Sharing my experience of back home

[Bluelicious]

Have you only been to Somaliland?

[OdaySomali]

Malike I wasnt really planning to write this today so It is brief and un organised but below are some of my thoughts. If you have any specific questions, please ask and I'll do my best to answer them.

 

The youth & the state of the society.

 

The youth

 

I took a keen interest in the youth while I was there and I saw a number of things. There was good and bad. I saw that the vast part of the total population is youth. Our population is a very young one where there are probably more children than middle aged or older people.

 

I saw an ambitious, aware and inquisitive youth more cultured, educated and aware than the Somali youths of past generations. A very large number of these youths have gone to school and are literate, they regularly use computers and the internet throught internet cafe's and a very large number of the youth now have mobile phones - enabled by cheap phones imported from China.

 

In addition to schools, those who can afford it go to extra night lessons in English, Maths, Arabic, quranic classes etc. But many cannot afford education or health. These youth are very bright, inquisitive and full of life - they have never seen conflict and only know the times of peace. Howevery they desperate lack in opportunities for further education and jobs. They will go to primary secondary school and some go to university. WHen they have completed their education there is nothing for them to do. Many then leave the county and go on tahriib - in fact this is still the case although the routes have changed with less going through Yemen but through Sudan instead. Some of the youth are finding employment in the comapnies and in government with the large employers being xawalas, Telcomms companies, the military. Local companies are also growing in scale and employing more youth one example being local furniture manufacturers who take on apprentices, train them, salary them. As more investment is made into factories and the like, more jobs are generated.

 

But the quality of the education is not very good at all and girls are still very often kept behind to "look after the house and younger siblings". Men as ever are very absent and the mothers take the responsiblity of running the homes and they represent 90%+ of traders. The country is a country of women and children, where all the men have gone, nobody knows. There are a very large number of orphans whose father has died in the wars. There are even more mentally ill persons.

 

The young men are a problem group. They are layabouts more so than the young women - who have found solace by marrying returning elderly men and becoming their holiday wifes. Qat, alcohol and smoking is a problem among young men and also young women to a lesser extent. Despite the blaring adhan from the mosques, I saw a place as morally corrupt as the Western Countries. This is especially the case for those born into wealthy familities or who have family abroad - they were born after the 90's, have never seen hardship but yet have nothing to do by way of work. SO they eat, sleep, chew qat, drink alcohol and fornicate. Seriously.

 

The youth still keep in touch with the nomadic culture. It is routine that youth are sent into the mii/baadiye' for the duration of the school holidays.

 

Community spirit

 

Somalis are good neighbours, they really are. The community spirit is stong and lively - people eat together, watch eachother children, do shopping for eachother etc. It was heart warming to see young kinds playing footbal on the streets in peace and hanging around in their groups without hassling anybody on the street as you might see in Western countries. On one occasion there was a fight between two young kids on the street and an elderly woman who was walking past intervened, pulled them apart and told them to stop fighting. They listened to her and she gave them a good smack too. The community spirit is stil alive.

 

I saw that the people are very peaceful and friendly. No one will start trouble with you, call you "dhaqan celis" or even stop and stare at you (for the most part). Only Oromos will beg and hassle you. Everyone else goes on with their business and treats you as just another Somali (well if you speak good Somali anyway, if not you might have a different experience). And dont bother trying to "fit in" or wear clothes that make you look like a local, they will spot you from a mile away

 

Mental illness

 

On every street you will find several people chained up or you hear their screams as you walk down the street. these are people who lost their sanity in the harsh conflict years and they receive no treatment. You will see naked mentally ill men along the highway, especially as you travel between the cities, who just wonder along. their clothes are ripped, they are malnurished, they have long bears and timo raamoobay - they are known as the crazy men. The number of mentally ill people whose illness does not translate into noticable signs is even greater becaus you can tell from how people behave that they are not ok. I would say that up to 70% of the adult populace has some sort of mental illness.

 

Theft and burglary is a serious problem. Every night there is a break in. Thiefes are becoming very daring and nobody can stop them. It is said that they are Oromos/Ethiopians career thieves but they are never cause because they dissappear into the night. They will come to your house at the dark of night, armed, park outside, break the windows come in with weapons take EVERYTHING and nobody can do a thing. If you have bars ont he windows, they will get roped, attach them to the bumper of their car and the window frame of your house and pull the entire window frame out, clean out your house and leave. Burglary is a real problem. It is not entirely safe for women to walk around at night, it has been known that where are men who hide in the dark streets and alleys and prey on women and girls to rape them. Although I felt very safe to wonder about at night, women are not so safe to walk alone. Private security firms are forming in the cities where armed private secutiry will guard your street during the night where every house in the street will pay a fee - no doubt that this system is open to abuse in that if you refuse to pay the security guards they might dress up as thieves and burglar your house to incentivise you to take up their service.

