A year old crazy random thought

 From my old Blog

Confusion only arises if and when one lingers between what is practically plausible and what is imaginatively preferable. Every couple that engages in a relationship should do so in relative harmony with their state of mind and circumstance. However, if they, by the stroke of misfortune, mistake what their relationship is capable of, with that which is imaginatively preferable, in their search for perfection, then they are bound to destroy the very thing that had tied them together in the first place. That said, the most peculiar of truths is that perfection only exists in one’s imagination. In extreme claim: perfection is a fabrication. Nothing is perfect, and perfection is nothing. Even when one is thoroughly questioned about what perfection really is, it becomes clear that although it exists in the imagination, it has no real value by itself. This is because; the successful proof of the existence of perfection will disprove the existence of everything else.  

.Things, including us, as we know it, exist due to imperfection. Because, if everything that exists was created perfect, then, it means that perfection would ensure perfect functionality that is epitomized by continual and everlasting existence. Another valid point is that perfection is boring and there is no purpose in creating perfection, knowing that what was created is absolutely perfect. This means that nothing will go wrong with it, and it’s existence guarantees predictability. Since it is perfect it will exist or function perfectly, thus, it is boringly and predictably perfect! What is given less thought is the undesirability of perfection.   Perfection is only one-dimensional and offers just one dimension of the story of the existing thing or state! Imperfection is thus good and a purpose for existence! Things go wrong only to be willed that next time they will go right! 

.One imperfection leads to another imperfection that is nearer to perfection. However, if it were to be hypothesised, the achievement of perfection is the end of trial and error. If processes of trial and error succumbs at the achievement of perfection, then, life succumbs as well. Those who preach goodness over evil or perfection over imperfection haven’t thought far enough, to recognize that they are preaching for inexistence. If we were all to be good, or to be perfect creations, then, what is the purpose of life’s struggle? The achievement of perfection or goodness means goodness and perfection in every act and thought, displaces the need to ‘overcome’ the imperfect or the evil!   

A DECEIVING SMILE (Last part)

(…Continued from ’The punishment of missed chances)  

As her mother exited the front door of the house, a silly but joyous grin spread across her face. She couldn’t her luck today. Earlier, while her mother was in the house, the thought that her presence might spoil her encounter with Diiriye, made her feel uneasy. But amazingly, as if her mother knew what was in store for her today, she left the house giving Nimco all the privacy she craved. Now she had the whole house, to freely entertain her valued guests. When the guests arrive, she even thought about ways of sending her cousin, Haajir, away so that she could be alone with Diiriye. All the while, she was tidying up around the house and in the kitchen making ready beverages.

Also prepared, was food incase her guest was hungry for a home-cooked meal. Being such a great cook, no sooner was the scent and flavours of deliciously made variety of food wafting from the direction of the kitchen. To keep the food warm and the beverages cold, both the cooker and the fridge were hard at work. After nearly three hours of preparedness, she eventually heard the anticipation on the front door. To answer it, she dashed from the kitchen and hurried towards the front door but in mid-way realized she was wearing her colourful headscarf. She then ran back to the sitting room, swiftly picking it up and veiled it on her scent tied-up hair. She quickly glanced at the mirror on the hall-way to check to make sure she had beautifully put on the scarf.

Few steps towards the door, she nervously took hold of the handle praying ‘Bismillahi’ and opened the door. As expected, outside the door stood Haajir and Diiriye was standing farther behind him. ‘Peace be upon you, sister’ greeted Haajir. ‘Peace be upon you, brother’ stammered Nimco and added ‘come on in brothers, please’ while proceeding ahead of them, through the sitting room and to the kitchen. When Haajir and Diiriye entered the sitting, Nimco slightly raising her voice urged them to be seated.  

Soon afterwards she appeared carrying a tray with two glasses and a jug full of juice. She placed the tray on the coffee table, poured a glass of juice and handed it to Haajir. She poured the juice into the second glass and stretched her hand to give it to Diiriye. As she passed the glass to Diiriye, she looked at him and deliberately locked her eyes onto his, followed by a quick smile. Diiriye, smiled back at her as he thanked her for the drink. To him, smiling back was a show of friendliness but to her it meant altogether a different.

