^^horta why u here, don't u have a diaper to change? Femme i think everything have been suggested, but jst keep in mind, a useful gift is the best gift. Sharaxaad never fail, u know, a matching curtains and bedwear maybe? Or those nice candle holders that are a table centre piece, they come in all shape and sizes and look great in a home. Maybe you can combine a non-personal present with a personal one, something for the home that both bride and groom will enjoy along with something for the bride alone. The make-up suggestion is great, but make sure its vouchers so she can pick out what she wants.

Great idea sis, u becomin creative As the song goes Heybad waxaad ku leedahay Dhulkaaga Hooyo If only we could realise this

The problem with mr/mrs right is that when you find him/her you might not be the right person for them.

Rahima waa dhaarsan tahayee, already planning your next trip Sis, this was a wonderful topic, and very informative. The pictures of the scenery reminded me of quite similar settings I had seen so long ago. I am so jealous of you, for having that experience. Only last night i was talking about how i missed eating qasab, i used to love that. Now i would probably split my lip open if i had it.

quruxleey, shaxshaxleey nice topic. What I love about our cultures is when ever a group of somalis come together, there are no uncomfortable silences, no embarrasments. In a Somali event everyone is so full of good will, and they are so friendly and anyone will be made welcome. Also, I love the various traditional dances, like the dhaanto and the baraanbur. I just enjoy the way islaamaha can do it somuch better than the younger ones It is a mystery that a heavy woman in her 50's and 60's can make the jumps look so easy and to the rhythm, while a girl in her 20's looks ridiculous, even if she does the steps without tripping over her own feet and falling

Besbaaso, intresting topic. You know when i see a somali guy slighlty "bad boy-ish", i immidiately think that he is a push over that acts how he thinks "cool" ppl act, a show-off with not much to say and someone with little to no prospects in life, as he is most likely to do whatever his friends approve of, as opposed to whatever is in his best intrest. In short, someone i wouldn't waste a minute on...

lol@modesty that is one original experience you got yourself there! lol, shoulda dumped ur coffee on his lap b4 he got a chance to leave, woulda made him an instant uncle

Afro, The whole idea of going back to Somalia and Africa in general is as silly all you lots here. Have you seen the statistics that are coming out of Africa day in day out? For starters, the poverty rate is the highest. Diseases like malaria, kwashiorkor, Marasmus, Whooping cough, TB, AIDS, Hepatitis A and B. Elephantiasis, Glaucoma and all this silly diseases are common. There are no basic amenities like air conditioning. There is no tapped water, let alone showers, as a result people generally stink. The justice system is almost non existent. You could end up in jail for no reason. In general, why would anyone go to a place with such alarming statistics? Everyone is moving and running away from that hell on earth. You should count yourself lucky for you have made it out! :eek: U know, the wealthy, air-conditioned, disease-less utopia u r discribing dad aa dhistayee adigana meel dhiso. Just because a place is economically developed doesn't mean it was always that way, the people that live in that place worked hard to achieve the status they are currently enjoying. Qaxootis like you and I just came along on time to reap the benefits, for however long. At the end of the day it is what you learn in life. I have learned that however comfortable life is in the west, it doesn't offer security. For me ideally i would like to work hard to make sure that my country achieves that same status as the west, instead of thinking that because Somalia is in a mess, i will continue on with my merry life. If all somalis abroad have that same attitude, nothing good will ever come from our experiences in the west. And oh yeah, stinky is as stinky does. Shows human nature, instead of being thankful for Allah's grace that we are out of the hardship, we look down at those still in the midst of that hardship.

