Sharing my experience of back home

[Alpha Blondy]

OdaySomali;932660 wrote:

Sxb, I've expressed my disappointment in you before and I will do so again. You supposedly work in and live in Hargeisa. You have the most perfect opportunity to present us with first-hand account of life in the homeland and to post pictures, videos and keep a blog. yet you fail us sxb. Only recently after I complained have you started posting some pictures of the place (Hargeisa), albeit bad-quality and badly taken pictures.

 

So I challenge you. Start a thread and present us with an alternative narrative, with pictures, videos and all.

you don't know what you're talking about. cease these attacks immediately, ma fahantahay? i will NOT be dictated to by a fraudster like you! do you understand? i'm the one working in the field with a grass-roots, bottoms-up, development dictated by us and NOT them mantra. what you're doing makes a mockery of our efforts. if you had any common sense, you'd quickly realise this is NOT a competition but rather, inaar....my halqabsi, ee sida uula soco.

 

win through your actions, never through arguments., inaar.

 

p.s - pics, inaar. fadlan so daa.

[Chimera]

The inaar-inkaar crew has ruined another great topic.

 

J, those were very helpful posts, don't mind the attention-seekers.

[xabad]

Oday, this is thoroughly enjoyable and informative thread. please go ahead and let us know more of your journey. and to these guys who bring up sl everywhere, desist from your tiresome arguments. we are not interested in them.

[OdaySomali]

Carafaat, wait for the worst part, when I arrive at Burco. You will probably be seething but I am determined to give the masses a realistic perspective of the place. The truth shall prevail, I shall not be silenced.

 

The reality is that Somaliland is not the nirvana or utopia that it is presented to by its supporters. The quality of life for the inhabitants is shocking, the leadership is self-serving and the results of their incompetent leadership has disastrous implications for the masses. And the quest for independence, which is coincidentally presented as a panacea for all the social economic and political problems just distracts the people from the real issues of: extreme poverty; incompetent, corrupt and self-serving political leadership; lack of the most basic public services; a long list of social problems.

 

Jarenlang liep ik mee met de massa,

Onwetend en blind, ik was één met de massa,

Shit, ik heb geen zin meer om me bek te houden,

Want we worden met z’n allen voor de gek gehouden,

Ik heb kamervragen!

[Carafaat]

OdaySomali;932668 wrote:

Carafaat, wait for the worst part, when I arrive at Burco. You will probably be seething but I am determined to give the masses a realistic perspective of the place. The truth shall prevail, I shall not be silenced.

Saxiib, Burco wa magaalo aad u fiican. Make sure you ignore their insults(Cambe, Dhaqan celis, gaal ismood, etc), its not personal. just a local habit.

[OdaySomali]

Carafaat;932671 wrote:

Saxiib, Burco wa magaalo aad u fiican. Make sure you ignore their insults(Cambe, Dhaqan celis, gaal ismood, etc), its not personal. just a local habit.

i never had any insults from the people, they were very pleasant.

[Safferz]

OdaySomali;932668 wrote:

Carafaat, wait for the worst part, when I arrive at Burco. You will probably be seething but I am determined to give the masses a realistic perspective of the place. The truth shall prevail, I shall not be silenced.

Keep it coming, OdaySomali.

[OdaySomali]

Tooray City a.k.a Burco Boodhweyn.

 

We arrived in Burco and I believe we drove into the city from the new-Burco area side, on the smooth paved road that leads in to the city. Driving from Sheikh to Burco, you find yourself, after some travel of-course, having suddenly arrived in Burco. I say suddenly because in the New-Burco area which is the first part of the city that you will come across, the houses are still few in number. You will suddenly find the odd house or two next to the road, this is the signal that you have arrived in Burco. Among those houses is the house of Dahabshiil himself and the house of another wealthy local fellow whose name I do not recall. These will probably be the only two double story houses you are likely to see in Burco. (Of-course there are a number of multi-storey hotels in the city's centre). From the outset I got the misguided though understandable idea that many of the houses wouls be as large and lavish as those I first saw on the outskirts of the city. Oh how wrong I was.

