Tribute To My Childhood Best Friend.

[BOB]

From Dodoma With Love:

 

 

After the civil war broke out I came to Kenya with all my family except my Aabo who refused to leave home and felt he had an unfinished business that he needed to take care of and promised my Hooyo and us to join up with us very soon in Kenya.

 

Like most Somalis who fled from home, We settled in Nairobi after a brief stay in Garissa and I soon started going to school with one older brother and two sisters, one older & one younger and slowly began the next chapter of our lives in a new country and with the help of Hooyo ( Who was back to her homeland now where she was born & bred) and our many cousins, uncles and aunts we soon settled down and began getting used to our new surroundings and started making new friends and one of those new friends I met through school was none other than Shoeib Haji aka Chune aka Shushu.

 

He was born in Dodoma in Tanzania to a Somali-Kenyan Father and an Indian Mother whose Mom was a Bajuni from Somalia and he had an older sister named Bushra who were great friends with my sisters and they never stopped being friends to this day which is wonderful.

 

I still remember vividly how we used to tease him of not being a "Pure Somali" like the rest of us and one cousin of mine used to give him a torrid time and once he asked him if he had more than one DNA since he had the blood of more than one race and Haji (That's name he prefered to be called) ran home and crying and told his Mom that we said he was a counterfeit Somali (Kids can be cruel at times) and his Mom would tell him never to speak or play with us again but after few minutes we would call him over and we will play together and have a great time until hs Mom would call him and send him to buy milk or bread from the nearby Kiosks and I always went with him because I knew his Mom allowed him to keep the change and we would buy candy & other sweets.

 

Me & Haji struck a good friendship and since we were almost the same age (I was three months and few days older than him) we shared so many hobbies together and almost always had the same interest in everything around us. for example we were both crazy about Football even though he was hopeless when it came to playing and the other kids always used to complain about his rough tackling and there was our obsession with pigeons and we started our first ever pigeon farm together (that's exactly what we used to call it) seperate from my cousins Osman BOB, Hussein Tarino and older brother Ebrahim who together had between 90-100 pigeons between them and me and Haji were eager to beat that record but unfortunately we never achieved our dream thanks mainly to the neighbourhood cats.

 

Haji was my first ever real best friend I've ever had ( I lost another childhood mate of mine to the sea after the boat he was travelling with his family captsized just few hundred miles off the port of Mombasa and I remember crying my eyes off and to this day I still remember him and I pray I never lose his brief but wonderful memories) and Haji went through so much Hell because of my naughtiness and he never complained nor threatened to stop being my friend and whenever i was in trouble which was almost always Haji was by my side ready to defend me and today when I look back I realise I must've led him down more than once and I can honestly say that I wasn't as good friend to him as he was to me when it was all clear to anyone from my family that Haji was indeed the greatest friend I've ever had.

 

There was this kid I disliked with passion called Mickey he was few years older than most of us ( I used to call him Mickey Mouse and I still believe to this day that he had a mouse-like mouth with sharp teeth and everything) and we fought in almost everywhere imaginable from inside the Madrassa to the classrooms and the Mosque and we fought not because we hated each other but simply we just could not get along and Haji would beat him up with me everytime we fought and wouldn't you know our arguments almost always started with either childish tease or with football. He'd accuse me of being greedy and not wanting to pass the ball to him and I would counter accuse him of being selfish and always wanting to shoot and score all by himself and before you know it he would start hitting me or vice versa and all hell will break loose.

 

Mickey was a Muslim but not Somali and his real name was Mustafa, his family hailed from Mombasa and one of my uncles gave him the nickname Mickey because I was told he loved the cartoon character Mickey Mouse dearly and my uncle, like me must've thought he had something in common with his hero.

 

Looking back today he must've hated the name Somali because of us which is something I regret because he genuinely loved being our freind and hanging out with us and if it wasn't for me, who knows he might have been Haji's best friend instead of me.

 

 

One day we decided to straighten him up once and for all. every Sunday afternoon we used to go to swimming without ever telling our families, it was a swimming pool situated on the roof of The Meridian Hotel in downtown Nairobi and if my memory serves me well I think the fee was about 5 Kenya Shillings and once you paid your fee you had the privilege to swim from 2-6pm which was never enough as far as me and Haji were concerned and our dear buddy Mickey didn't know how to swim but we didn't know that and I called him over pretending to show him something and then pushed him inside and I'm grateful to Allah s.w for not allowing our childish pranks turn into tragedy and I'm forever thankful to the security guard who rescued him and from that day on Me and Mickey never even argued let alone fight but before receiving the azzwhopping of my liofe from my uncle.