Turning her back on him, she grinned as she walked back into the kitchen and begun to giggle right after. For Diiriye to smile back at her like that, she was convinced, is symbolic of a potential for mutual fondness between him and her. Still hiding in the kitchen and eavesdropping on Haajir and Diiriye’s conversation, she couldn’t stop decoding the meaning of Diiriye’s smile. In all, she had every reason to wish for the best, but she needed to be sure. In order to read more of Diiriye’s signals, she now needed to find a way to be alone with him. She felt she must send Haajir away somehow.  

However, she didn’t know what she could ask Haajir to fetch that can keep him away for sometime. ‘What could I ask him to get for me’ she asked herself, searching around the kitchen. Then, her eyes caught the plastic four pint milk container inside the fridge. Unfortunately, the container seemed to have enough milk to last for days. She took it out and looked at it while edging towards the sink. She opened the lid and poured all the milk into the sink till it was empty. ‘Oh, we are out of milk’ she smilingly mocked herself. What was good about sending for milk is that the nearest convenient store was almost twenty minutes walk away. Moreover, it was possible that the store might have been closed already, which would add Haajir’s walk extra fifteen minutes to get to the next store. Nimco is not only a good analyst of situation but she was also an incredible plotter.  After almost thirty minutes of their stay, giving both Haajir and Diiriye ample time to finish the first glass of drink, she cautiously ventured her neck to the sitting and called Haajir into the Kitchen. Haajir immediately went to the kitchen in which she seductively asked him to fetch milk for the family has no milk for even the break-fast tea. Haajir felt somewhat obliged to go as quickly as he can. Passing through the sitting room, he told that he must go to the shop at once and would be back in a short period, urging him to stay behind. Haajir left and Diiriye was left in the sitting room all by himself. Within few minutes of Haajir going out, Nimco came into the sitting carrying a Compact Disk with Somali songs and joined Diiriye. As she entered, Diiriye courteously smiled at her again.  Nimco translated this smile as the go-ahead to set the stage for a romantic mood. She then put the CD into the CD player and hit play. The prelude music began to play but at first she shyly stood by and the time the singer started to sing, she gently started to sway her hips to the beat. At the second verse, she was already quietly singing along. Diiriye observed her with a slight amusement and smile on his face. The song that was playing is one of his favourite and Nimco knew that he liked the song from reading one of his hand-written poems, in which he borrowed some of the lyrics of the song.  When that part of the lyric was reached, she began to sing louder as she moved closer and closer to him. Diiriye, failing to notice the ever decreasing distance between him and Nimco was equally singing along with some emotion. Diiriye, who is by nature tense around girls, somehow let go of his usual restraints. He continued to sing along and moved swayed his head from left to right in imitation of Nimco’s alluring dance to the song’s beat. She danced beautifully with a timely synchronicity to the rhythm. The flow and movement of her perfect statue-like figure accompanied by the beauty of well-defined Somali facial features ornamented by the most seductive pair of eyes were to Diiriye, bewitching Not only was she moving herself in most alluring ways, but she was also discreet in her gentle approach towards Diiriye. Poor Diiriye stood no chance to be spared from her spell. He seemed possessed and pulled in overwhelmingly into the irresistible cosmos of her charm. Before he knew it, she was standing right opposite to him and intimately close for comfort. Her hypnotizing her eyes played him like a fool; sometimes reduces him to smiles, and at other times, foolish giggles. She intentionally positioned herself between his knees when he remained seated on the couch. But it was at this moment that he was starting to regain the control over senses. He broke his eye-contact with her and guided his eyes down her mouth, her slender neck, her well-cushioned chest and finally her gently swinging hips. Unable to make sense of what he was seeing, he blinked closing his eyes several time and then looked again.This time he couldn’t believe what he was looking at! He was looking at girl’s hips almost between his spread thighs. A sever panic ensued. He thrust himself backwards, and then to the side-ways to get out of this seemingly scandalous fixture. But to no avail. Nimco pushed herself against the couch limiting all his desperate movements to escape. On her part, all previous expressions faded from her face quickly. She herself began to panic when she noticed the discomforting panic on Diiriye’s face. She wanted to keep him seated and calm him down. She has already invested too much energy in the situation to let him go quite easily. Soon their physical push and pull interaction turned to a frantic struggle. It was at this tense moment that Haajir nonchalantly walked in! What he coincided with drove him to panic too.

