Ramadan Kareem

So begins the month-long fasting . . .

Inauguration

Children wave to the delegation from Djibouti the day before inauguration.

Somaliland's president and vice president meet with the delegation from Djibouti

Somaliland's new Minister of Foreign Affairs greets the Kenyan delegation the morning of the inauguration.

Band members play the national anthem at the inauguration.

Outgoing President Dahir Riyaale Kahin (left) and incoming President Ahmed Mohamed "Silyano" Mohamoud take seats moments before the swearing-in.

The new First Lady of Somaliland

President Ahmed Mohamed "Silyano" Mohamoud is sworn in as Somaliland's fourth president.

The last few days have been quite exciting as you can see. I've been trying to "cut my teeth" so to speak for the last nine months while I have been here, and the process has not been very pretty. I made a break-through with the Associated Press soon after the elections and was able to take photos of the inauguration for them. Gaining access to Kenyan and Djiboutian delegates, as well as the ministers of the new administration, was quite thrilling. I am a bit of an elections/inauguration junkie. The anticipation that change might actually occur this time; the hope that fills the air as new energy and ideas materialize . . . . While a healthy dose of skepticism should always be kept in mind, the new administration has already taken positive steps toward ensuring that this time it will be different, reducing the number of ministers and deputy ministers to just 26. The new president also seems to be more realistic about the budget Somaliland has and is surrounding himself with people that locals feel confident about. We'll see what the next five years bring . . .

International Book Fair

The International Hargeisa Book Fair is taking place this week. I had no idea it could be so interesting. Prominent leaders, poets and writers have spoken, causing me to make a conscious commitment to start attending book fairs in future countries where I reside.

Saturday I served on the panel for Professor Iqbal Jhazbhay's new book entitled Somaliland: An African Struggle for Nationhood and International Recognition along with Edna Adan Ismail and Ahmed Esa, one of the founders of Abaarso Tech. The book is an excellent source for Somaliland history, particularly in its struggle for international recognition, and I was very honored to be asked to take part.

I became interested in Professor Jhazbhay's work ever since he discovered my blog back in January and sent along a copy of his new book. Since then we've been in contact, and I've come to learn just a little piece of all the work he has done on behalf of Somalilanders. He is an ever persistent scholar and wealth of knowledge, and I appreciated being able to speak with him at length today about a new project I've been asked to do.

I also had the chance to briefly meet Nadifa Mohamed, the emerging author for Black Mambo Boy. The book has already received or been shortlisted for numerous awards; the book is being compared to The Kite Runner and Half of a Yellow Sun. The summary describes it as a story set in the 1930s that follows a 10-year-old Somali boy who loses his mother as he goes on an epic search of his father that leads him through East Africa, Egypt and eventually into the United Kingdom. By the end of the book he is only 11 years old. I expect this book to go far and to see future stories from this young lady.

Unfortunately I was unable to buy a copy as she was only able to bring but a few copies over; fortunately I have discovered that a local library has it as well as a few other books I've been wanting access to (Maps and Love in the Time of Cholera to name a couple). Hopefully this will cut down on the current list I've been developing for a friend coming over in a month or so.

The fair goes until the 27th, so if anyone is around they should definitely check it out. Dr. Bulhan, the president of the University of Hargeisa and author of multiple books, will be speaking tomorrow. I'm excited to be witness to some of the other speakers tomorrow (the presidential handover is expected to happen on Tuesday elsewhere in town), and insha'allah I will be able to return next year . . . perhaps in a different capacity?

Samia

Soon after I arrived in Somaliland last Fall, I stumbled across the story of Samia Yousuf Omar--the sole female Somali athlete in the 2008 Olympics. She competed in the 200 meter, but did not place first. In fact, she did not place at all. She took last place, several seconds behind the fastest runners in the world.

What is remarkable about her story, however, is not simply that she competed in the Olympics. It is that she overcame running in a society that discourages female sports, in intense fighting in her hometown of Mogadishu, while training in a destroyed stadium with volunteer coaches, working as a full-time "mom" to enable her mother to financially her family (Samia's father died from mortar attack debris in 2007) and operated on a very simple diet of Somali bread and fruits and vegetables; all of this she did within the context of a central government that has been ineffective since her birth 19 years ago. Although she did not take home a flashy ribbon, she still received a standing ovation from much of the crowd--not because she covered the most ground in the shortest amount of time, but because she covered the most ground of any of the runners in order to compete at all.

Because she is not a celebrity and instead lives in extreme poverty (her family rents two rooms of a larger house), it took me three months and various people searching for her. Since then, we have been collaborating on a project that I hope to bring to fruition within the coming months. Tonight I found out that as she prepares to leave for Nairobi tomorrow to compete in the African Championships, her mother and five younger siblings have recently become displaced due to the growing violence. This is not the first time this has happened, and if the situation in southern Somalia continues to deteriorate--and it shows no sign of reversing--it will most likely not be the last.

I ask that you be mindful of her and her family as well as the millions of Somalis who live on a daily basis not knowing if they will live to see tomorrow. If the Ugandan bombings this past month gave anyone a wake-up call of the mounting violence in this region, then you need to take a closer look at Somalia: a country that will leak less and less information from it as journalists become increasingly targeted and forced to flee.

Comfort

Admittedly, the days can get a bit monotonous. The election fever is over, inauguration won't be for a couple weeks, good friends have begun trekking back to their home countries and I have become a bit of a recluse trying to hammer out a few projects. I have also become very cognate of the fact that I have very few useful skills to offer the world. I amaze myself sometimes (and others I know) that I have managed to survive as long as I have. Thankfully, most people have looked over this and assisted me along the way.

I've also begun to collect new friends (and retained a few old ones) who force me to be social. This past weekend I spent a good chunk of it downtown and reminded me of how much I love the chaos of Hargeisa and the friendliness of the people. Comfort. Despite the lack of entertainment options this country offers, I have yet to feel anything but loved and safe. So I thought I'd share are a few things that offer me comfort.

 1.) My tailor. He has this lovely way of throwing his head back when he laughs, and he is always smiling. He has helped me embrace Somali clothing and actually feel attractive in the various styles he chooses for me. I knew I had succeeded when my female students finally asked me where I had my clothes made. I no longer feel dread when I wake up and try to decide what to adorn myself with that morning.

2.) The Traffic Controllers. Their agility and speed are rare in this country, and I find such joy seeing them take their job so seriously. In a very real way, they are ensuring that order remains in Somaliland.

3.) Finding a Random Helpful Stranger who Speaks English. Now I enjoy bartering as much as the next despite the obvious language barrier, "Kow oranges. Labba this (pointing);" particularly when I can't tell if one mango is better than the next, however, or can't remember the word for salt, I really relish random strangers suddenly appearing at my side to ask how they can help.

4.) Changing Fruit Seasons. When I arrived back in mid-June, I was greeted by mountains and mountains of beautiful green watermelons for an unbeatable price. In a country where street food is lacking, grabbing a watermelon slice provides much-needed novelty.

 

5.) Horribly Off-Brand Perfume. I find it terribly endearing that rather than soap to clean hands, restaurant owners and staff eagerly offer perfume to spray--not on my wrists or neck--but on my palms.