Hiya moth, just goes to show what a little variaty does for a forum! Do you know, such opinions are so common that one needs to look from the outside in rather than the inside out for some objectivity. Regrettfully some of us have witnessed racism from certain bad apples, and it would seem, have decided that the whole apple tree itself must be corrupt to produce such apples.. In our society, as in many, negative experiences are shared and spread wide and become an established fact, so that one gets used to such tale and doesn't lift an eyebrow when reading it

lol@moth, rayaane seems to have hit a raw nerve, your reply was quite passionate... At the risk of sounding racist, I happen to agree with her on her main argument, though I would have formulated it otherwise. Marriage is hard enough without having no cultural common ground. We learn from our parents how marriages function by observing their methods in all aspects and emulate them when time comes for our own marriages, the way we define a man's role and a woman's role is based on our impression of those around us. When two people have different cultural upbringing they just face more difficulties in understanding one another, with someone from your own country you are more likely to know their expectations, it goes the other waty round too. There is no language barriere and the two families will have much more in common. And of course when children come, one parent might have a different idea of child rearing to the other. Also, imagine your child never fitting with neither your family nor his, whenever they play with their cousins they will be different, that is regardless of having the support of both families... Marriages are difficult enough without having more hurdles thrown at you, so to my opinion it is easier to stick to a MUSLIM from your own country rather than a MUSLUM from elsewhere. There is something comforting in the fact that your life mate can communicate with your family in their own language, and of course, I would want to impress my future inlaws with my somali Having said all of that, Allah's will prevails and if i'm meant to marry a muslim from Russia, so be it, i will submit to his will. InshaAllah though, that won't be the case. ps:I agree with afro, sister you were very aggressive to rayaane. You would be surprised how many nomads believe that its good to stick to ones kind. It shouldn't be classified as racism, all cultures share that sentiment. It just so happens that you are in a place dominated by somalis.

lol@third generation. To my knowledge we are all first generation immigrants in the countries we live in, as we are the ones that weren't born here. The third generation will be the children of our children, who themselves will be second generation. That is, if we stay here long enough to have children and set our roots here. Of course I could be wrong in that some of us sol'ers have not only been born in the countries they are, but have parents that were born there too...

^^I didn't read further than the "pretty lady" part The saying "qofkii dad-xume ku dhoho dad-laawe aa la dhahaa" comes to mind with this topic. Somalia is a wartorn, qabiil torn country, granted. Many of us can't return to our place of birth, so true. Even more so, many of us were brought up in a country other than Somalia. All of the above apply to me and so many more, but that is where the comparison ends. No matter how long you live abroad, whether it is Europe or North America, you never stop being Somali. You have no claim on that host country, when push comes to shove. You aren't like the African Americans who have been enslaved, you went there of your free will. The people of the country you reside in, be it Australia or even Holland, has given you entrance into the said country as an asylum seeker. It was a right granted to you, according to certain laws by those countries. Over time you have worked and studied in that country, integrating fully or partially, depending on the individual. Over time you think, “Well wait a minute, I was persecuted in the country I was borne in, and yet this other country, which was said to be bad, has taken me in and allowed me to create a comfortable life for myself.†Your sense of belonging shifts from a country you only have bad memories of to a country you reside in. All of this is all well and good, but hold on….Does this mean you are now part of that country? Bro you may display the star and spangles proudly but you are as American as I am white, and trust me, moi and white equal opposites. Even though you may have the passport of the country you are in, you live there at the discretion of the government of the country you reside in, which in turn listens to those who have more links to the said country. You, my brother, have no links to the Boston tea party, nor did any of your ancestors write the pledge of allegiance. Neither can you claim that the American society owes you anything, as your ancestors weren’t enslaved by the ancestors of the whites in America. Ok, so the same goes for other immigrants like Italians and Germans who have settled there. And furthermore, my opinions are null and void by the fact that the only true Americans are the Native Americans, as the rest migrated there over some centuries, but there is a twist to it.. The only difference between them and you is that they have been there for longer and that integration was easier for them as they are white. The point I am trying to make is that you have no links to America religion and history wise. You will be Somali because of your name, because of how you look and because of who your parents are. Regardless of how much you despise the current situation in Somalia that is a little fact that you can’t escape. Also, remember, they LET you live in America, they can easily change their minds and DEMAND that you leave their country, as soon as something resembling peace occurs in Somalia. So don’t just cut the umbilical cord to the home land, as you might become “ninkii dhulkana ka tagay cirkana gaari waaye"... *sorry if i slaughtered the somali language in this reply.