 

Unemployment & underdevelopment

 

unemployment is rife. People really have nothing to do. They sleep, wake up and have breakfast if they can afford it, pray, sleep at duhur, wake up and eat, pray maqrib, and sleep. All year round. The lack of opportuntiy and lack of economic activity is shocking. The lack of infrastructure is also very obvious.

 

The main problem is the bad leadership and lack of skilled human resources. What you have is unskilled nomadic people that have come to live in the cities - they sit there and await the monthly $100 from their gacal in the diaspora. The country needs its educated people to bring it level with the modern world and to make use of the resources of the country and realise its opportunity. The new educated youth needs to be mobilised in productive economic activities.

 

The country is very scantily populated - between the major cities there is very little life. Everybody has an immediate family member who is either in the diaspora or has recently tahriibed. You get the feeling that a huge portion what would have been the population is abroad.

 

Healthcare

 

Healthcare is in its entirety private and out of the reach of 95% of the people. Although some free vaccinations for kids are done every so often with the support of the NGO's, it is very difficult and expensive to get treatment for any other disease. Most diseases that cannot be treated because of lack of equipment, drugs or because the patient cannot pay the costs, are a death sentence. This is a really big problem area. Infant mortality if also a huge problem because there is a lack of care and the care that is there is centred in the large cities, by the time the women are brought to the city's its already days or hours too late.

[OdaySomali]

Bluelicious;921190 wrote:

Have you only been to Somaliland?

Hargeisa to Garowe and back (by land).

[Bluelicious]

How would you rate the safety during your trip to all those cities and their checkpoints? Looking forward to read more of your experiences on Somalia and Somaliland.

[OdaySomali]

Bluelicious;921234 wrote:

How would you rate the safety during your trip to all those cities and their checkpoints? Looking forward to read more of your experiences on Somalia and Somaliland.

Quite safe, overall. I'll say more on the checkpoints later. Laakiin waxba ha kala Somalia iyo Somalilandaynin, runta hadii la isu sheegayo waa uu isku mid uun. Somali way isu baahantahay oo waynu aragnay inay qayb ka mid ah ummadda Soomaaliyeed ayna keligeed horumar gaadhayn, economically, politically, militarily, culturally itaal iyo awoodna ayna lahayn ay wadanada caalamka la tartanto. Laakiin marka ay Soomaali is raacdo, wada tashato oo wada shaqaysato, waynu leenahay itaal iyo awoodba economically, politically, militarily, culturally to defend to Somali people and survive and thrive in the world.

[Nin-Yaaban]

Hadii aad Hargeisa taktay, maxaad Jacylbaro iyo Alpha horay ugala sii xiriiri weydey sideey magaalada kuu soo tusaan?

[Mario B]

OdaySomali;921281 wrote:

Quite safe, overall. I'll say more on the checkpoints later. Laakiin waxba ha kala Somalia iyo Somalilandaynin, runta hadii la isu sheegayo waa uu isku mid uun. Somali way isu baahantahay oo waynu aragnay inay qayb ka mid ah ummadda Soomaaliyeed ayna keligeed horumar gaadhayn, economically, politically, militarily, culturally itaal iyo awoodna ayna lahayn ay wadanada caalamka la tartanto. Laakiin marka ay Soomaali is raacdo, wada tashato oo wada shaqaysato, waynu leenahay itaal iyo awoodba economically, politically, militarily, culturally to defend to Somali people and survive and thrive in the world.

[OdaySomali]

Nin-Yaaban;921364 wrote:

Hadii aad Hargeisa taktay, maxaad Jacylbaro iyo Alpha horay ugala sii xiriiri weydey sideey magaalada kuu soo tusaan?

Mar hadaan meeshaba joogo oo aan indho leeyahay, maxaan uga baahanahay cid "magaalada is tusta"? Besides I have doubts that Alpha is even in Hargeisa

[Malika]

OdaySomali - thank you.

[OdaySomali]

The youth & the state of the society 2. Religion.

