Back to Garowe…Again

It seems like forever since I blogged, but I’m so excited to be able to communicate with my readers. I came back to Garowe last Sunday on a UN flight straight from Nairobi. I really enjoyed my two weeks stay in Nairobi, and my short visit to Mombasa which I will never forget. It will forever be a memorable experience for me, as is my stay in Garowe.

Well, my venting against the culture here still continues. It just never ceases to stop. I was also unable to blog because they blocked WordPress for some reason. I’m currently blogging from the UN headquarters in Garowe, of all places because they use a private internet service. The regular internet service in Garowe blocks almost everything. They actually recently unblocked social network Twitter, which I was actually still using while it was blocked via a proxy server. They have gone a step further and recently blocked access to Youtube, which has left many youths here devastated. The reason why they censor so much is because they believe people will watch pornography online. Doesn’t Youtube block porn?

Anyways, even though I’m a bit more comfortable with the culture here, it still shocks me at times. Like recently, I was walking with my cousin and a group of girls were staring at me. One of them finally spoke and told me to “wear proper hijab” in a very robotic voice. I was shocked that she would say that because I was wearing like 6 layers of clothing that were black, and in fact I was very hot. For her to assume I’m not wearing proper hijab because I’m not wearing the umbrella type of hijab they wear here was very insulting to me. I ended up giving her a little speech, and we had a little discussion about Islam also. In the end, we came to a mutual disagreement, but everything fared out well. It’s sad because the Quranic schools in Somalia don’t seem to teach children manners, or “akhlaq” as it’s called in Arabic. Furthermore, children are just taught to memorize the Quran in Arabic without really learning the meaning. Quranic schools make a lot of money, and for this reason anyone who knows how to recite the Quran can open it, without actually having much knowledge about Islam. Also, Somalia is heavily influenced by Wahabbism which says to have a close-minded “puritanical” view of Islam. All other school of thoughts in Islam are basically ignored. It’s basically a very rigid view of Islam, and we know Islam is not rigid as God is the most merciful.

As I said earlier, I’m currently blogging from the UN headquarters here, and I’ve been learning alot about the UN as an organization. I was amazed to find most of the people here making the decisions, and with the high paid jobs are not Somalis. The Somalis who work here seem to be mere messengers, and seem to do all the work for them while they get little pay, and little time off. I talked to a person who works here and they told me the UN is not a developmental organization as many people seem to think. They are basically making money off of Somalia. It’s a form of colonialism to me because the people they claim to be helping have no say in the decision-making process. As one person told me here, we need a strong Somali leader who isn’t about filling his pockets, but someone who will kick out the UN for this country to realize peace. It is the very reason why many Somalis are dying of starvation in southern Somalia, because the UN and other AID agencies made them dependent on food handouts. Instead of people producing their own foods from the land, they have been made inept.

Even though Nairobi has many problems as well, maybe I was just distracted by the pizza with real cheese, getting a pedicure, and the tall buildings in downtown Nairobi, or maybe I was distracted by the palm trees in Mombasa and the white sand beaches, but Garowe is in Somalia. And I hope to try to do my part in making it a better place. I have probably resided in Garowe longer than in any African country, but it’s always interesting to note differences in cultures. We all know Somalia has problems, but it seems like we only want to discuss the problems, even our “leaders” want to discuss the problems, but who is discussing “solutions”?

Karibu! To Nairobi

I haven’t been blogging lately due to being busy in Garowe with so many work-related matters. I recently was invited to Nairobi, Kenya by the Minister of Women affairs in Puntland to partake in a meeting for Somali women and peace. I was very excited about this trip because I was getting so tired of Garowe. As you already know from my previous posts, there isn’t much going on in Garowe. There is no entertainment, everyone stares and also it’s a very small town so there is really no places to go.

I haven’t been to Nairobi since 1993, and I don’t remember it then because I was very young. It was my first real trip to Nairobi, Kenya. First thing I noticed here was how much cooler the weather is compared to Garowe. It felt like fall. I loved it. Of course Nairobi is a much bigger city, with diversity. I loved being in a big city, it’s been a while since I left America that I saw that. I had missed seeing big buildings, and paved side walks. I felt like I had just come out of the jungle, back to civilization. When we came to Nairobi, we stayed at a hotel in Eastleigh, which is a part of Nairobi that is mainly inhabited by Somalis. I had previously heard that Eastleigh was a dirty, unsafe place to reside, but I was surprised by how luxurious the hotels were there. Also, many of the big hotels that are even way better than the Hiltons and Radissons are owned by Somalis. I was surprised to see so many rich Somalis in Nairobi. Also, the Somalis in Kenya seem to have unity. The Kenyans seem like polite , civilized people, and friendly. Somali Kenyans are one of the big tribes in Kenya, so Somalis and Kenyans generally have a great relationship. Many of the Somalis don’t speak Somali, only Swahili, the local Kenyan language.

Similarities between Eastleigh and Garowe, was that Somalis seem to be highly religious and highly hijab conscious even in Kenya. I feel that over the years Somalis have gotten more extreme in their outwardly practice of the religion of Islam. It could be both a good thing and not so good in other ways. However, the Somalis here were more used to diversity, girls dress how they want , even though there were no girls without headscarves. All had on their head coverings, but unlike Garowe the style of dress varied. Also the Somalis here are so much easier to befriend, and more tolerate of differences. Nairobi has different parts, although rich Somalis live in Eastleigh, mainly poorer Kenyans and other Somalis live in that area. The rich areas, that are also much cleaner are inhabited by Indians, British, some Kenyans, and some Somalis.

I loved being in Nairobi so much, that I missed by flight back to Garowe. The idea of going back to that place still terrifies me. I’ve decided to stay in Nairobi a bit longer to recuperate from months of being deprived of certain foods, arts, and self expression. I have nothing bad against Garowe, but I am going to continue to pray to God to make Somalia a better place.By the way, ‘Karibu’ means welcome in Swahili=)