 Now the sitting room was occupied by three individual with the severe panic, only eased by Diiriye’s emotional dash out of the house.Afterwards, he spontaneously broke into tears. He cried due to a single unfortunate situation, which could precipitate many levels of his fall from grace. The only question that came into his mind was: What could be more tragic, all at once, to become an alleged rapist; a treacherous friend; a dishonest lover; a distrusted visitor; and finally, a socially untamed beast? Thus, in despair and shame, he cried and cried and continued to cry for three consecutive days.

 From then on, he vowed never to love and never to be loved, and spend the rest of his life traversing all parts of the world to find a spiritual state of mind that could heal his soul from the need of mortal love.   The End

The punishment of missed chances

(AMTAF! This is for you) 

(…….Continued from ….A Play with emotions)
After a short tearful moment, Diiriye reached deep into his trouser pocket, producing a white handkerchief and dried his eyes from the wetness of tears. He shifted his head from the front seat’s hand rest, sat upright and blew a heavy sigh of relief. ‘Oh for shame’ he murmured to himself ‘I cried’. In his state of emotional exhaustion, Diiriye turned his thoughts at tracing the last time he cried. As far back as he went to remember it, he couldn’t find a time in his adult life that he did cry, except for today. There has been no situation in his adult that had succeeded in making him cry. He always remained extremely calm and emotionally unsettled under any situation at all times. But recent trying times, especially the experience of being the victim of war, has changed Diiriye’s character. He sensed as though his affections for Sucaad are wearing out his strength to keep his emotions under control. Lately, Sucaad has been appearing in all his dreams, which seemed very real and in each dream, he and Sucaad were living in a harmonious bliss of marital companionship. In reality, however, Sucaad eludes him and rejects all his attempts to win her. Such being the case, Diiriye decided to seek advice from Haajir, whom he considered a good friend. After pouring his heart out, Haajir accepted to help Diiriye in succeeding to get the girl of his dreams. Haajir suggested that they visit his cousin, Nimco, who happens to be Sucaad’s best friend. That had been the reason that brought Diiriye into Nimco’s presence. But he has never anticipated what was to unfold next.  

Nimco knew Diiriye as the strange guy who has been unfailingly attempting to win over Sucaad. Every morning, she saw him standing on Sucaad’s route to work, bearing flowers, gifts and hand-written poems, which Sucaad uncaringly ridiculed. Every time Diiriye hands flowers, gifts or poems to Sucaad, she disdainfully passed it to Nimco, to chuck it in the bin. At first, Nimco never thought twice of chucking Diiriye’s offerings into the bin, but gradually, she grew slightly hesitant to do that. Slowly by slowly she felt heavy-hearted about wasting the affectionate efforts of this love-wounded  guy. Then, one day, instead of binning a hand-written love poem from Diiriye to Sucaad, she got herself immersed in conversation with Sucaad and forgot to bin the paper on which a poem was written. As she normally does with all papers she finds in her hand, she threw the poem into her bag without paying much attention to what it was.  

Later that day, while preparing to do some unfinished work-related research with a nearing dead-line, she emptied all the papers in her purse onto her study desk, and out fell the paper poem. At first glance, she thought of ignoring the neatly folded paper but then she grew curious about it. She picked it, gently unfolded it and realized it was a hand-written power with ‘To you, Sucaad’ as a heading. She began to read it. In every line of the poem she read, a beautiful and yet a touchingly emotional message of love came through to her. So impressed by the talented composition and effective delivery of affections by the poet, she forgot about the work she was meant to be doing. She obsessively repeated reading the poem again and again for hours, each time pressing the poem against her heart. That night, she fell asleep as tender feelings entertained her heart.