 

One thing that you will find impossible to miss will be the mosques that are on almost every corner. Each mosque has a speaker and come adhan time each mosque will blare, at its own chosen time an adhan, a salah, a sermon into the city. It is difficult to hear one adhan over the other, to hear one prayer over the other, to hear one sermon over the other. You would think that with such a proliferation of mosques that Islamic knowledge would be as proliferated, but this is not the case.

 

On the surface the society appears to be a deeply religious, Islamic society but once you delve into the detail of life, the views of the populace and the attitudes to life, you will find a society that is a deeply cultural, tribal, illiterate, undereducated, nomadic herding society trying to adapt to the challenges of modern urban living. The illiteracy and under-education that is so visible through the economic underdevelopment, also has its impact on religious knowledge and the adherance to true Islam. I later understood that although the people had an overarching idea of what Islam is about and what the main tenets of the religion are, it is more their own cultures that they adhere to in the every day interactions of their lifes as they do not have a clear understanding of the detail, specifics and the implicative consequences of Islam's teachings ought to shape their lifes. Much of the ignorance is a consequence of poverty, illiteracy and lack of education, among other things.

 

Men and women in society.

 

One aspect of the society that I found fascinating to observe, was the roles and rights of men and women in society. It was saddening to see the state of women in Somali society and that although, de-facto, they nowadays bear a huge and disproportionate responsibility for bringing up children, running households and often financially maintaining the households, their rights are not respected or fulfilled and they do not receive the respect that in all honesty they are more than due. The Somali family is in crisis, it seems; and this is where many of the Somali people's societal ill's stem from.

 

When Somalis were still mostly nomadic, it was almost next to impossible for a woman to own her own lifestock as all the livestock belonged to the man/husband/father. Although things have improved and are marginally better in the urban context than they were in the rural nomadic environment, it is still very difficult for Somali women to own things out of their own right. They are still treated as property of their husbands, who ought not to think or speak, or look thoughtful and intelligent, when their men are in present because the men are seen as the head of the household. This is changing slows as some women become financially independent. For example, you will find that the vast majority of the traders are women, selling drinks, food, clothes, qat, exchanging money. Other women receive a financial lifeline through the remitannces that are sent to them from their families. Some of the men try to preserve their previously complete dominance and control over the family's finances and assets, and where this is not possible for them, there are incidents that occur as a result. Often they will beat their wives and take from them the little monies they earn from petty-trading or are sent from their families. Incidentally many of those men do not fulfill their responsiblities as fathers and husbands and in many cases transgress against their wives. Clearly something is going wrong and perhaps Somali boys ought to receives instruction (lessons) in "how to be a good father/husband" and to clarify what their religious duties are in respect to their families. Having said that there are some Somali men that have done very well for themselves and very much run their family matters well, so let's not brush all Somalis with the same brush.

 

Somali women (mothers) themselves also perpetuate the very anti-women, denigrading norms and values that so harm the Somali woman's social standing and opportunity in life. Fathers and mothers will often keep girls behind from school, from dugsi/malcaamad and sometimes this is for practical reasons, other times this is because of ignorance. One particular scenario is where a mother has many children, some of whom are young (the father is a lazy layabout who chews qat) and the mother is engages in some sort of work or petty trading. The mother will keep behind one of the girls to look after the young kids, to do the cooking, cleaning and maintain the house. In another scenario the father or mother will say that "a girl does not need education" anyway, so keep one (or more) of them behind for convenience's sake so that those girls may do the cooking, cleaning etc.

 

Their is still the pervasive belief that women belong in the kitchen, with children, doing the cleaning etc. For a man to enter the kitchen is, literally taboo and should a man enter the kitchen he will be shouted at, rediculed and forcefully told to get out of the kitchen. If it were the agreement then, that Somali women would look after the household and the men would go out and earn the living, at least the women have held up their end of the bargain.

 

If Somali society is to move forward, Somali women need to be empowered and they need to be taugt that they too deserve to have rights, to have opinions and to be heard. We need a Somali feminist movement and I urge every Somali woman (and man) out there to do something and get involved in Somali soceity to improve the rights, opportunities and standing of Somali women. If Somali people are to people are to mover forward, this has to be done.

 

This is for two important, yet simple reasons. The first reason is one of simple demographics. Somali women are likely a huge percentage of the overall Somali population (50% if not more) and to say that 50% of our population will not have an education, cannot work, will not have any ownership rights, decision-making rights or that their voices will not be heard is extemely detrimental to and damaging our society and economy. The second and other other reason is one of beneficial side-effect/consequence. Ordinarily the mother will spend more time with a child, caring for, feeding, playing with and educating a child. If a mother is educated, literate, aware/informed and empowered, this will have a huge and transformational consuence on the next Somali generations of children. These children will, guaranteed, live better as a consequence precisely because their mother is more educated, she is literate, aware and empowered to make better decisions with positive transformational consequences.