 

We drove further into the city and soon the houses eitherside of the road becamse more numerous. Burco is probably the "terraced houses capital" of the Somali republic. The road soon developed side-roads and eventually we turned off from the smooth, faultless asphalted road and found ourselves doing some serious off-road driving, being thrown around in the car. We soon got a better idea of what the real city looked like. Once-again I was utterly shocked and sitting there with a harrowed look on my face. I was sitting there with my window half down, an unintentionally dropped jaw and a perplexed and puzzled look on my face. I was overcome and consumed with yaab; what can only be described as shock. Where had I just come? I thought. Where is the city that is spoken of? I thought... surely they didnt mean this chaotic, dirty and underdeveloped oversized slum.

 

Burco was even worse that Hargeisa because in Burco the houses are, for whatever reason, not built as high or wide as in Hargeisa . Unlike in Hargeisa, most of the houses (I say most) are not detached but in Burco you will find rows upon rows of squalid terraced "houses" of old Burco, many of which are in a bad state of disrepair. This means that it looks and is an awful lot more like a slum, a very big and expansive one at that. There are also newer rows of terraced houses. These newer houses sit on bigger land, average 3 bedrooms and are constructed with beautifully and proportionately crafted white& beige coloured natural stone of various hues, with vividly contrasting gates and metal doors of brightly coloured variations and designs. These houses do not, unfortunately, have front or back gardens but if the streets in front of the houses are cleared and flattened/levelled, the streets are paved with cobble-stone, trees are planted and front gardens (even if only gardens of a 2 metre expanse from the house) are created, the look of the city would be transformed.

 

Burco is known as Burco Boodhweyn and only once you are there do you realise how appropriate the name is. If you are coming to Burco, ensure that you bring big sunglasses because the sand and dust that rises from the city's streets will get into your eyes. So much so that it is almost impossible to walk or go outside if there is a slight wind (and there usually is). There is, as though the city is built on a beach, a permanent and spread out layer of of light-brown coffee coloured sand (not dust but sand) (God knows where it appeared from) and not earth, on every inch of street, road, open space or other land of the city. So much so that you sit in front of you house, take your shoes off and press with your feet into the sand that in some areas is a layer so deep that the sand will reach above your ankles. You would think that Burco is built on the Sahara.

 

I fount it suprising then, when I discovered that the city is home to 2 or three water-blottling plants because there is an abundance of underground water that the city sits on. Burco is home to a nascent manufacturing industry and it is home to water-bottling plants, furniture manufacturing, detergents manufacturing. It also does a lot of trade with the regions and many consumables that are imported through the Berbera port are traded into the hinterland and, via Galkacyo, in some cases further south. The city also has a large livestock and meat market that, besides causing a great part of the city to be swamped by thousands upon thousands of flies, swarms of them, means livestock is brough in from the surrounding countryside as well as many regions further afar (further South).

 

The city also has a bustling city-centre of a market & high-street model. Much like Bakaara market, each long street speacialises in the sales of a particular item. One particular street is lined with stores selling gold. Another street is lined with stores selling clothing (womens clothing). Then there are the markets (bacadlayaasha) which sell a vast array of consumer products. Brisk trade is done. If only the narroe streets would be paved with cobblestone, once again it would very much transform the city centre.

 

To be continued...

 

Tooray city.

[OdaySomali]

Edited & Updated.

 

Tooray City a.k.a Burco Boodhweyn.

 

We arrived in Burco and I believe we drove into the city from the new-Burco area side on the smoothly paved road that leads in to the city. Driving from Sheikh to Burco you find yourself, after some travel of-course, having suddenly arrived in Burco. I say suddenly because in the New-Burco area which is the first part of the city that you will come across, the houses are still few in number and so you will find the odd house or two suddenly appearing next to the road. This is the signal that you have arrived in Burco. Among those houses is the house of Dahabshiil himself and the house of another wealthy local fellow whose name I do not recall. These handful (two or three houses) will probably be the only handful of double story houses you are likely to see in Burco. (Of-course there are a number of multi-storey hotels in the city's centre). From the outset I got the misguided idea that many of the city's houses wouls be as large and lavish as those I first saw on the outskirts. Oh how wrong I was.