 

The later years Mickey and us slowly drifted apart and the last time I saw him, just before I left Kenya, I apologized to him thoroughly and I also asked him for forgiveness which he thankfully did and put it all down to childhood naughtiness and I'm told that He's happily married today and lives in Mombasa.

 

 

as for My buddy Haji, well his Mom passed away few years after we both left Kenya and he was devastated just like I was when mine passed on and I comforted him like he did when my Hooyo died but I did it from distance as we were thousands of miles apart and as for his sister, well, wouldn't you know she's married to my older brother the same guy who used to treat her younger brother very badly and at times even called her "Chotara" which she hated so much.

 

I reminded her this a while back and she replied that he now calls her all the sweet names I could never think of...Yeah right...Women, strange creatures indeed.

 

I wish i had a girl to offer to her hand in marriage to my best friend but unfortunately all my sisters are taken and the reason why I'm posting this semi-autobiography is because Haji is coming to visit me here all the way from San Jose and we haven't seen each other for little over a decade and as you can tell by now, i couldn't contain my happiness and I'm delighted that Allah s.w has given me the opportunity to tell my friend how lucky I'm to have met him and how honoured I'm to have him as not a family member now but as my best friend.

 

 

Peace, Love & Unity.

[Che -Guevara]

Thanks for the little synopsis Bob. Enjoy!

 

I had friend from back home. From what I understand he is still in Mogadisho.Unfortunately, his father poisioned his innocent mind when the war broke out. And that was the end of that.

[sweet_gal]

Beautiful story......It almost made me cry....Your lucky to have such a wonderful friend..mashallah

[chubacka]

Ahhh marshallah so many good times, I feel like i know them, Micky and Haji...

 

Haji is prob gonna look a lot different to how u remember him though

 

Let us know how da trip goes...

 

Tribute to my childhood best friend part II

[BOB]

Salam Aleikum W.W

 

 

Che, How are you doing my brother...Haven't seen you around here lately but Glad to know you're still kicking & alive...I feel sorry for your friend...May Allah s.w Help him recover his lost innocence Insha Allah.

 

 

Sweet_Gal,

 

Thanks for your warm words my dearest sister and yeah I'm lucky indeed to have not only Haji but so many other great friends and I'm grateful to Allah s.w for that.

 

 

Chubacka,

 

Yeah he does look different and he speaks & writes fluent Somali today and we always kept in touch all through these years and nothing has ever changed between us.

 

 

Salam Aleikum W.W

 

 

Peace, Love & Unity.

[Hawdgirl]

Bob, what a beautiful story,

Have you thought about writting a book

on your story?!

I think you should... as there are

several lessons in which our youngesters

who are growing up here in the diaspora can learn if you know what I mean...

[BOB]

Salam Aleikum W.W My Dearest Sister Hawdgirl, I'm honoured and humbled at the same time and yeah i entertained the thought of writing my Autobiography and I had people like Nuurdiin Faarax and my homeboy Baashi and many many other people offering to help in anyway possible and I've promised myself to do it Insha Allah when the right moment comes in other words when I achieve the certain goals that I aspire to achieve and Alxamdulillaah I'm already half way there...marka don't worry Walaashiis I WILL put it all in a book and you can bet with your last dime on Haji's name appearing on more than one occasion. Thanks for the LOVE. Salam Aleikum W.W Peace, Love, Unity

[Ibtisam]

salam

 

BOb you do have a way with words, it is a beautiful story... Maybe you should write a book!. I hope you guys have a good time, and have many more enjoyable times together inshallah, indeed true friends are hard to find

[Malika]

I loved the title, From Dodoma with Love, couldnt imagine anything lovely came from Dodoma..lol [just kidding]!!

 

Bob your story trigger memories of childhood in Africa.How much time I spent swimming in the rivers,climbing over neighbours walls to gather fruits from their mango groves and guava trees..How we used to be chased by dogs...aah innocent childhood..I must have been 15 when I stopped doing all that..lol

 

You guys must have spent hours catching up on the past,I do,whenever I meet my childhood friends..memories of our wonderful childhood comes flowing back.

[FatB]

for a moment there i thought Oprah had a special on...

