so marriages are about deflowering those you can't get for free? Interresting!

Frist things First, horta I don't necessarily agree Alpha is getting into a sacred and therefore better deal. Some of you might know I am a sceptic of marriages. TONGUE IN CHEEK! But I always think what people choose for themselves is the best. So, congratulations Alpha. Second, people like AxmedInaJaad who trumpet about their supposed superiority and the implied inferiority of maids (Jaariyad) hide something about their past. Nothing is wrong with a Jarriyad. She would probably need to be educated to life her up skill-wise, but then it is not that one is marrying a whore ( as much as I don't see as that itself as a problem too) or a wizard. It is very disgraceful for anyone to inslult a sister because she works hard to feed herself and her family. My maid always sends money to her mother at the end of the month and I can hear the blessings from the old women when she is on the phone. I have nothing but respect for maids. But I also think they are abused. I know a man who told me he went broke and mushaharkii gabadha shaqaalaha ayaa isku kay gaadhay for 9 months. It was in Cairo. Then, he said he proposed to her and married her. In guur mushahar looga dhigo inay sax tahay ilama aha. To the extent, the UNDP translator (Alpha), kkkkkkkkkkk, is not doing the same, he should be respected and congratulated. And also what does it really mean 'I wouldn't marry in Africa?' I thought you marrry who you like, whether you meet him in Peru or in where AxmedInaJaad uu ka dhoofay two rains ago. I know the Desiderta says "listen to everybody. Everybody, including the fools, have somethng to offer." But i am not sure if I got anything particularly useful from AxmedInaJaad. Sheekooyinkii 'jaariyad jacayl hayo jikooyinkay ka heesta' ee barigii biyo-duuliska aan aheyn ayaad meesha ku haysaa.

Comrade Zack, You do realise I am very, very disappointed with you. Ninkan maxaad ugu camirtaa? Why do you feel it is important to respond to a woyane Vuvuzela? Please arintaa dib u eeg oo ninkani kaligii ha isla sheekeeystee faraha ka qaada. Must we issue an official communique for you, Kamavi and the rest of sons of the soil for us to be spared this insult? Whether a chinese is ambushed or not, whether Admiral is lying or Melez is sodomized is neither here nor there. We are at war with locust-eating Tigres and we simply should not care about what they say. Don't chase their propaganda. Kor u baxa! Hallo, Hallo? Ma i maqlaysaan? Wareega. Afar iyo afartanka u wareega!

Part VI Rather than stare at the passage of times and, with it, your own depreciation through the temporal tilting of the tits of your wife, it is better to get renewed, to beguile the tests of ageing. And Khayrto thought me my first lesson on that. At a time I was re-living my infanthood, clasping giant udder whose nipples fear looking at me as if shy, or more accurately need support to wake up, Khayrto dazzled me with pear-sized and pointing twins. And I knew I don’t need to be cloned for rebirth. Adultery offers this mystic renovation; Spares one the macabre feeling of irrelevance. The human body is an edifice; without recoating, without restoration, it crumbles. With every new sighting, of a lumpy meat, of lean buttocks, you ditch the spent skin and wear a new one, like a giant Amazonian Anaconda. And you bet, a weighty Ugandan spinster invariably offers something different to what a skinny nomadic widower from Togdheer would offer. Adultery is politics. It is not an occupation every mortal could venture into. Indeed, it requires the skills of politicians and diplomats combined. Barack Obama said he is bringing change to the world; waived fists with the unmistakable ‘yes we can’. We now know that phrase's unspoken lines: ‘Yes we can con!” Yet, did you see bloodshed because Obama didn’t keep his word? No! The industry plays by its own rules, by its idiosyncratic decorum. Whatever gets you to the perch is permitted, is proper. So, never make the mistake of worrying about what you say to the woman you meet and mate. Never get angry when dressed down by a girl half your age. Feigned fury is the tip of this trade. Followed by hasty retraction and a smile. Remember! You care! you can’t offend her, or that is what she should believe. Be patient, for the business you trade in is not for those with ego. A toothless grandma would slap you. Take it like a man. Say sorry, ...always followed by... but. On the Eid Day, I saw the misery of Saleeye’s two wives. Their limbs covered with the sensual graffiti of the deprived - the henna. They are in denial, and the henna is the juju paint and snail that glows their souls, with imagined self-worth. Both knew he is for all and for no one. Contrast that with the radiant face of my wife. There she was in the supermarket, jumping up and down by my side, with the pride of a newly-wed princess. There, she flaunted, effusively, her sole possession- I. If envy could kill, they would have killed us. I know they whisper about us, about me, about my wife. “She thinks she has a husband, poor woman! She is lucky he didn’t bring bad things to her. He is like the municipality garbage collector car.” But since when did the envious sleep peacefully? They burn in their beds when they recreate the happy face of my wife. She doesn’t know what they know, and not knowing bad things is therapy. It is a psycho-social therapy. And what is more dirty than alternating between two houses in the full glare of the world? Without disguise! Just because a mullah uttered Arabic words expiating debauchery with a ritual? Your children know you go there and come here, your wives know. You are a half-father, a half-husband! Ever partial! Never complete! Is that life? Someone surmounted that engulfing bleakness to see the hope beyond: the considerate adulterer.

