BN Posted September 2, 2003 Somalis' hearts call them home Expats flocking back to rebuild northern centre Canadians among those bringing new hope for Hargeisa FINBARR O'REILLY SPECIAL TO THE STAR Hargeisa, Northern Somalia—During Somalia's vicious civil war, MiG jets took off from Hargeisa's local airport and bombed the city, flattening virtually every building and leaving the streets looking like row upon row of smashed teeth. The windblown desert city, once the capital of British Somaliland, still doesn't look like much, with its parched river of sand flowing through the middle of town and millions of coloured plastic bags clinging to trees, fences and telephone poles like some artificial national flower. But expatriates from around the globe are flocking back to Hargeisa to help rebuild the area they fled as refugees or emigrants when their homeland imploded. "The returning traffic is so huge now. They start by coming for holidays, but then they decide to come back for good and they bring experience, money and ideas," says Abdillahi Duale, information minister for the self-declared northern Republic of Somaliland. Canadian returnees especially are infusing this remote place with a renewed sense of activity and hope. With some 200,000 Somalis living in the Toronto area, Canada has the second-largest Somali population after Britain. But due to the distances involved, Canadian expats have returned home less often than their European counterparts. "We have been away longer, but now we are coming back and falling in love with the place," says Ibrahim Yusuf Jama, 32, who lived in Scarborough with his family for 13 years and now plans to open a photocopy shop here. "Those who are coming back are very business-minded." Among them is Abdi Karim Mohamed Eid, a Canadian and former Toronto resident whose father was killed in the war. Abdi Karim, as he is known, is head of Telesom, one of the main telecommunications companies providing fixed-line and mobile phone services and satellite Internet connections in a country lacking basic infrastructure and a functioning central government. Even Abdi Karim — a wealthy, respected member of the community — doesn't have regular running water or electricity at home. "We went through a very difficult period," he says. "A lot of Somalis went outside the country and never came back, but as a Somali, there is an urge in all of us to come home to do something for our society." Mohamoud Hassan, 33, returned from Vancouver seven months ago to attend his father's funeral. He decided to stay on to run the family farm, which has 720 orange trees producing fruit for the local market — and eventually, he hopes, for export. "You can't expect everything you have at home in Canada — we don't have a fridge or microwave and we have to buy all our food fresh every day, but it's kind of nice that way," says Hassan, who also runs the Vancouver-based http://www.somalilandnet.com information Web site. With Somalia's economy depending mostly on money sent from family members living abroad, as well as import-export businesses, telecommunications companies and Internet are key to the country's recovery and development. The city is wreathed in coils of chaotic telephone cables snaking along roadsides and tangling overhead spaces. For 24-year-old Abdul Aziz, who earned his degree in computer studies at Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, returning to northern Somalia was hardly a matter of choice. His 100-year-old grandfather is recognized as the oldest man in Somaliland and, as a senior member on the council of elders, was instrumental in bringing peace to the north by convincing various clans to lay down their guns. "We grew up as a very close family and we have a big share in Telesom," says Aziz, who now works as a network administrator for the company. "I wanted to be part of the business and working in my own country feels good." Aziz says he knows of at least a dozen other Toronto Somalis who have returned to Hargeisa this year. "It was never safe here until recently. Before, it was just too wild." Somalia has been a dangerous, burned-out smoking hole of a country since it was plunged into anarchy and war in 1988. The violent overthrow of former military ruler Siad Barre in 1991 split the nation into fiefdoms controlled by rival warlords. The northern territories are only now beginning to benefit from several years of peace, though the south remains mired in clan warfare. Hargeisa's returnees are arriving by the hundreds, not only to invest in local businesses and act as community leaders but also to help forge a nation. Somaliland, a former British protectorate, unilaterally declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991. Though yet to be recognized internationally, Somaliland's 4 million people elected a de facto government this year and the population is intent on creating the world's newest country. They have a long way to go. No official postal or banking services exist in Somaliland and Hargeisa's airport road is only now being resurfaced for the first time since being built by the British in 1958. The old State House grounds were destroyed and are now home to displaced people living in traditional, igloo-shaped nomadic huts moulded from branches and random scraps of material. At the settlement, which has housed more than 1,000 families for more than a decade, children make black ink from charcoal, which is used to scribble verses from the Qur'an onto pieces of bark. On Hargeisa's unpaved streets, a steady desert wind forever tugs at the colourful, flowing robes of bejewelled women, most of them wearing headscarves or full veils. Suspended