 

We drove further into the city and soon the houses eitherside of the road becamse more numerous. Burco is probably the "terraced houses capital" of the Somali republic as most streets consist of a row of terraced houses. The single paved road soon developed side-roads and eventually we turned off from the smooth, faultless asphalted road and found ourselves doing some serious off-road driving in the side-streets and being thrown around inside the car. We soon got a better idea of what the real city looked like. Once-again I was utterly shocked and sitting there with a harrowed look on my face. I was sitting there with my window half down, an unintentionally dropped jaw and a perplexed and puzzled look on my face. I was overcome and consumed with yaab; what can only be described as shock. Where had I just come? I thought. Where is the city that is spoken of? I thought... surely they didnt mean this chaotic, dirty and underdeveloped oversized slum. Imagine: there is no pavement, no paved road, no street lights, no front gardens. Instead, you will find that the streets and neigbourhoods of the city consist of narrow streets consisting of dark maroon-brown earth, sand and mud where you have to wade through heaps of trash and rocks. The houses are slum-esque; rows of small, dingy, boxey terraced houses, many with haphazardly built shacks in front of them to house goats. On the corner of each street is a "cornershop", which is a shack constructed of metal sheets or sticks and branches, selling soft drinks, bread, sugar and other such consumables.

 

Burco was even worse that Hargeisa because in Burco the houses are, for whatever reason, not built as high or wide as in Hargeisa . Unlike in Hargeisa, most of the houses (I say most) are not detached but in Burco you will find rows upon rows of squalid terraced "houses" of old Burco, many of which are in a bad state of disrepair. This means that it looks and is an awful lot more like a slum, a very big and expansive one at that.

 

There are also newer rows of terraced houses. These newer houses sit on bigger land, average 3 bedrooms and are constructed with beautifully and proportionately crafted white& beige coloured natural stone of various hues, with vividly contrasting gates and metal doors of brightly coloured variations and designs. These houses do not, unfortunately, have front or back gardens but if the streets in front of the houses are cleared and flattened/levelled, the streets are paved with cobble-stone, trees are planted and front gardens (even if only gardens of a 2 metre expanse from the house) are created, the look of the city would be transformed.

 

Burco is known as Burco Boodhweyn and only once you are there do you realise how appropriate the name is. If you are coming to Burco, ensure that you bring big sunglasses because the sand and dust that rises from the city's streets will get into your eyes. So much so that it is almost impossible to walk or go outside if there is a slight wind (and there usually is). There is, as though the city were built on a beach, a permanent layer of coffee-coloured sand (not earth or dust but sand,God knows where it appeared from), on every inch of street, road, open space or other land of the city. So much so that you can sit in front of you house, take your shoes off and press with your feet into the sand; in some areas the layer of sand is so deep that the sand will reach above your ankles. You would think that Burco is built on the Sahara.

 

I found it suprising then, when I discovered that the city is home to 2 or three water-blottling plants. Apparently, there is an abundance of underground water that the city sits on. Burco is also home to a nascent manufacturing industry and it is home to the water-bottling plants, furniture manufacturing, detergents manufacturing. It also does a lot of trade with the regions and many consumables that are imported through the Berbera port are traded into the hinterland and, via Galkacyo, in some cases further south. The city also has a large livestock and meat market that besides causing a great part of the city to be swamped by thousands upon thousands of belligerent flies (swarms of them), means livestock is brough in from the surrounding countryside as well as many regions further afar (further South).

 