Part V The first woman I slept with was Fadumo Abdi. A decent, god-fearing mother of seven children: 3 boys and 4 girls. A cutthroat society afflicted with misanthropy will judge her, paint her with names, but the fact is she would never have slept with me if stroke didn’t hit her ailing husband a year before I met her. She was clear about that. I could see in her eyes that she was not lying, she was not doing things out of unfaithfulness. I didn’t do it for my body too. I did it for my conscience. I saw the thirst in her eyes. Surrounded by a cruel culture that doesn’t make provisions for force majeures in nuptial captivities, and aged 43, she would have perished cursing God, cursing her man. She never smiled, showed signs of gratification, or whispered gratitude after each outlawed consummation. She didn’t show remorse either. She accepted this was her ineluctable fate. That was her unique gift. She loved her husband, empathized with his ailment and didn’t want to blame him for her deprivation. A world that urges tolerance for the unnaturals, condemns adultery, labels it wicked, without nuance, without understanding. The semantics is condemnatory, for it implies treachery, unfaithfulness and disloyalty. That is not appropriate. Men and women like me and Fadumo, has nothing but immense respect and love for their spouses. It is because we love our spouses that we spare them the hurt of telling them we went elsewhere, unlike those who inflict agony on theirs, under the disguise of polygamy. For a rolling procession of Nikahs give false decency to decadence, with its transparency. Adultery is polygamy with human face – caring and sensitive. “I hide, therefore I love” - Descartes.

Part IV I still recall the first day I cheated on my wife. I recall the guilt, the excuse, the blame game. With each act of infidelity since, my love for my wife grew. Each shameful romp of mine sent her to a higher pedestal and she grew in stature, in dignity, against the diminished frame of my tumbling character, my dying personality. I respected her for her loyalty, for her integrity. Were it not for the fact that I also learned another vital lesson in my bed-jumping expeditions that followed, the guilt alone would have sufficed to stop me from committing more sins, would have checked me from marinating myself in interminable disgrace. In those journeys of dark debauchery, I learned that not all women offer the same thing. Indeed, sleeping with different women is like visiting different tourist destinations. Each place offers its own unique pleasure, has its own magic. So, I refuted the false contentment among couples, the wrong feeling that one has what is needed in life if he has a wife or if she has a husband. I realized such delusion curtails one’s quest for real pleasure, real thrill. It sets limit to human body’s unremitting longing for newer things, newer body in this case. It halts the fascinating anxiety of discovering what you haven’t known before, the excitement of the conquest. The guilt of infidelity, of knowing I do harm to someone else, is lessened by the realization that I am fair to all parts of my body. If my face needs a cream, it gets it, if my stomach asks for food, it gets it. And the stomach doesn’t always ask for the food at home. Likewise, my loins don’t always ask for what is theirs by law, by custom, by religious formality. They do urge for change, they do demand the forbidden. And I always believe it is an act of nobility to do justice to your body, to care for it, and to treat it like your child. To give it whatever it needs that you could give it. But not all those reasons are why I keep cheating. It is because it renews my love for my wife. It is because it keeps my families intact. Well, I mean, before other complications led them to fail. Which is why I won’t marry Khayrto! I can’t do what I did to my past wives to her. I can’t love her out of sympathy; I don’t want to embrace her for redemption. I want to have a living love, which is why I said this relationship will work and will not end in bitterness like the past ones. Unfortunately, Khayrto for all what her wisdom is worth, has the blood of an Eve. She is a woman, and with it can’t escape the foibles of women. She is getting impatient. Which is why I sought Mullah Abduhalim’s wisdom and he didn’t disappoint. If I knew what he told me, I wouldn’t have needed a sin to sleep with women I need. All I needed to do was call a Sheikh and do a Nikah. And move to the next beauty a week later without causing a frown in the face of the Almighty. If the Mullah is right, in fact, I may have caused a smile in the mouth of the creator, for marriages are sacred and the heavens get happy when we ritualize our carnal indulgencies. And the beauty of this process is that you can committ to marriage this week, fully planning for a divorce a week later. There is no enemy biggger than ignorance to mankind . How I missed this knowledge all these years my hair were greying baffles me!

