Somalia: 9: Womens Perspectives

A bit about me. I’m based in Nairobi, Kenya. I like to think of myself as a small, colourful, African elephant but its pretty obvious from my posts that despite strong views of what Africa could be, I come from a pretty privileged ‘Western’ lifestyle and position. As part of my current work I am involved in one way or another in looking at and learning about a number of different countries in the east and horn of Africa. But one of the primary countries that I’ve been involved in has been Somalia.

So I’ve already read a lot about Somalia. It’s political past and present. It’s pastoralist, agro-pastoralist and semi-urban livelihood zones. It’s complicated federalist structure. Piracy. Terrorism. Al Shabaab. Its multiple humanitarian crises. So I’ve collected just a few books about the place.

I was keen to get my hands on Mogadishu: Then and Now given that despite the fact that I work so much on Somalia, I haven’t travelled to Mogadishu. This doesn’t bother me much (particularly after reading one of the other books below) as security is still a major concern. But its hard working on something so intently that you cannot visit or see. But many of the people I work with here go quite often, or are from Mogadishu. And do say that they can see just how beautiful it once was, or could be. With Italian style colonnaded buildings set along beautiful sandy beaches.

Then and Now is a collection of what seems to be rare photos of some of these old buildings that have been destroyed in violence that has wracked the city since the 1990s and even before. The subtitle ‘A pictorial tribute to Africa’s most wounded city’ comes out in many of the photos, which unfortunately aren’t of the best quality. But its countered by a quote from Somali writer Nuruddin Farah (who I haven’t been able to read, but which who is on my ‘to read’ list) that ‘once you have tasted the water of Mogadishu you always go back’.

I just finished Keeping Hope Alive by Dr. Hawa Abdi. Keeping Hope Alive is ‘Mama Hawa’s story of how she persevered through over 30 years of hosting and managing internally displaced people on her property outside the capital of Mogadishu in Afgoye. Afgoye has been host to a large number of displaced Somali people over the past few years as Somalia has fought a brutal civil war against the extremist group Al Shabaab, and between themselves through vicious clan rivalry. This, together with a non-functioning state and recurrent droughts have meant that people have suffered greatly. Somali’s constitute one of the largest displaced populations in the world and many of them are totally reliant on external assistance. I am involved in this quite a lot in my day to day work. Even still, it was nice to read a book about the efforts of Somali’s themselves. Mama Hawa is a trained doctor and lawyer and is portrayed in the book as being unrelenting in her concern for the people she hosts and in ensuring that peace is maintained in her small area of influence. She operates on countless Somalis and was the country’s first qualified obstetrician.

The book is as interesting in its description of her management of the camp amid the chaos and security threats as her dealings and decisions around her family. After years of marriage her second husband leaves her to live with his second wife – who already has his five year old child – a family that she knows nothing about. She mourns incredibly for her one and only son despite the dedication of her two similarly amazing and committed daughters. I’d recommend this as a good introductory read about the situation in Somalia – and what people in Somalia have been dealing with for years.

Somalia is a fascinating place to read about – probably because not many people get to travel there. The wars written about in Hope Alive and visible in Mogadishu are the backdrop behind a strong migrant experience in the UK, US and across much of northern Europe. From Somalia With Love is a nice story about a young Somali girl who lives in East London with her mother and two brothers. She doesn’t remember Somalia. One day her father (who the family thought had earlier died in the war) comes to live with them from Mogadishu. With him he brings the strong patriarchial and cultural traditions of Somalia. And the family has a tough time of adapting.

 

Most recently I finally got the opportunity to travel to Somaliland. Just before travelling, I read part of Margaret Laurence’s The Prophet’s Camel Bell: A Memoire of Somaliland. Set in the 1950s, Margaret is a Canadian and self professed ‘anti-imperialist’. This sets her apart from the other British colonial wives who hang out at the Hargeisa Club.

“I felt I must discover everything about Somali beliefs, customs, traditions. I assumed that these young men, who were teachers, would be delighted to tell me. What did Somali bride-price actually involve? Did men love their wives or merely regard them as possessions? Could a woman divorce her husband for infidelity? Did Somalis believe in magic? Did the clitoridectomy make it impossible for Somali women to enjoy sex… Hakim and Nuur smiled and said they did not know. All at once the brash tone of my voice was conveyed to my own ears and I was appalled.”

Perhaps the most harrowing book I’ve ever read is A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout. Before I came to Nairobi I undertook security training where there was a mock kidnapping – we were driving along, hooded men came out of a barn with hooded masks, forcing us out of the car and into the barn. I was bent over, and the insinuations of what would happen to me as a woman started. The importance was really to consider what you would do in that kind of situation, and particular the considerations of potentially putting yourself in that possible situation in the first place. But I did come away thinking that I didn’t really want to read kidnapping tales…

But I looked at the blurb on this one and couldn’t help myself. Amanda was a young, pretty Canadian from a poor home who was earning money from bar tending then jet setting around discovering the world. She increasingly travels to more dangerous places – India takes her to Pakistan which takes her to Afghanistan where she returns independently on a modest budget to try and break into photo-journalism. She’s not particularly successful, but has a rewarding time doing it. Along the way she meets Australian Nigel Brennan and they hook up for a while. But it doesn’t work out. Then Amanda decides that she will try out Somalia. Not many western photo-journalists are there amidst a very hot war in 2008. She’s looking for her big break. And how bad could Somalia be compared to Pakistan and Afghanistan? She suggests to Nigel to come along, even though they’ve pretty much fallen out of touch. For some reason he agrees to come.

They are in Mogadishu for 2 or 3 days before they head slightly out of town. Their car is stopped by Somali’s who bundle them off into another car and to the outskirts of Mogadishu. At first they are held together. Treated ok. But time passes. They are moved to a few different houses. They get to know the guards. Some are nicer than others. They convert to Islam. This seems to help them a little.

More time passes. Ransom is not paid. They are separated. They find a way to communicate. Things start to get bad for Amanda when one guard starts abusing her. After a number of months they decide to try and escape. They get out, but are caught again. From then on things get increasingly worse for both of them, but particularly for Amanda who calls out the action of the guard. It’s an awful awful story but one that completely transfixed me – I read the whole book over the course of a long weekend and it has pretty much haunted me since. Eventually ransom is paid and they are released. But after 463 days in captivity. Amazingly she learns to forgive her captures and what has happened to her. She has set up this foundation to help empower Somali girls.

There is lots to read on Somalia – its a fascinating place.