Unprofessionalism in the workplace

Since being in Somalia, in the Puntland capital Garowe, I’ve seen it all, but what I recently witnessed has really opened my eyes. I’ve been working in Garowe for the past 4 and half months, and it wasn’t until a couple days ago I realized how unprofessional the people in the workplace are. The first 3 months of my stay here, I worked in a short contract job, and just recently took another position with the same organization about 1 month ago. The first job was okay because I was basically managing the project. However, with this new position, I had another guy from Kenya working as my supervisor.

Okay, so basically this job was all unorganized from the beginning. The guy from Kenya seems like he didn’t know what exactly was going on, and he wasn’t as active or organized as he could be. That was the first misstep. The next problem was it seemed that no one knows who is doing what. As a professional, everyone should know what others are doing. It was basically the fault of the Kenyan guy who should’ve told everyone what their role is in the beginning. As a supervisor of the project we’re doing, most of the people I’m supervising happen to be males. In this country, I already talked about how women are viewed as being inferior to men, so I’ve noticed that the men here weren’t listening to what I had to say. To them I’m just a sex object, or should just stay in my house as this one guy told me the other day. They feel somehow offended that a woman is telling them what to do. They would basically go to the guys in the financial office to ask them questions, in which case the guys there didn’t have the answer because they weren’t trained in what we’re doing. Their jobs was to basically worry about the budget the employees should be getting. Instead, they proceeded to try to do my job for me, which they didn’t know what was what. At least if they were going to do my job, they should have known what was going on. It all went downhill after that. Yesterday we were supposed to send the employees to go to other cities with their paperwork, but instead of asking me about which paperwork they were supposed to have, they proceeded to do it without my knowledge. When I came to the office to send the employees on their trip, multiple papers they were supposed to have were missing. Why? Because they didn’t know exactly what papers they were supposed to have. They were basically trying to do my work because to them I’m only a “woman” and on top of that a “diaspora”, whom they view as not knowing about what’s going on in the country. However, the reality is I know alot more about the situation in this country on a deeper analytical level than they can conjure up.

This is one of my observations in the country, I don’t know if it applies to all places within Somalia, but here there is no professionalism. There is no organization, it seems like everything is chaotic like the situation Somalia is in today. How did Somalia go from being one of the best places in Africa, to being one of the most backward nations in the world? I lose hope in Somalia ever being how it used to be the more I stay in this country. Our country was destroyed along with our dignity. I realize that all the social problems I see being here is an aftermath of the downfall of Siyad Barre’s government. Siyad Barre was the first and the last as this elderly man told me today at lunch. I can only hope things get better, because I know Somalia will not be anywhere it used to be before. For me, working here, at least at the organization I’m with right now, has been a headache, and unorganized. They don’t even do orientations here, they just tell people to go ahead and get to work. Things just have to change.

Prime Minister Farmaajo: Somalia hero

In case you don’t follow Somalia’s politics, I want to shed some light on it today. Since I’m in Somalia currently, these topics are discussed all the time. These couple of days there have been mass protests going on in Mogadhishu, Nairobi, and some western countries in support of Somalia’s current prime minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo for the Transitional Somali Federal government or TFG. For the first time in a long time, Somalis are united in supporting one man. I’ve never seen a politician be supported as much as PM Farmaajo.

It all started when the president of Somalia Shariif Ahmed and the conniving parliamentary house speaker Shariif “Sakiin” Ahmed went to Kampala and met with the equally useless Augustine Mahiga who is currently the UN ambassador to Somalia to write a new proposal to extent their government for another year. That brought about what is called the “Kampala Accord” which basically reads like neo-colonialism, with foreigners basically telling the Somali government how to run Somalia, and in that accord it states that the prime minister of Somalia Farmaajo must resign after 30 days of signing the accord. However, the Prime Minister wasn’t present at the meeting, and he was basically deceived by the current president. The people of Somalia also had no choice in voicing their opinion on the matter. PM Farmaajo has caused many problems for the international community because he was a person who wore his love for Somalia on his sleeves. He sincerely had interest in bringing Somalia back to where it was, and unifying it’s people. He was the one who actually gave salary to the Somali troops for the first time in a long time, and even went to argue for giving the Somali troops the same amount as the AMISOM troops (Burundi and Uganda) who are currently supporting the TFG currently in fighting the radical anti-government group called Al-Shabab. On top of that PM Farmaajo motivated the Somali troops in combating Al-Shabab and actually taking back the majority of the Somalia capital back from their control. This scared many people who have no interest in seeing Somalia be peaceful. This scared people like Augustine Mahiga who actually profits from chaos in Somalia. Also the UN and others don’t want to see an intellectual Somali lead Somalia, they want uneducated leaders like Shariif “Sakiin” Hassan and the other Shariif for them to delegate their commands. Some people even argue neighboring countries like Ethiopia, Uganda and even Kenya have no interest in seeing Somalia unified, because currently Somalia is used as the base of the NGOs to do business, and might be contributing for it’s situation. As I said before NGOs have done nothing for Somalia, and only add gas to the situation that’s already in flames.