MMA, u mean mean meaaaan man, was that article necesary? I'm turning a disturbing shade of green after reading this topic.

lexy lexy lexy, you little temptresse you That letter was a soppy cliche. If a guy wrote that to me i would have some1 break his fingers, just to safe another sister from ever being subjected to that bs Btw, bless your 18year old heart, u too young too have such ardent admirers!

Die-hard somalis such as urself? *salutes dreamer's flag, which curiously isn't canadian* Seriously tho, being somali goes beyond geographical location and tribes and so on, it is the identity of your parents. of your great-great garnd-parents, of the legacy they left behind, even if you never had the oppertunity to become familiar with that legacy. I'm not talking of houses and camels and material inheritances, which benefits non of those who reside abroad. But the familial legacy, our history, the good and the not so good. The way you might eventually bring up your children might bear a strong reflection to the way your grandmother was brought up, which was how your mother was brought up and consequently, how you yourself was raised. And that is something that even foreign soil can't mess with. So having some gratitude for the country you reside in is not bad, it is very natural, but you can never belong to that country. *sorry for kidnapping the topic n goin on my rants, i blame it on dreamer for awakening the dreamer in me

^^one doesn't ask what one's country has done for one. but what one can done for one's said country Btw, love the whole viva somalia, tho it is a rather curious stance to take with ur other opinions on the subject... :confused:

All of you need to be slapped silly for the "we" and "they" mentality coupled with the major id crisis. Serioudly, what is wrong with you lot, with all your patriotism and defence. I'm sure the government of "your" respective countries aren't around 2 read your praises, so relax ppl. The way this topic is heading, some1 will b bursting out in national anthems soon. And i bet it won't have any mention of the country we hail from.

I love cuttin my hair and get aggressively violent when it grows too long, so i don't see why anyone in their right mind would want to grow it. Having said that, have you tried the "hair food" conditioners? there are many variaties and some even claim 2 help with hair growth. Also, there are treatments at any hairdressers, where they do their thing to revitalize ur hair, also keeping to a shampoo regime helps i heard. Now, does anyone know how to stop hairgrowth

^now you've said all that, what did you gain from it? Pink, sis I think that sheh and baashi were accosting one another and u accidentally got in their midst, I could b wrong,tho I doubt that, considering what's being said.

Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. Pink, you have quite an eye catching signature. As for your topic, the reason so many of the sisters take offence at you laying the blame squarely on the girl's shoulders is simply because the girl didn't go out alone and get pregnant. It's not as if she willed herself to conceive and voila she was carrying a child, the guy played a role in it. As you have acknowledged, some girls are pressured into a sexual relationship to keep a guy and some are so naive that they let themselves get involved with wild and highly romantic notions of belonging together and the whole romeo & julliet reinactment of true love prevailing over the parental tyranny. If the guy prssures the girl with the "give in or loose me" ultimatum he should carry most of the blame. And even if they both were carried away with puppy-love, or lust, they should equally share the blame.

If this topic was abt how to better ourselfs and set and example for those of us who have become lost on the way, I would have considered it a serious topic worth a thought and elaborate response, but as it stands... Boqorka, not only did ur writing style damage my eye sight with the caps and the continuing sentences, your finger pointing was uninspired and unoriginal as every man who wants to get serious and tough on the curroption of our society tackles it with a "we have to set the sisters' straight" topic.

^I hope you didn't hurt urself in ur haste This topic reminds me of that film, the hand that rocks the cradle, there is something eerie abt it...

Alla you ppl r so cruel, wanting to enslave these poor new members before they even had time 2 figure out how the pm's work! :eek: Since I like conforming to the popular consensus, I hereby reserve 2 of the murqaani ones for light household chores Good-credit, ur nick says it all, lol, u have found the weakness of many of our users, but then again, what can u expect from a place covered with pic's of camels in poses Just use ur knowledge wisely and never abuse it eh

lol, i now understand why it took the admin months to approve your membership, though a question-mark hangs over his reluctant, eventual decision

^poor you! should have bribed the admin with imported caano geel