Hayb hayb la sheegtiyo, habar habar ma dhaaftee,,, Disgusting move by Faroole, but may be for the good of Somalia, nonetheless. The same issues from Sheikh Sharif may not have been accepted by the arch-tribalist Faroole.

This somali women left Kenya to the US after waiting for relocation for 15 years in Ifo refugee camps. She was married to her husband for all this time and more. The story goes, habeenkii ay maraykanka ka dageen, ee odaygii iyo islaantii wada seexdeen, ayey islaantii wax aan horey loogu ogeyn la timid oo ay odaygii tilmaan iyo hadal ayna horey u lahyn ku biloowday. Haa, sidaa dheh, yes, no etc. Odaygii oo yaaban baa yidhi "naa ma jin baa ku maray, Batuulo. waxan waligaa kugu ma arakee sidee wax yihiin." Shib dheh eeyaa ayey islaantii tidhi. "20 sano ayaad codka nagu celinaysay oo dadkaa xantaada maqli isu buusayey". This is America! the Free country. Xor baan ahey oo hadaal bad sheegiye hadaan rabo wajigaan kaa diiraan kolkaan hawsha ku jiro. "Dhawaaqaad maqlaysay waa dhawaaqii xoriyada!" :D I wondered how many more ayaa codka lagu celiyaa in Africa!

Zack, muwaadinkan Lezeeu bal uga waran mawqifkeena siyaasadeed.

Xageey ku qoran tahay Ethiopian baan ahey, by the way? Not that i find it offensive, but anyway? kala sar art and politics, Leezu.

Ila soo socodsii. Aniga 2007 baa iigu danbeysay. Haa, literal translation. :D qosol kuu ku dhuftay waa la ogaa. Laakin I also told him that some of their songs when I transalted to Somalis way i dharbaaxeen saying how can you tell us this is a song. Like this one: Bombu fiqrish, bi fanadhaa La'anchi biye gabahu idhaa When your bomb love exploded, I got into trouble kkkkkkkkk. Waa bilaa macni soo ma aha. Somalidaa ka xigmad badan in many ways.

Heesta Xalimo Khalif Magool ee tidhaa "Geeluba ragaadkii, lugta uu u rrixay, ugu roortay qodaxduye" ayaan a friend of mine in Univesity u macneeyey markaasku yidhi, "so, your songs are like the adventures of Huckleberry Finn". :D

