MY SOMALIA

From time to time, I post poems that are written by non-Somalis on this page; those poems, are often about Somalia or Africa. Ms. Sinikka Salminen emailed me few days ago with this poem and pictures taken in 1985 in Somalia. 

About the author: I wrote this poem december 1985 when I returned from Somalia to Finland. I worked 1 ½ years in Tuberculosis project as a public health nurse, living and working in Mogadishu but working also in Kismayo, Qoryoley, Hargeisa and Burao, an unforgettable experience, wonderfull country.

Sinikka Salminen Kerava, Finland

My Somalia is a land of sun

a land of sunraising and sunset

a land of dark and warm nights

a land of camels and goats

a land of kind human beings

a land of friends, a land of light.

My Somalia is a land of communication

there I learned to touch another person

there I learned to laugh, to cry

there I learned to work, to relax

there I learned to get many friends

there I learned to lose my friends.

My Somalia is a land of flowers

a land of Indian Ocean

a land of dry and hot sand

a land of warm and strong wind

a land of sweating under the hot sun

a land of helpful rain.

My Somalia is a land of different customs

there I learned to walk slowly

there I learned to live without telephone

there I learned to live without morningnews

there I learned to drink camelmilk

there I learned to respect somali woman

My Somalia is a land of verbal communication

a land of poem

a land of song

a land of music

a land of radio

a land of tapes.

My Somalia is a land of sounds and smells

there I learned to hear the sea

in that corner of Lido beach

there I learned to smell the unssi

burning it in the "unssi-pot"

getting the smell to my partyclothes.

My Somalia is a land of marketplaces

a land of somali tea

a land of Alba softdrink

a land of sweet "halua"

a land of "dira" a land of "kuntino".

My Somalia is a land of my experiences

there I learned to sing on Merca road

there I learned to see the stars of Shalambood

there I learned to find the old Xamar

there I learned to hear the night of Kismayo

here I learned to smell the night of Qoryoley.

My Somalia is a land of somalifood

a land of somalirice

a land of goatmeat and "bas-bas"

a land of "ambulo iyo bun"

a land of "angero iyo beer"

a land of mango, a land of papaya.

My Somalia is a land of handhygiene

there I learned to wash my hands

without waterpipes

and we did that before eating,

also after eating,

you used your right hand.

My Somalia is a land of contrasts

a land of richness, a land of poverty

a land of health, a land of diseases

a land of a birth of a little child a land of a death of a little child

I carry on my arms one of them.

But my Somalia is a land of Allah

Who takes care of the somali children,

the strong men, the long-walking nomads,

the beautiful women, the hard-working mothers.

In that land I can touch the nature,

I can sense very old historical background.

This is my Somaliland.

By:  Ms. Sinikka Salminen