Drinkers, beware Habiba at the Animal Farm pub

[Somalina]

Really?

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Hijab: The Muslim head scarf.

 

By MUCHIRI KARANJA

Posted Wednesday, May 25 2011 at 23:41

 

Should you venture outdoors in Mandera Town, beware of a woman called Habiba, wearing a hijab.

Habiba will tell you tales of how she killed Americans in neighbouring Somalia and how she is on the run from the al Shabbab, if only to squeeze a beer out of you.

 

There are only two pubs in the town — Border Point One, and Members, otherwise known as Animal Farm because it is next door to the KWS offices.

 

Mandera County is, after all, largely Muslim, and many residents frown upon alcohol.

 

But scores of non-Muslim folk, mostly civil servants and quarry workers, still crave a drink.

 

So every evening they flock to Animal Farm, a church-like building on the outskirts of the town and the area’s biggest bar.

 

The place fills up quite early. By nightfall, there is hardly any sitting space and thirsty patrons jostle for drinks at the wire-mesh counter.

 

With temperatures still hovering in the 30s at night, even the coldest drink feels warm to a newcomer.

 

There are very few girls inside the bars. Those who do go there, like Habiba, make a unique clique.

 

It is strange enough to find a pub in a largely Muslim town; even more strange to find women wearing the hijab to venture inside.

 

Unlike city bars and restaurants that play music to lure patrons, evenings in Mandera are a rather quiet affair.

 

Conversations grow louder as the drinks flow and one word you are likely to hear is al Shabaab, the name of the Muslim extremist group battling it out with the forces of the Somali Transitional Government barely one kilometre from Animal Farm.

 

The drunken guy nearby — especially if he notices that you are a stranger (and strangers at Animal Farm are easy to spot because they always appear to be disconcerted) — uses the name of al Shabaab to prop up his macho image.

 

By nine, the evening begins to wind down for the spectre of al Shabaab works better than the Mututho laws to inhibit the night owls of Mandera.

 

And with truckloads of armed soldiers in town, the locals know when to leave them to their night patrols.

 

But the evening lasts longer in the second Mandera pub: Border Point One, so named because it is less than 500 metres from the Kenya-Somali border.

 

Border Point-1 is the unofficial police bar, strategically located next to their post.

 

There, the boys in blue gather every evening for a drink and such is the demand for a cold beer that by 8pm there are no glasses left.

 

With the constant threat from Al Shabaab, the ever suspicious policemen of Mandera drink with one eye on the beer, the other on the gun.

 

Source: Daily Nation

[Jacaylbaro]

.... Habiba should open a branch in Hargeisa ,,, lool

[Somalina]

Mandera inspires Hargeysa miyey noqon markaa.

 

Habiba ha la iska ilaaliyo.

[Jacaylbaro]

Habiba inspires Hargeisa ayay noqon dee ,,,