[OdaySomali]

The landscapes.

 

The landscapes do not change much. You will see a landscape of short Acacia tree and shrubs, with humps of sand sitting in the middle of them. In Some parts you will find yourself in plains of just short shrub, in an almost flat, tree-less landscape you will be able to see to the horizon and there is no mercy of shade that a tree might have been able to offer from the relentless African sun. In some parts you will find grassland, though not much. To be honest after a while, because the drives between the cities can be very tiring, I was not very interested in the landscapes.

 

But without a doubt the most impressive landscapes are the mountainous landscapes of the sheikh area. As I drove up the winding road and reached the peak of Sheikh, I was met with a pleasant cool breeze and green vegetation surrounding me. I could see in hills and the peak-forms of the mountainous landscape disappearing into the distance. Far below, I looked out on the the valleys that sat at the bottom of the mountains and stretched out, turning into many directions. There is a good opportunity to replant trees in the highlands and to encourage reforestation. It is not yet too late.

 

The nomadic way of life.

 

Travelling through the harsh and unforgiving landscape of the more arid regions of the Somali peninsula was certainly an experience. Travelling through those lands I was perplexed and puzzled how our ancestors had survived in such a landscape - devoid of vegetation, arable lands or perrenial water bodies. I was, truly, in awe of and in that moment brimming with a feeling of respect for the way of life that Somali people had led. Only then did I begin to appreciate and understand the ingenuity of the Somali nomadic way of life.

 

The camel was first domesticated in the Somali peninsula and I then understood why - even today 2/3 of the world's camel population is found in the Somali peninsula. It was a case of making maximum utility and produce in the most effective way out of the scare and limited resources. A camel was used, before the advent of modern technologies and a globalised economy, for many purposes. It was a mode of travel and movement of items. Camels are sterdy, versatile and are ideal for dry landscapes in a way that few other livestock are. The [somali] camel can go over three weeks without water and walk for miles on end without tiring. It was reared for its meat and its very nutricious protein-rich milk. The milk was used as/made into drinking milk, ghee, butter, yogurt; and the meat was cooked, fried, steamed or salted and dried or preserved in ghee. Its hide/skin was obviously also used for many purposes and also exported overseas. Camels also supplemented the keeping of other liivestock such as the Somali sheep and also to a lesser extent of goats. The versatility and many uses of this animal were just brilliant and whoever first thought up the domesticating/keeping of this animal was a genius and her/his idea has sustained and been a lifeline for an entire people over centuries.

 

All the above may well be true, but today the nomadic way of life is serverely threatened - and it is no longer and effecient way of living in this developed, technologically advanced and globalised world. It is threatened by climate change and by the people themselves not understanding and not respecting their environment/habitat. Dhirtii oo dhan waa la gubay. Dhuxul aa laga dhigay. Baaqi dollar ah si lagu hello, ayaa loo dhoofiyay. Urbanisation is also happening at an astonishing rate... reer baadiye/guuraa/mii waybe yaryihiin waagan. The nomadic way of life was great and I respect the history and culture we have gained from it over the centuries but it no longer suitable, there are better alternatives. Having said that, the history, legacy and culture of this way of life needs to be preserved in in texts, books, plays, poems, films etc.

 

De-forestation

 

It was clear to me though that througout the land, in every landscape there was a noticeable and saddening lack of trees. There had been a severe de-forestation that was having devestating impact ont he environment and on the economic livelihoods of the nomads. In some areas they said that it hadn't rained in 4 years, and boy was this evident. Lifestock has been dying in their thousands. The earth was parched and dry, with dust raising from it at any slight movement. The trees and all other vegetation had lost all sign of life and as far as the human eye could see, in any direction, every tree, every plant, every shrub was a grey colour, devoid of any foliage. Hundreds of miles I travelled, and there was no single water-body in sight. It was a dead landscape, a shocking sight. And when it rains, rains fall in isolation in very specific places no more than a few hundred meters or a few KM's in width and length - as though the rest of the land has been instructed no to have any water.

 

The few trees that remain are being cut down for charcoal because there is no alternative (cheap) form of energy in the country and every household uses charcoal for cooking and charcoal is also exported. This means that more and more trees are being cut down to meet this demand. Consequently, the compounding impact of the recurring drought, the extensive tree-cutting and tree-burning, the lack of a re-planting programme, and over-grazing of shrubs and grass-land means that an environmental catastrophe has slowly but surely been unfolding.

