THIS DESCRIBES SOMALIS TO A T

[BODHI]

" You don't have to have a prodigious imagination to know that they are unruly gadabouts of mean income, crass in their talk, brash in their behaviour, arrogant in their dealings with other africans. The airs they give themselves, as they celebrate their racial identity with such loud aplomb, blazoning their looks with aristocratic attributes. You scratch deeper, and their self-complacency seldom withstands the heat of analysis, temperamental like mercury.'

"nervous of Kenya one instant,' she said, repeating time and time again how much they are enjoying the tranquility here, and disparaging of us the very next moment."

" We pity the somalis, my colleagues and i,' she said. But we cannot help our feeling that for a people who have brought a curse on their heads, they do not appear to have been HUMBLED by the experience in any way."

[Narcissistic]

" You don't have to have a prodigious imagination to know that they are unruly gadabouts of mean income, crass in their talk, brash in their behaviour, arrogant in their dealings with other africans. The airs they give themselves, as they celebrate their racial identity with such loud aplomb, blazoning their looks with aristocratic attributes. You scratch deeper, and their self-complacency seldom withstands the heat of analysis, temperamental like mercury.'

That's so true

[BODHI]

[Cawar]

" We pity the somalis, my colleagues and i,' she said. But we cannot help our feeling that for a people who have brought a curse on their heads, they do not appear to have been HUMBLED by the experience in any way."

100% true.

[ToughGong]

The Somalis are very self-respecting people. They feel free and proud. During the Italian colonial rule, the Italians used to whip the Somali detainees in prisons. Those Somalis would never forget the whipping and would take revenge by killing the Italians as soon as they got an opportunity to do so. Realising this, the Italian Viceroy Garsiani introduced a law banning the whipping of the Somalis. About 135 years ago, the famous British traveller, Sir Richard Burton, wrote about the Somalis of the northern regions in these words:

"They (The Somalis) evince a gentleness of disposition and a docility which offers hope to civilization in this region of barbarism...people who in my humble opinion, are capable of being raised high in the scale of humanity...Every free-born man holds equal to his ruler, and allows no royalties or prerogatives to abridge his birth-right of liberty ... with all their passion for independence, the Somali ... are both apt to discipline and subservient to command."

They are gifted with an extraordinary natural intelligence. Even uneducated Somali nomads can very soon understand the meanings and motives of strangers and speakers after exchanging a few sentences with them. They have a developed sense of forecasting -- what the modem futurologists term as "FFKl" (Future Focussed Role Image).

The Somalis are open-minded and cordial people. They are very hospitable. They consider it very shameful if one of them does not provide hospitality by way of food, shelter and protection to his guests.

The Somalis are known for their truly great and unique traditions of extending real help to their brethren (relatives and tribesmen) at the time of marriages, need, feud, wars etc. Their widespread diya-paying relations and their custom of makhdarad and respecting and helping parents, siblings and relatives and keeping and feeding their relatives for years free of charge are concrete evidences of their cooperative nature.

[ToughGong]

Macaan iyo Qadhaadh

1. Dacartuba marbay malab dhashaa ood muudsataa dhabaqe
2. Waxan ahay macaan iyo qadhaadh meel ku wada yaalle
3. Midigtayda iyo bidixdu waa laba mataanoode

4. Midi waa martida soora iyo maata daadihise
5. Midina waa mindiyo xiirayiyo mur iyo deebaaqe
6. Masalooyin talantaalliyaan maandhow leeyahaye

7. Nin majiira keliyuun qabsada hay malayninae
8. Marbaan ahay muddeex camal san oon maagista aqoone
9. Marna macangag laayaanahoo miiggan baan ahaye

10. Marbaan ahay muftiga saahidnimo mawlacaw gala'e
11. Marna Mukhawi waashoo xumaha miista baan ahaye
12. Marbaan ahay nin xaaraan maqdaxa aan marin jidiinkise

13. Marna tuug mu'diya baan ahoon maal Rasuul bixinne
14. Marbaan ahay maqaam awliyaad maqaddinkoodiiye
15. Marna mudanka shaydaanka iyo maal jinbaan ahaye

16. Marbaan ahay murtiyo baanisaba madaxda reeraaye
17. Oo ay weliba muuniyo dulqaad igu majeertaane
18. Marna reer magaal Loofaroon muuqan baan ahaye