The next morning when she woke up, she hurriedly dressed up to make sure she does not miss accompanying Sucaad to where they both work. She was excitedly looking forward to passing by Diiriye’s usual stand along the pavement. She hoped today he would be offering another beautiful poem, which she intends to keep. She rushed out of the house while her mother was preparing break-fast and reached where she and Sucaad normally meet. Sucaad was there. And after greeting each other, they both proceeded towards their work place. After a short walk, they spotted Diiriye from afar standing where he usually does. ‘Urghh’ irately shouted Sucaad, ‘this creepy guy is really getting on my last nerve. This time if he offers me anything, I swear I’ll whip it on his fucking face’ she vowed. Nimco pretending to be the peace-maker, gently touched on Sucaad’s shoulder, suggesting ‘if he bothers you that much, honey, then why don’t you let me deal with him, OK? You just keep working and let me tell him to stop bother my friend.’ ‘Oh, thank you honey’ thanked Sucaad. When reached where Diiriye, Sucaad did as was suggested. Nimco stopped for Diiriye and looked at his face then what his hand was holding. And lucky was she, he was holding another folded paper that looked like a poem. ‘Listen, brother’ started Nimco, ‘you can see my friend is angry about you bothering her,  but the only thing I can do for you is to give her your gift when she calms down later on’. For Diiriye, Nimco was doing him the greatest favour anyone could have done for him. ‘Thank you! Thank you, sister’ happily responded. ‘Not a problem’ said Nimco and immediately paced quickly after Sucaad who has now walked quite a distance.    

Later that night, Nimco was at home hesitating to unfold the paper poem. She felt she was being dishonest and is betraying her best friend, but that did not stop her. She unfolded the paper and found it in another masterfully written poem. This time, the poem was even more touching and sad-laden. With each line she dropped a tear. Her whole body was shaking and her falling tears socked the paper in her hands. When she finished the poem, she was starting to sympathize with its author. She kept thinking about the kind of pain he must be in and wanting to console his troubled soul, she thought of things she can do to help him. The feeling of compassion that Nimco has come under was slowly turning to one of fondness. And as each day passed, she began to slowly fall for Diiriye.

 Although she felt jealous about the sort of affections he showered on Sucaad, yet she felt sorry for her. Only if she knew the sweetness and tenderness with which Diiriye’s poems were written, she contemplated, she would have fallen for him in an instant. She was surprised at how the poems not even intended for her have etched into her heart and was sure Sucaad’s heart would have been affected the same way. Nimco, had for several times, tried to reason with Sucaad to give Diiriye a single chance to get to know him. But Sucaad refused to consider such a chance outright. Knowing how she now felt about Diiriye herself, Nimco asked Sucaad if she would give her the blessing to try her chance with Diiriye. To this, Sucaad replied ‘of course, my dear, he is all yours!’ with some nonchalant attitude.  

That is when Nimco began to fantasize about winning Diiriye’s heart. When Haajir, her cousin, called to inform that his friend, Diiriye, was coming to visit her at home about a matter regarding Sucaad, she was over the moon. She couldn’t believe her luck. The man she fantasized about would be, for a stroke of her luck, be visiting her home. She couldn’t be more happier and when Haajir told her Diiriye will come visiting, she repeatedly ask him ‘are you sure he is coming to visit’? At first, Haajir couldn’t understand her excitement but after a slight hesitation in his voice, he confirmed it anyway. This was my only chance, Nimco said to herself. I must play my cards right. It is do or die. She cleaned up the house and re-arranged the sitting room. Her mother, who is not used to seeing Nimco so active in doing the house-work, was pleased. ‘Hmm!’ exclaimed her mother, ‘what blessing befell you today my dear’ she enquired. ‘Nothing Mom’ responded Nimco. ‘It is just Haajir is coming to visit us later.’ ‘All this for Haajir’ her mother amusingly asked. ‘Yes, ah, he is accompanied by a friend Mom’ said Nimco. ‘A friend, eh? Well that explains it dear’ said her mother with a cheeky face and left the house.

PS: I have not finished this part but I will Insha-Allah finish it soon. Just restricted by time.

All in a day, I saw:

 A ceysaan; she kept on staring at me. Guess she didn’t recognise me .

 I was on my way to this Primary school when that Ceysaan spotted me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 On my way back from the school, I saw this charming ‘Qurac’ or acacia tree. One of my friends specifically requested I take a picture of this tree. He hasn’t seen an acacia tree for 20 years

 I saw some camels too. They were simply beautiful. Though I spent time with camels- the geeljire prohibited me to take pictures. He believes taking pics of a camel is a curse .