somewhere between Africa and the Middle East, Somalia inhabits a unique cultural space, with traditions from the two worlds merging in a land that boasts more camels than anywhere else. In fact, there are more camels than Somalis in Somalia. The grandest act of faith yet made by a returning Somali is Hargeisa's $3.5-million Ambassador Hotel, which stands sentinel on the spiny, barren ridges overlooking a low-slung skyline that reflects a hard sun glinting off metal roofs. The 48-room hotel, built by a returnee from Sheffield, England, opened a year ago. General manager Mohamed Ahmed Warsame took extended leave from his job at the Toronto Sheraton when the SARS outbreak crippled business there. "We needed a place like this here to attract businessmen and investors," says the 32-year-old Warsame, who has been training hotel staff and raising service standards. Layan Egal, a third-year kinesiology student at York University, is staying at the hotel during a month-long visit with her father and three sisters — her first trip home since she left Hargeisa at age 6. "It was time to come home. I've met so many family members for the first time here, most of them from the States," she says, wrapping a black shawl over her loose-fitting outfit. "I never dress like this at home. When I get on that plane to Toronto, I'll throw back on my jeans and sneakers, which I wouldn't dare wear here." Still, she concedes, "I could imagine myself living here." Returning Somalis say they are willing to forgo Western comforts because they can enjoy a fuller life in their native land than they can in Canada or elsewhere. "Overseas, so many Somalis are on welfare, but here they are being industrious," says Fosia Ali, a London travel consultant making a six-week visit to Hargeisa after 16 years away. "I thought I would be bored, but I feel like I'm in my own country." For all its progress, Hargeisa is still a city slowed by the afternoon heat and the popular tradition of spending hours chewing mildly narcotic leaves of the khat plant. And Somalia as a whole remains a failed state, scorned by the West and rivalled perhaps only by Afghanistan and Congo in terms of lawlessness. The interminable inter-clan warfare presents such a hopeless problem that the world has turned its back and left the place to fester in the sand-blown heat. But Telesom's Aziz is typical of those tying their futures to that of their homeland. "I'll stay and others will keep coming to develop the place," he says. "We need them because this country has nobody else." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finbarr O'Reilly is a Canadian journalist who writes extensively from Africa. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1061676608559&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BN Posted September 2, 2003 Even Abdi Karim — a wealthy, respected member of the community — doesn't have regular running water or electricity at home. Is this guy serious?!?! You can get water and electricity for less than $700. Especially for a 'wealth' guy. You can't expect everything you have at home in Canada — we don't have a fridge or microwave I don't know about microwaves but Somalia has had fridges for decades. And I've heard that you can also get washers/dryers(?) in Hargeisa. No official postal or banking services exist in Somaliland Doesn't SomPost and DHL service Hargeisa? What about Dahabshiil for banking? The grandest act of faith yet made by a returning Somali is Hargeisa's $3.5-million Ambassador Hotel DAMN!! :eek: I didn't know it cost that much.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ManOfWisdom Posted September 2, 2003 Well what a long articel my friend! Not everyone has the patience to read it. Anyway its informative and many of us need to be informed. Good luck... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Libaax-Sankataabte Posted September 2, 2003 Good article Bari_Nomad. I enjoyed reading it. Like always, it is not entirely the reporter's fault for misinfromation. It is the so called Somalis who feed the media with opinions rather than facts. Hargeisa does have postal service, banking system, electricity and running water. It is also a good thing to see Somalis willing to go back to rebuild their country. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
General Duke Posted September 2, 2003 Totaly agree with Libax, its the Somali's flirting around with fiction. Some sources point out that the hotel was financed by a 250,000 pound funds from a Somali community in shefield, however you can never trust these stories. Also the west likes to give a bleak a picture as possible when it comes to the third world especialy Africa, how many times have we seen a reporter knee deep in dirt reporting from Nirobi or Jo-Berg when infact these cities have very nice areas why this happens? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BN Posted September 3, 2003 Originally posted by Libaax-Sankataabte: It is the so called Somalis who feed the media with opinions rather than facts. Yeah, your right. It was actually an interviewee who made some of those statements. But the media should do *investigative journalism*. How hard is it to go talk to the mayor or government official? It is also a good thing to see Somalis willing to go back to rebuild their country. Agreed. I know several people, personally, who have gone back(willingly ) to Hargeisa and other places to rebuild and open businesses. I think the more peace returns to other somali regions this pattern will be repeated on a large scale. SNW, I think this will sum up how the western media portrays Africa. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