The city also has a bustling city-centre with a market & 'high-streets'. Much like Bakaara market, each long street speacialises in and sells a particular item. One particular street is lined with physical stores selling gold (vast majority owned by women). Another street is lined with physical stores selling clothing (womens clothing, vast majority owned by women). Then there are the markets (bacadlayaasha) which sell a vast array of consumer products (mainly owned by men, interestingly). Brisk trade is done and the quantities of things being bought and sold, the number of streets and stalls selling goods is surprising and especially so because of the city looks so poor. If only the narrow streets would be paved with cobblestone, once again it would very much transform the city centre. It goes without saying though, that most of this consumer spending is a false economy financed with remittances and should those remittances stop, this entire economy will grind to a halt. Another thing I noticed is that the vast majority of things being sold is imported, from shoes (insane when we have such a high number of livestock and thus potential leather), to mobile phones, glasses and teacups. These goods are shipped from China and transhipped through Dubai to Berbera/Boosaaso which means they are quite costly. The quality of the items being sold is very very poor and this is epecially the case where they are Chinese-made goods. In fact, poor does not even adequately describe the appaling quality of the goods. Most of these goods are worthless because they are fauly and will break, rip, disintegrate or stop working withing a few days of you haveing purchased them. I bought a bag for my clothes, the wheels and handle broke off, the material started to rip and falling apart. I bought a mug and simply held it; the handle broke off, it dropped to the ground and it smashed into pieces. The windoes of the houses are Chinese-made, they are of very poor quality, do not close or open properly among many issues with them.

 

To be continued...

 

Tooray city.

[Tallaabo]

xabad;932667 wrote:

Oday, this is thoroughly enjoyable and informative thread. please go ahead and let us know more of your journey. and to these guys who bring up sl everywhere, desist from your tiresome arguments. we are not interested in them.

Did you forget this entire thread is about SOMALILAND?

[Tallaabo]

OdaySomali;932773 wrote:

Edited & Updated.

 

Tooray City a.k.a Burco Boodhweyn.

 

We arrived in Burco and I believe we drove into the city from the new-Burco area side on the smoothly paved road that leads in to the city. Driving from Sheikh to Burco you find yourself, after some travel of-course, having suddenly arrived in Burco. I say suddenly because in the New-Burco area which is the first part of the city that you will come across, the houses are still few in number and so you will find the odd house or two suddenly appearing next to the road. This is the signal that you have arrived in Burco. Among those houses is the house of Dahabshiil himself and the house of another wealthy local fellow whose name I do not recall. These handful (two or three houses) will probably be the only handful of double story

houses

you are likely to see in Burco. (Of-course there are a number of multi-storey hotels in the city's centre). From the outset I got the misguided idea that many of the city's houses wouls be as large and lavish as those I first saw on the outskirts. Oh how wrong I was.

 

We drove further into the city and soon the houses eitherside of the road becamse more numerous. Burco is probably the "terraced houses capital" of the Somali republic as most streets consist of a row of terraced houses. The single paved road soon developed side-roads and eventually we turned off from the smooth, faultless asphalted road and found ourselves doing some serious off-road driving in the side-streets and being thrown around inside the car. We soon got a better idea of what the

real

city looked like. Once-again I was utterly shocked and sitting there with a harrowed look on my face. I was sitting there with my window half down, an unintentionally dropped jaw and a perplexed and puzzled look on my face. I was overcome and consumed with yaab; what can only be described as shock. Where had I just come? I thought. Where is the city that is spoken of? I thought... surely they didnt mean this chaotic, dirty and underdeveloped oversized slum. Imagine: there is no pavement, no paved road, no street lights, no front gardens. Instead, you will find that the streets and neigbourhoods of the city consist of narrow streets consisting of dark maroon-brown earth, sand and mud where you have to wade through heaps of trash and rocks. The houses are slum-esque; rows of small, dingy, boxey terraced houses, many with haphazardly built shacks in front of them to house goats. On the corner of each street is a "cornershop", which is a shack constructed of metal sheets or sticks and branches, selling soft drinks, bread, sugar and other such consumables.

 

Burco was even worse that Hargeisa because in Burco the houses are, for whatever reason, not built as high or wide as in Hargeisa . Unlike in Hargeisa, most of the houses (I say most) are not detached but

in Burco you will find rows upon rows of squalid terraced "houses" of old Burco, many of which are in a bad state of disrepair. This means that it looks and is an awful lot more like a slum

, a very big and expansive one at that.

 

There are also newer rows of terraced houses. These newer houses sit on bigger land, average 3 bedrooms and are constructed with beautifully and proportionately crafted white& beige coloured natural stone of various hues, with vividly contrasting gates and metal doors of brightly coloured variations and designs. These houses do not, unfortunately, have front or back gardens but if the streets in front of the houses are cleared and flattened/levelled, the streets are paved with cobble-stone, trees are planted and front gardens (even if only gardens of a 2 metre expanse from the house) are created, the look of the city would be transformed.