Betam, betam qonjo walaahi. Zack, war axmaar meherkeeda ilaahay igu ma qabane, bilaa meher baa loogu xiri waa cadow'e, way banaan tahay! :D Waxaan ku idhi waxay yidhaahdaan ma taqaan markay ku af garan waayaan "Somale gimeel inji yet fiqir yawqaal" (somali geel mooye xageey jacayl ku taqaan!!!). Somalidu serious ma aha ayey wada aaminsan yihiin. Xalimooyinkeena maalinkii oo dhana xinaysan haddana mar walba dhabarkaa i xanuuni odhan way ka hawl yar yihiin laakiin. Tinaant naachin ba zaare astawishe Ba zemen qulqulat yehualit fasishe Ka falagniat garaa sir dharishe Hiwot tin ka minchiwa tataan tamalishe Remembering yesterday as today I rode down the time slope Reached at the bottom of the mountain I wanted And drank life from that same source, once more

Zack, Mid axmaar ah baan u maleyn inay leylatul qadar kayga duulaan ku tahay oo skype iigu soo tuurtay heestan. :D

Taleexi, You are right, Tizita is sung by almost every Ethiopian singer. It is amazing Tilahun, Aster, and all the good ones have done their renditions. The original singer was an old man by the name Ketama whose lyrics was more about love, society inequality etc etc, but good in his own ways. But Tizita was popularized by a women singer called Bezawark Asfaw. She surpassed everybody and most ethiopians actually remember Bezawak and Tizita tiogather. They think these two are inseparable. However, I must confess no one has done better than Micheal. It is not about the music and the beat. But the lyrics are very, very powerful. Hiwoti naa tesfa Minyooti naa iwnataa Siraa naa agaataami Nuroo naa itaa fanta Manfasi naa siga Ya tawaagu letaa Alfaw ya miyaa geetubet Tibeb naw tizita Life and hope wish and reality Work and coincedence Living and destiny Body and soul the day these all quarell each other, it is the what transcends And you wear with honour Memory is an art

War zack, Inkastoon ninmakan amxaarada cadow nahay, hadana waynu ku soo dhex koraye, bal heestan ila dhagyso. I wish to invite you as an Eid gift the timeless "tizita" (memory) song, this time adapted by Micheal Belayneh, my favourite ethiopian singer by a million mile. Teddy Afro and even Tilahun Gessesse will not steal a stage where Miki features. Qine new Tizita, Zema new Tizita Tibeb new Tizita, Hiwot new Tizita, Zooraw ye minooruut Ye nafaqu leta Memory is poetry Memory is lyrics Memory is art Memory is life One you look back and live When you feel nostalgic For once let me be honest. I feel nostalgic about those days!!!!

Xaji, I didn't preach division. I merely stated the facts as I saw them. It is sad, but that is how things happened. While I am a close friend of Yusuf, I actually was trying to remain impartial on this one because I thought Johnny fought for the re-run through courts and therefore I was feeling he somehow deserves it. But it is clear rer-midnimo-diid were trying to project Johnny as a candidate from Somaliland, when he is actually a Kamakunji boy. I believe they costed him some political capital and votes. By the way, is it true three days revenue from Berbera were given to Johnny as campaign contributions??

To be fair, I feel for Johnny (Ahmed Ibrahim). He invested time and money into this and it would have unified the Somali voice had Yusuf not run. but the truth is the two men are not of the same caliber and qualification. Yusuf is more educated, wiser and older. It is the Kukuyu vote that won the day for yusuf. It is sad the somali's characterstically voted long clan lines. Someone told me yusuf was supported by the KKKK (Kikuyu-Kamba-Kalenjin-Kablalah vote while Johnny was supported by the rest of Somalis and rer-midnimo-diid. On Friday night the crescendo of " Filsan iga fog baan, faraxaygoow arkaa" ruled in Easliegh. Dhaanto ruled. But on the same day, the assasination of Abdirisaq Tibba ( a veteran ONLF leader) in Kenya dampened the spritits. Liberation struggle is not won by p.u.s.s.ycats and cowardly assasinations will not stop our quest for freedom, liberty and dignity. Viva ONLF!

WFP is the least of the problem. Iyagaaba raashin meelahaa geeya. What is UNDP doing?

