Saturday, November 21, 2009

She is a woman from Somalia

She is a woman from Somalia,
And she is the guardian of our hopes
And a symbol of our struggle.

Nestled in the heart of the Horn of Africa,
She walks over the savannah with her child in one hand
And in the other a costly water container almost filled to the brim.

She searches the countryside for signs of danger.
She knows that if she faced a patrol the chances of being raped, beaten and even killed are high.
Despite this understanding, the child must eat and drink and so she goes,
Driven by the undeniable love of a mother to her child.
She has suffered much, her home has been reduced to ashes,
Members of her family have been killed
She has been hungry just so her child can eat.

“ Will she once again live through what was in the past? Will the child grow up, even if it just experience the same fear when she collects firewood and fetching water with a child of his own years from now? The mother can only pray. “

Tomorrow she will go and fetch water again.
She will do this despite the dangers she faced.
She tells herself that it is a matter of survival, but deep down she knows that there is more than that.
It is her own personal distrust of those who have brought so much misery to her country and its people. She will not be a prisoner in her own country.

That night, when the baby is asleep,
she slowly recite a poem of defiance.
The same poem her mother read to her years ago.
It is a poem recited by mothers to their children all over Somalia.
It is a poem that conveys messages of struggle.

She is a woman from Somalia, and she is the guardian of our hopes and a symbol of our struggle.

Zana H Hashi
Copyright © 2009

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