Not only the international community is behind the want to make the beloved PM Farmaajo resign, but other unpatriotic Somalis like Shariif “Sakiin” Hassan who only care about their pockets contribute to the stagnation of the situation of Somalia. They aid the organizations that use Somalia as a business for it’s plight and the suffering of the Somali people. Whenever there is a glimmer of hope for Somalia, the UN and others want to bury that. However, the Somali people woke up to the reality, at least from the sights of the many demonstrations going on lately. They realize that external forces and internal forces within Somalia are the cause of hopelessness in bringing peace to Somalia’s once beautiful capital, Mogadhishu. It’s with the realization that we as Somalis can realize that we’re still being colonized, and today it’s the form of neo-colonialism. Their weapon is to divide us into our respective clans and for us to do their work for them, which is to hate eachother. PM Farmaajo made us realize that we can bring Somaila back , and that we’ll forever continue our struggle to rid our country of the United Nations, and other foreign countries meddling in their aims to keep us divided so they can benefit from our tragedy. PM Farmaajo might step down, but that wouldn’t be the last of him, for a man that loved by all Somalis has a great future in Somalia.

Somalia haa nolaato! That means Long Live Somalia. Allah has brought us a man to take us out of this situation, may he protect him from the enemies of peace, and prosperity of the Somali people.

My ranting continues

The more I stay in Garowe, the more I realize that I can never live in this environment. I understand Garowe is a small place, and everyone tells me other places within Puntland, like Bosaso are better but the main problem here is lack of many essential things. There is nothing except work here. I’m here for work now, and my contract will end in supposedly 2 more months, and I’m definitely thinking about going back. However, I don’t want to go back to Minnesota. I have nightmares about that place, along with all the discriminations, loneliness, extreme cold weather and other ills I’ve faced in that state. But, I can’t stay in Garowe, it’s not healthy for me to eat the horrible food here, with no nutritious fruits and vegetables, lack of entertainment, and people that aren’t exposed to diversity staring at me constantly. I feel like I went from one extreme to another. The only thing I love about Garowe is the social connections and family I have here. I never had a big family growing up in America because all my relatives were in Somalia. I never had aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings growing up, so being here has really filled those voids in my life. Now that I had my voids filled, I’m realizing this place is not for me.

My trip to Hargeisa

I recently went on a trip from Garowe to Hargeisa. I was tried of being in Garowe for the past 3 and a half months and I wanted to see different places within Somalia that were at least stable places. At first I wanted to visit Addis Ababa, Ethiopia because I heard it would be cheaper to go there than to visit Nairobi, Kenya, but I decided to settle for a trip to Somaliland, specifically Hargeisa because I heard so many things about that place I wanted to witness for myself. I was there for 5 days only due to having to come back to Garowe for work. However, it was a great trip and one I’ll never forget.

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To people living outside of Somalia, Somalia is considered to be one country, but to the people living inside Somalia it’s different. There are many “Somalias” here, particularly Somaliland and Puntland, etc. Somaliland wants to get independence away from the rest of Somalia, and functions like a normal country except they are not recognized by the world. They have their own currency, laws, but they don’t have a Somaliland passport, so many people come to Garowe to get Somalia passports when traveling outside the country. However, Puntland wants to be a federal state within Somalia. Before I went to Hargeisa, everything happened so last minute, so I couldn’t book a flight to Hargeisa. Instead I took a car ride from Garowe to Hargeisa. It cost me $70, and I got the front seat all to myself, the rest of the car were filled with people like sardines, but at least I was comfortable enough to move my feet. I also went by myself because everyone was busy to go with me, so I decided to be brave and go for it. The drive took 9 hours to get to our final destination, but along the way we drove by Las Anod, Lafo Ruugaayo , and stopped to eat at Burao. I loved seeing the countryside of Somalia, and the camels, and beautiful mountains. I also loved seeing how each city had a different weather. We passed by a city called Shiikh, and I saw this place in this city where a Kuwaiti prince brought property to build a gigantic mansion. I don’t blame him because Shiikh has the best weather in the world, it feels like early fall there with the sun shining. Burao’s weather was also cool, but Berbera’s weather was humid and hot as it has the ocean there. I saw the Indian ocean for the first time since my flight to Bosaso while in Berbera and it was absolutely beautiful.

I finally made it to Hargeisa after 9 hours of being relatively uncomfortable and seating for the majority part of the car ride. Hargeisa was surprisingly very lively, and a big city with many tall buildings and cars. It was an actual city. Of course because Hargeisa was always the second capital of Somalia, and unlike Mogadhishu was never devastated by warfare. It was very different from Garowe. Once we crossed the border to Somaliland, or nothern Somalia, everything was so different. The most noticeable thing were the accents of the Border police in Somaliland, it is very different than that of Garowe, and the one I speak. The border cops in Somaliland also had a very rude attitude to them, whereas the ones in Puntland were friendly. However, our driver was from Hargeisa, so he could talk to them with their own dialect with ease.

