Somalis…

Why is it we warn each other to stay away from one another?  God forbid we have apocalyptic hands; laying waste to self-esteem, blood-letting via fratricide or dream killing through crab tactics. It’s milder than that. Worst case scenario you are infected by malaise of lowered expectations or egoism takes over, meaning there can only be one on top.  Next thing you know success is jeopardized and goals compromised. The remedy of course is self-alienation. This entails avoiding “them” and “yourself” in the process.

Perhaps claiming descent from some other group, or focusing on spiritual growth and less on ethnicity is an option. Here’s a thought – Ethiopian. They seem to be better received by westerners, and more demure than their war-like neighbours to the east. I hear being Yemeni is fashionable these days. This may be an unsubstantiated claim, but perhaps if you shake your family tree long enough a little man wearing a dish dash might fall out.

   

[Dish dash silhouette]

Warning:  This notion is more fiction than fact.

In the process of pretending, one ends up exorcising the Somali inside that used to have unshakeable pride and noble ties irrespective of their station in life. Consequently, there is a severance of authentic ancestral connections and a historical legacy that predates the existence of one of Africa’s oldest Neolithic cave paintings (in Las Geel, Somalia). Cultural artefacts are left behind, the attire (sedex-qeyd and guntiino) are burned and cultural activities cease to continue. Subsequently, memories of traditional dances, ceremonies, rituals and rites of passage are wiped clean.

[Traditional Nomad]

Now that these are relics of the past, you rationalize that they will not help you self-advance or aid in your spiritual or financial development. You experience a mental glitch; transporting you to the heart of Toronto’s downtown but wearing tribal clothes. Overwhelmed and feeling like an exhibitionist you catch the gaze of onlookers that view you as a spectacle or a radical provocation of dissent.  You dozed off for a moment on the TTC and are thankful to be the cosmopolitan farax or xalimo you are (Sans tribal garb).

[Sedex-qeyd]

Being a cultural runaway can get lonely at times. I know it’s hard to be at ease without that wonderful fire hazard we call unsi (frankincense).  The thought of being “without” it sends my mind sinking into doldrums of despair. There is a “self” that refuses to be rejected or removed from what others see that is quintessentially “Somali.” I can’t help but chant audibly [Somali baan ahay].  Suddenly, I do not cower or put on a guise to make others feel comfortable. I simply am.

 

[Guntiino]

Somali pride has taken a back seat, but resilience shines through.  People experiencing hardship never got anywhere with self-loathing talk. They never overcame by focusing on astronomical odds or the direness of their predicament. They only flourished from effort, planning, unity, eons of ancestral wisdom and God’s will.

Those that antipathize their fellow Somalis are either riddled with personal grievances or rivalries from the past. They have experienced stagnation from fixed thinking, and for that reason they are not moving forward. They have forgotten that pride in self and knowledge of self is the key ingredients of success. One cannot advance alone, and cannot disconnect themselves entirely from the whole. Yet naysayers still cling to the belief that Somali people are toxic, by examining their interactions with each other; they conclude that their behaviour is unruly, selfish and self-destructive. They have likely taken a stand to stay away from that which is caustic and burning to their souls. Yet they seem to forget they are simultaneously inviting negativity in to their lives by operating on that frequency. They might even go on to say that the ethnic nepotism you speak of is fictitious and overshadowed by clan-love. That is true but they fail to see more than one angle of the truth. I guarantee if you are stranded somewhere and come across them they will likely help you out (most of the time). You also have them to call upon for social support in times of need i.e. financial distress, sickness or death. This support normally crosses boundaries of tribe and indicates genuine concern for one another. Let’s not forget remittance sent back home to relatives. At the end of the day we are there for each other when it counts the most.

Ramadan Kareem