19. Waxan ahay nin midabbeeya oo maalinbays rogae
20. Muuqaygu gelinkiiba waa muunad goonniyahe
21. Miisaanna ima saari karo nin i maleeyaaye

22. Muslinka iyo gaalada dirkaba waan micna aqaane
23. Malaa'iigta naartiyo jannadu waygu murantaaye
24. Ninkii maalmo badan soo jiree madaxu boosaystay

25. Ee inan rag maamuli yiqiin waa i maan garanne
26. ninkasta halkii kuula mudan ee ay muhato laabtaadu
27. Ee aanad madadaaladeed ugala maarmaynin
28. Iska soo mar waa kuu bannaan marinkad doontaaye

Bitter and Sweet

Consider the aloe - how bitter is its taste!

Yet sometimes there wells up a sap so sweet

That it seems like honey in your mouth.

Side by side the sweet and bitter run

Just as they do, my friends, in me,

As I switch from sweet to bitter

And back to sweet again.

My two hands, right and left, are twins.

One twin gives food to strangers and to guests,

It sustains the weak and guides them.

But the other is a slashing, cutting knife -

As sharp to the taste as myrrh,

As bitter as the aloe.

Do not suppose I am the kind of man

Who walks along one path, and that path only.

I go one way, and seem a reasonable man,

I provoke no one, I have the best of natures -

I go another, and I'm obstinate and bold,

Striking out at others without cause.

Sometimes I seem a learned man of God

Who retreats in ascetic zeal to a seclude sanctuary -

I turn again and I'm a crazy libertine,

Sneakily snatching whatever I can get.

I am counted as one of the elders of the clan,

Esteemed for my wisdom, tact and skill in argument,

But within me there dwells a mere townee, too -

A no-good layabout he is, at that.

I'm a man whose gullet will allow no passage

For food that believers are forbidden to eat,

And yet I'm a pernicious, hardened thief -

The property of even the Prophet himself

Would not be safe from me.

I have my place among the holy saints,

I am one of the foremost of their leaders,

But at times I hold high rank in Satan's retinue,

And then my lords and masters are the jinns.

It's no good trying to weigh me up -

I can't be balanced on a pair of scales.

From this day to that my very colour changes -

Nay, I'm a man whose aspect alters

As morning turns to evening

And back once more to morning.

Muslims and infidels - I know their minds

And understand them through and through.

"He's ours!" the angels of Hell proclaim of me
"No, ours!" the angels of Heaven protest.

I have, then, all these striking qualities

Which no one can ignore -

But who can really know my mind?

Only a grey-head who has lived for many days
And learned to measure what men are worth.

And now, my friends, each man of you -
If either of the paths I follow

Takes your fancy and delights your heart,

Or even if you cannot bear to lose

The entertainment I provide,

Then come to me along the path -

You're free to make a choice!

[Twisted_Logic]

" You don't have to have a prodigious imagination to know that they are unruly gadabouts of mean income, crass in their talk, brash in their behaviour, arrogant in their dealings with other africans. The airs they give themselves, as they celebrate their racial identity with such loud aplomb, blazoning their looks with aristocratic attributes. You scratch deeper, and their self-complacency seldom withstands the heat of analysis, temperamental like mercury.'

"nervous of Kenya one instant,' she said, repeating time and time again how much they are enjoying the tranquility here, and disparaging of us the very next moment."

" We pity the somalis, my colleagues and i,' she said. But we cannot help our feeling that for a people who have brought a curse on their heads, they do not appear to have been HUMBLED by the experience in any way."

This is from Nouradin Farah's book on the Somali Diaspora, rite?

[LobsterUnit]

[BODHI]

" You don't have to have a prodigious imagination to know that they are unruly gadabouts of mean income, crass in their talk, brash in their behaviour, arrogant in their dealings with other africans. The airs they give themselves, as they celebrate their racial identity with such loud aplomb, blazoning their looks with aristocratic attributes. You scratch deeper, and their self-complacency seldom withstands the heat of analysis, temperamental like mercury.'

"nervous of Kenya one instant,' she said, repeating time and time again how much they are enjoying the tranquility here, and disparaging of us the very next moment."

" We pity the somalis, my colleagues and i,' she said. But we cannot help our feeling that for a people who have brought a curse on their heads, they do not appear to have been HUMBLED by the experience in any way."

This is from Nouradin Farah's book on the Somali Diaspora, rite?

YES A KENYAN WOMAN SAID THIS