After making it to Hargeisa, I stayed at City Center Hotel, which is basically in the middle of the city center. There were many outside markets selling clothes, different vegetables and fruits, unlike in Garowe. It also looked much bigger than Garowe. We came to Hargeisa around 5pm, so I wanted to explore the city right away. I decided to visit the markets, and other shopping centers. I was amazed at how they had everything in Hargeisa that is available in America, from electronics, different types of foods like yogurt, and cheese , unlike Garowe. Also, I saw white people and arabs walking down the street on their own. In Garowe, white people when they visit Puntland, have soldiers go with them everywhere they go. In Hargeisa it seems like they are free to move about on their own. I also noticed while in Hargeisa, that people don’t stare as much as they do in Garowe. I would dress how I wanted in Hargeisa, although it was covered up in a headscarf and abaya, but still people didn’t give me any attention. There were white women without headscarves walking about, and no one even looked at them. In Garowe, people stare like there is no tomorrow, so I was relieved to not get all that staring directed at me for a change. Also I saw people reading newspapers in Hargeisa, whereas, I never saw this in Garowe. Of course Garowe never was built when Siyad Barre was president of Somalia, and it was considered to be the rural part of Somalia. Garowe was built in the last 14 years, so it’s still in it’s infant stage in alot of areas. Nevertheless, Garowe is really a beautiful city.

As I went to explore the city, and would ask people questions and directions I always got the same reactions from people. People would always ask me if I was from “Mogadhishu” as my Somali accent was not the same as theirs, and they would ask if my tribe was “hawiye”. So I concluded that the majority of the people there were against people from southern Somalia, because some of them would even give me aggressive looks when they heard me speak. I became so defensive while in Hargeisa for the first two days, because I never felt discriminated against by other Somalis in my life. It’s funny because we look alike, yet I felt so foreign while in Hargeisa. Eventually I ran into some people from the United Kingdom who were also Somalilanders there, and they were friendly and less tribal-minded. But what was really surprising is that even the people I met from the UK in Hargeisa, some even who were born in the UK still asked me what “tribe” I was. Growing up in America, I never asked anyone what tribe they were, I always saw the person as being another Somali. Even while in Garowe, no one has ever asked me what my tribe was. It seems like the people in Garowe are also more welcoming and hospitable to newcomers and are more pro-Somalia, and about unity.

Anyways, my new found friends in Hargeisa really helped me relieve my tension, and drove me around the city, took me out to eat American, Italian and Ethiopian foods. I eat real Ethiopian food at this restaurant owned by real Ethiopians in Hargeisa, in Garowe, they have the fakest Ethiopian injera ever, it’s basically Somali style injera (flat bread) that is bigger to make it look like it’s the regular Ethiopian injera. Anyways, the first thing I wanted to eat while in Hargeisa was a proper cheese burger. I didn’t have a cheese burger for like 10 months, so I was so excited to find that this hotel called Maan-Soor had that. I went to visit that hotel and it was absolutely a 5-star hotel, and I was surprised that it was there. Nevertheless, I had my first taste of real melted cheese, and beef!! I hadn’t had beef since coming to Garowe, because they have no cows in Garowe, only goats and camels. I also went to this place called Fish and Steak and had the best pizza in the world with chicken and again real melted mozzarella cheese. I also had real icecream, yogurt, and apples of which I was starved off for the past 3.5 months in Garowe. The shopping there was amazing, they had really nice clothes, but I was surprised by the high prices there. The “upscale” stores there were really expensive, almost more expensive than even in America, and you would think Africa would be more cheaper than America. I didn’t see one local person from Hargeisa in those stores, and the majority of people shopping there were from abroad. In Garowe, although it tends to be the most expensive place in Puntland, was in comparison much cheaper.

Eventually I missed my family in Garowe, and had to return after being 5 days in Hargeisa. Before I left, I decided to do one more round of shopping in the city, so I took the city bus to visit different places within the city. In Hargeisa, they have similiar buses to Dubai, but in Garowe, they don’t have big buses, they use these vans to escort people. I finally hopped in my car again for another 9 hour drive back to Garowe, which I missed for some reason. The whole time while I was in Hargeisa I felt like I was not in Somalia. To make things worst that day I was traveling back to Garowe, there was fighting going on in a city called Tukaraq, near Las Anod between Somaliland and Puntland. We eventually had to stop in Las Anod until it was safe enough to continue our journey. We passed Somaliland soldiers while in Las Anod, then after we crossed the Puntland border we saw Puntland soldiers and heard gunfire in the mountain areas adjacent to the main road we were driving on. It was a very tense experience, but we made it safely to Garowe. When we crossed the border to Puntland, it was the first time I felt relieved and finally at home. I felt I was back in my own country at that moment. Even friends I made while in Hargeisa called me to ask me if I made it safely back to Garowe, because they had also heard about the fighting in that area.

Overall, it was great for me to get away for a while from Garowe, and I definately will try to visit Hargeisa again, even with my little negative experiences there. Hargeisa is a great place to visit if you want to vacation there for a short time. It reminded me of how Somalia was when Mogadhishu was peaceful, except Mogadhishu was more beautiful at that time. I also hope to post pictures of my trip to Hargeisa soon.