 

What's worse is that the people show a compelte disregard and carelessness for the environment. They will dump anything and everything in the country. As modern synthetic packaging, that degrades very slowly, is brought into the country, it means there are heaps upon heaps of trash, plastic bags and bottles building up in the environment. The people do not seem to grasp the impact that this has on their livelihoods, their health and their quality of life. As long as the trash is dumped in a trash-heap outside the city boundaries, or outside the immediate vicinity of their house, they do not seem to care where it goes or what happens to it... out of sight out of mind.

 

We need a concerted effort of nation-wide reforestation, environmental education, waste management, economic diversification and investment in modern energy production technologies. But one can only dreama nd hope.

[Wiil Cusub]

OdaySomali;921281 wrote:

Laakiin waxba ha kala Somalia iyo Somalilandaynin, runta hadii la isu sheegayo waa uu isku mid uun. Somali way isu baahantahay oo waynu aragnay inay qayb ka mid ah ummadda Soomaaliyeed ayna keligeed horumar gaadhayn, economically, politically, militarily, culturally itaal iyo awoodna ayna lahayn ay wadanada caalamka la tartanto. Laakiin marka ay Soomaali is raacdo, wada tashato oo wada shaqaysato, waynu leenahay itaal iyo awoodba economically, politically, militarily, culturally to defend to Somali people and survive and thrive in the world.

Wali riyada kamaad toosin midnimo Somaliyeed ayaa horumar dhali haddii aad taagantahay. Ma ogtahay horumarka dhaqan, dhaqaale ama milatari ee wadan inaanu ku xidhnayn waynaanta iyo tiro badnida wadan, mase ogtahay inay jiraan wadamo aanay tiradoodu gaadhay 1 milion oo horumar laxaadle sameeyay. Somalidu shacab ahaan way isu baahantahay siyaasad ahaanse way kala maarantaa. Jabuutiba wataa horumar gaadhay iyadoon la midaysnayn cidno.

[Coofle]

Travelling through the harsh and unforgiving landscape of the more arid regions of the Somali peninsula was certainly an experience. Travelling through those lands I was perplexed and puzzled how our ancestors had survived in such a landscape - devoid of vegetation, arable lands or perrenial water bodies. I was, truly, in awe of and in that moment brimming with a feeling of respect for the way of life that Somali people had led. Only then did I begin to appreciate and understand the ingenuity of the Somali nomadic way of life.

The land is changing, fast. it was not like that always, I remember growing up , the grass was everywhere in spring, there was forests of somali acacia, livestock was all over the land....the same places today are desserts or semi desserts with few acacia shrubs, I am even scared to go back again walaahi,,,its heartbreaking...

[OdaySomali]

Wiil Cusub;932322 wrote:

Wali riyada kamaad toosin midnimo Somaliyeed ayaa horumar dhali haddii aad taagantahay. Ma ogtahay horumarka dhaqan, dhaqaale ama milatari ee wadan inaanu ku xidhnayn waynaanta iyo tiro badnida wadan, mase ogtahay inay jiraan wadamo aanay tiradoodu gaadhay 1 milion oo horumar laxaadle sameeyay. Somalidu shacab ahaan way isu baahantahay siyaasad ahaanse way kala maarantaa. Jabuutiba wataa horumar gaadhay iyadoon la midaysnayn cidno.

Djibouti is probably the worst example you could have picked... a tiny city-state that is economically entirely dependent on the port revenues it generates from Ethiopia and the fees it levies on the American, French and Japanese military bases. If it were not for its fortunate location and Eritrea seceding from Ethiopia, it would just be an insignifcant, tiny, barren coastal enclave with no political, social or economic clout or relevance to speak of.

 

Adigu rumayso waxaad rumaysanaso, im not going to futher detract from the subject of this thread.

[Alpha Blondy]

a professor friend of mine once told me:

 

when you stay in country for a week, you can write a book about your observations aka this thread.

 

when you stay in a country for a month, you can write an article about your observations.

 

when you stay in a country for many month i.e 6 to 11 months, you can write a page or at the very least a few paragraphs about your observations.

 

when you've stayed in a country for years, you will find almost nothing to write about your observations because all your preconceptions have been quelled. and it becomes your halqabsi...

 

 

marka, inaar, xayeysiska naga daa. some of ''us'' live in these ''harsh terrain'', you speak off.