridge. Other people's plans never make u happy.

Hokey dokey. Now that she's feeling all guilty I doubt she'll throw a prayer their way. Probably blow it to them with a kiss. I've seen people who were so poor it made me want to throw up every morsel of food I had eaten in distraction. It shakes you out of your wordly thoughts.

If they hold it so highly why aren't they performing better? Is one kid's going to Eton going to blind us to the reality that most Somali boys aren't doing well at school? I'm not one to discourage the young but I'm telling it like I see it- this is what I hear from them. If it comes across as miserable it's because I see it as miserable; it's miserable that Somalis waste their intellect; it's miserable that there are so many one-parent families and it's miserable that too many of them are in jail. Ask a kid if he wants to be rich and he'll say yeah bring it on. But he wants it the quick way. Hitting the books takes way too long and doesn't do the image much good either. This isn't unique to Somalis(it's a black boy epidemic) but it's not one Somali boys can afford to be affected by. And let's not only blame the civil war on disrupting their lives. A hell a lot of them have never seen Somalia and yet they fail. A kid that is unmotivated and feels alienated from mainstream society and who has no goals will not gain an iota from Abdi's story. Let's get real.

Well :confused: right back at you.

^easy now. Thanks J11. It reminded me of something.

Interesting. Goats in Maine. Thanks.

What is it that confuses you Sophist? Since when is doing well academically the Somali way? And since when do they react positively to those that separate themselves by doing it differently? Exceptional people and their stories are not good examples for the average kid. A 12 year old Somali boy wouldn't read this and think he could do it too. He'd probably think: that Abdi's a genius. And leave it at that. Exceptional people only motivate those already engaged in attaining their dreams. For the rest this story is just that- a story.

Rudy the Samaritan. Where would you be without you?

..and that stone will be one a Somali would have flung at him for coming out of there walking and talking differently. This kid will do well academically wherever he goes; he has the aptitude and the attitude. And I don't see him being a shining example for le average Farah cause home boy don't wanna be like Abdi. U get me? Somalis don't like those that distinguish themselves from the masses. Give it 5 years kid, u'll understand better then. Be happy.

^u sound like a general. If we're going to consider practicality I'd rather reach Damascus with a camel's mouthful of grass than be the butt of every joke shared by nomads between there and Cairo who'd have seen me come and go come and go...