[Mtoto Wa Geti Kali]

Damn BOB! You taking me back to them good olde dayz; before it became Nairobbery . you took me on a stroll back to all the idioms & lifestyle I endured. Hunting in City Park, Sun Set, jumping the fence at Pangani Girls, and many more great experiences with great friends. I went back home last year after an absence of 19 years, and I realised the great life I had while growing up. 70% of my friends died either through ukimwi or war in Somalia. The rest are in London, Stockholm, Toronto, Atlanta and Auckland.

 

Godspeed on your meeting bruh! Nuff luv Cuz

[BOB]

Salam Aleikum W.W

 

 

Xanthus...thanks for the compliment dearest sister...I hope this story will inspire many brothers & sisters to share their stoy through in either books or blogs...I truly believe we, Somalis, have a lot to tell as we've been through so much yet so little is known of our pain & heartbreak...maybe its time some one made few quid out of it.

 

 

Munira,

 

The word LOVE became something that i grew to associate with my friend since he's shown me nothing but love from the first day we said Shikamo to each other so the title came naturally to me and I remember the day he finally came to admit what we both knew but not mature enough to say it, he told me that I was his best friend and I told him the same.

 

 

Our naughtiness didn't escalate to an extent where we would steal, if you like, from the neighbours even if our neighbours didn't grow any fruits in ther backyard but what we enjoyed doing more than anything else was to go to an Indian mate of ours' home and play video games all day...I enjoyed playing immensely until his Mom would ask me to share my experience of the civil war when she knew I wasn't fluent enough in both Swahili & English to express myself as well as I would've liked...I didn't enjoy embarrassing myself in front of her cute daughters whom Haji had a major crush on one of them and by the time he finally conjured up the courage to admit that to me it was already too late as their Mom suddenly made them stop sitting with us, playing and joking with us...who knows maybe she sensed Haji's intentions.

 

I never liked their food and I don't mean that in a bad way, only God knows how much I loved having her sweet cakes and the roti she used to bake...its just that I can't stand spices and I don't eat anything with a hint of it and I always used to lie and tell her that I had just eaten and I was full but Haji on the other hand, Boy could he eat and he tells me that he still has the same healthy appetite that he had back then.

 

We talk on the phone quite a lot and our record stands proudly at 8 consecutive hours! Crazy, I know but the only problem is the time difference as I live in Africa while he lives in California and it took us a while to get used to our time difference but one thing that NEVER changed is his short-term memory and me always bragging about having a superior memory to his lousy one. He's going to read this and Boy, I would love to see the impression on his face as there's a certain girl in here that he likes (His version of CRUSH, Oh no, not again).

 

 

He's one STRANGE fellow who's terribly shy around girls yet he's by far the greatest friend in the whole world and one of the most loyal I've ever had and we all know how LOYALTY is the most IMPORTANT in any friendship.

 

 

Da Scarecrow,

 

I can't believe you still remember Sunset,they made...arguably, the best Chicken & Chips in entire Eastleigh and this dude I'm talking about now that we used to play video game with used to live two doors away from Sunset between the butchery and the Tailor and his name was Haroon, pity i can't tell you whether he's still alive or not or where on earth he might be today.

 

We used to go to Pangani, Parklands looking for Pigeons and I remember once when we went inside the Ismailia Mosque thinking we could pretend praying then see if we could find Pigeons there and then set up a trap but we were shocked when they chased us away and telling us this isn't "Our Mosque" if I knew then what I know now we would've never went anywhere near there....

 

 

PS. Muslim girls & Parklands...That's where all the Supuus were...Sunset was the place where the Makangas used to take their dames to simply because it was CHEAP...if you know what I mean.

 

 

Salam Aleikum W.W

 

 

Peace, Love & Unity.

[Baashi]

With Nuradin Farah as a mentor, you won't go wrong on that dept. awoowe.

 

Good to see you posting again buddy. Do you blog?

[Malika]

Bob, it seems we do have alot in common...My daugher teases me for being too indian..lol, I spent most of my childhood with Anita timaa deer,playing badminton, reading mill& boon and eating penda[ indian sweets].Thats after I overgrew the climbing of walls to steat fruits, which was just being naughty as our back yard had pleanty of fruit trees.

We did the evening walks, lol, more like checking out the guys playing cricket/basket ball at the gymkhana club..

 

thanks again for reminding me of what it was like once upon a time..