 

Burco is known as Burco Boodhweyn and only once you are there do you realise how appropriate the name is. If you are coming to Burco, ensure that you bring big sunglasses because the sand and dust that rises from the city's streets

will

get into your eyes. So much so that it is almost impossible to walk or go outside if there is a slight wind (and there usually is). There is, as though the city were built on a beach, a permanent layer of coffee-coloured sand (not earth or dust but

sand

,God knows where it appeared from), on every inch of street, road, open space or other land of the city. So much so that you can sit in front of you house, take your shoes off and press with your feet into the

sand

; in some areas the layer of sand is so deep that the

sand

will reach above your ankles. You would think that Burco is built on the Sahara.

 

I found it suprising then, when I discovered that the city is home to 2 or three water-blottling plants. Apparently, there is an abundance of underground water that the city sits on. Burco is also home to a nascent manufacturing industry and it is home to the water-bottling plants, furniture manufacturing, detergents manufacturing. It also does a lot of trade with the regions and many consumables that are imported through the Berbera port are traded into the hinterland and, via Galkacyo, in some cases further south. The city also has a large livestock and meat market that besides causing a great part of the city to be swamped by thousands upon thousands of belligerent flies (swarms of them), means livestock is brough in from the surrounding countryside as well as many regions further afar (further South).

 

The city also has a bustling city-centre with a market & 'high-streets'. Much like Bakaara market, each long street speacialises in and sells a particular item. One particular street is lined with physical stores selling gold (vast majority owned by women). Another street is lined with physical stores selling clothing (womens clothing, vast majority owned by women). Then there are the markets (bacadlayaasha) which sell a vast array of consumer products (mainly owned by men, interestingly). Brisk trade is done and the quantities of things being bought and sold, the number of streets and stalls selling goods is surprising and especially so because of the city looks so poor. If only the narrow streets would be paved with cobblestone, once again it would very much transform the city centre. It goes without saying though, that most of this consumer spending is a false economy financed with remittances and should those remittances stop, this entire economy will grind to a halt. Another thing I noticed is that the vast majority of things being sold is imported, from shoes (insane when we have such a high number of livestock and thus potential leather), to mobile phones, glasses and teacups. These goods are shipped from China and transhipped through Dubai to Berbera/Boosaaso which means they are quite costly. The quality of the items being sold is very very poor and this is epecially the case where they are Chinese-made goods. In fact, poor does not even adequately describe the appaling quality of the goods. Most of these goods are worthless because they are fauly and will break, rip, disintegrate or stop working withing a few days of you haveing purchased them. I bought a bag for my clothes, the wheels and handle broke off, the material started to rip and falling apart. I bought a mug and simply held it; the handle broke off, it dropped to the ground and it smashed into pieces. The windoes of the houses are Chinese-made, they are of very poor quality, do not close or open properly among many issues with them.

 

To be continued...

 

Tooray city.

Oday, saaxiib why don't you help these poor people build more luxurious accomodations like those in Bevely Hills and Malibu Beach?

[Haatu]

Can't you guys just forget politics for a second for goodness sake? Let the Dalmar tell us his stories.

[raula]

Nothing is permanent Safferz. Even Mount St. Helen in Alaska's recovered from its disasters. So, Somalia can w/better ecological management & understanding the urgency of preserving what's currently left of it.

 

Oday-the thread is wonderful & thx for giving us a glimpse of our motherland. As apophis mentioned, no matter our political alliances, we are broken, our culture (whether we are somali/landers of any kind) is in crisis & unless we mediate this...Somali's whether in diaspora or back home will be left to the wolves (life will teach us a lesson).

 

***You analysis on the women issues was/is poignant & in need of an immediate resuscitation. Thank you.

[xabad]

NFD is ahead of the NW in every way. There is a real government plus law and order there.

[OdaySomali]

xabad;932869 wrote:

NFD is ahead of the NW in every way. There is a real government plus law and order there.

I never said there is no rule of law, I am yet to get onto that topic.