Food stolen and sold in the market is not a big issue. It is long recongnised that even the most food insecure households sell the food aid they receive from humanitarians. As long as this food is not hoarded, it will contribute in reducing the prices of food and inflation has been a major problem compounding the effect of the drought in Somalia. While I agree the scale is not as reported, it is funny when i hear the UN is investigating these food misappropriations. It is sad. Millions of dollars are given to phoney NGOs (international and local) every month with no proper monitoring mechanisms put in place. Hundreds of 'experts', programme managers, ...all kinds of titles have descended on Nairobi to eat their share of the 'humanitarian' funds for Somalia. It is hard to explain what some of these people - each earning more than 100,000 USD, actually do. Somalia is a basket case and will continue to be. And talking about few tonnes of food stolen is a diversion from the core failures of the so-called humanitarian community. For all its fuss and noise, the UN and western donors have not been able to reach as many people as Muslim aid agencies and governments have reached in the last three months. This, despite having more infrastructure and people on the ground than the muslim groups. Meesha ceeb baa ka dhacday.

Xinny, Mahadsanid awoowe. Hindi hadaad raadisay imaadan arag. Nin Somali ah oo caata ah hadaad sheegto, waa suurta gal. The reference to the indian comes from a black man in Zimbabwe oo aan show wixii Bantu'na aan aheyn, white na aan aheyn u yaqaan hindi. Hope that clarifies. Of course, haduu Ngonge oo i arkay isna Mahata Gandhi igu soo qabtay, ninkii madooba maba qiyaas xumayn. Gabadha waan ku bari lahaa ee waxaan ka yaabi inaad sheekooyin buu meelahaa ku qorqoraa tidhaa oo aad wax qaribtid.

^ Carafaat, We did and continue to oppose Ethiopia's interference in Somalia. It is strange no one except che has actually made any reference to the real stakeholders in this proposed business deal. Gaaska iyo saliida Berbera laga dhoofin dadkii lahaa ee tobanaan kun kaga dhimatay difaaciisa inay SOL forum qaarkood fadhiyaaan Jacaylbaro iyo Xaji Candhuuf gartaye, inta kale maxay ku iloobeen? Geel aaadan lahayn, gaawo loo ma cusho! In fact, we are praying this so called deal actually goes ahead. It will be a lottery for we can drag other more powerful parties into this matter and what appears to be a danger may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. As for Silaanyo, I don't think he is lying when he says he signed tripartite deal with the chinese, and Ethiopia. Heeshiiskii Ethiopianku saxeexeen ayuu hootsa meel yar ka sii saxeexay markii danbe. In turn, the Ethiopian released him from the airport.

Passerby, Ante wushataam Tigree, maach ber ber iska machee indha miyaa zaaliqih inaayaaleen. Wulata-bis ma honaachuh ye mitaawaqaw, tinaant astaadqooh saw yaaragahin Isaias zaree enemy number 1 adhrigaachu tilafalifaalaachu. Somalia TPLF's passport iya sadeech izi indhaala daraseech hulu, ahun agaritaan ka faafilaachuh tigan yaalaachuh. Melez yiwdam! Tigre Yiwdam! Agame yiwadam! Locust-eater zer ba mulu yidfaa! Leebooch.

Garnaqsi, Sincere apologies about the Raamsade, son hogwash. I concede it was nasty. I was trying to bully you in a good way, but it is disrespectful nonetheless. That said, I don't think your first comment about why more of what this thread is about should happen is music to the ears of the devout muslims. I know it will offend many. But again, you made your point and I can't fault you for doing that. I, however, object to any lengthy debate over matters of faith. I haven't seen people conceding ground and agreeing even after gruelling debates. I therefore think it is an exercise in futility. I am sure you know this.

^ 1) You are insensitive to the feelings of forum members who are muslims and in the month of Ramadan. By saying things offensive to them, you are intentionally trying to provoke them. This is not vilification as I said before, but you are harrassing them. 2) Ok, I don't have to believe otherwise. You are not Ramsade. You are his son. I had my doubts, you look a little bit amteurish. It is the age, but you have your father's intellect. 3) You are intolerant not because of what you said here. But I can see living with the claims of religions is bothering you. 4) I have said what I thought of your views. I didn't throw mindless accusations.