I was standing under this acacia tree when I took that shot…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And not far away, some familiar birds were busy feasting.

Blogging and boredom…

I can’t help but feel bored simply at the thought of blogging lately. But I remember days when the whole idea of blogging was new to me and blogging was very exciting. I guess that was before I went to Africa. Africa changed me in ways I didn’t imagine it would. I saw people and places I haven’t seen for over 11 years and the experience was really remarkable. I had the fortune of seeing my mother again and coordinating a reunion with my four (which makes us five) brothers travelling from different parts of the world, some of which I have not seen for 11 years. And even more, I got the chance to see my uncles, aunts, cousins, sisters-law, nieces and nephews. Seen the whole lot. I saw my old friends, foes, classmates and neighbours. I even visitedthe old primary school I went to as a child and met over 600 pupils there. I travelled far and wide across Kenya and saw peoples and cultures I’ve learnt so much from. And last but not least, I have seen girls and women eager to get hitched…. to anything with a foreign passport.

 Insha-Allah I’ll try to write about these things I have mentioned above.

Hello, Jambo….

Hello fellow Lady-bloggers and Gent-bloggers. How is it going. It feels like ages since I visited the blogosphere. Insha-Allah will update you on life in Kenya. For those of you whom I am supposed to correspond with through emails, forgive me for not writing. For my fellow bloggers, I will be active on this blog Insha-Allah although the internet connection over here really sucks. It really does.

Till next time, hasta luego mi amigos.

A Play With Emotions

Continued from Fleeting Moments and Confessions

Diiriye, realizing the gravity of the situation in which he has found himself, was determined to leave the house, well before any of Nimco’s brothers showed up. Gently, he picked up his coat from the couch and begun to proceed towards the sitting room’s door, where Haajir stood. As he approached the door, he could sense Haajir’s body language change. He noticed that Haajir’s fist was tightening as if in preparation for a fight. Diiriye couldn’t help but make a silent prayer, saying ‘Oh God, let me out of here safely. Let there be no punch-ups. Get me out of this house in one piece’. As he got nearer, his heart begun to palpitate and the bounding in his chest got alarmingly louder by the seconds.

Nimco didn’t move an inch, her face still wet with tears, she nervously placed her fingers on the lips, and displayed a face overwhelmed by dread and anticipation of what Haajir might do to Diiriye. All sorts of fears went through her mind, but the biggest fear concerned Haajir’s misconception of what had happened. This would certainly make him attack Diiriye, she feared. Nimco knew Haajir was a big fellow whose attack of Diiriye could result in a serious injury. The prospect frightened her. Trained as an analyst, her mind went into an analytical mode within seconds. When in this sort of mode, usually if the danger she perceives is quite great, she would engage in predictive exercises, that only frightens her even more. In the few seconds it took Diiriye to pass through the sitting-room’s door, hyperventilation took hold of her altogether.

On top of it, she was confronted by a serious hypothetical dilemma of ‘what ifs’. What if Haajir assaults Diiriye; what if it becomes a police matter, she asked herself. She knew too well the consequences but she didn’t know how she would deal with such a matter. She couldn’t bear the thought of either implicating Haajir or lying, which would result in the loss of whatever imagined affections Diiriye might have developed for her. Neither could she bring herself to the idea of lying under oath. These thoughts about what ifs only confounded her.

Fortunately, however, Diiriye managed to get out the sitting-room and also the house, without any provocation from Haajir. But Nimco couldn’t immediately regain the focus of her mind to this. She dwelt in thoughts of anticipation. She did not regain her composure until Haajir insensitively shouted something at her. ‘What!?’ screamed She. ‘Where is he? Where is he?’ she repeatedly asked. Haajir, unable to understand her sudden questioning disdainfully replied ‘Are you blind? The son of a bitch left!’ ‘Alhamdullilaah!’ she said with a great sigh. She then took to her feet and sprinted towards her upstairs room, shut the door and begun sobbing uncontrollably.

Disorientated, as soon as he stepped out of the house, Diiriye ran along a bus that was going to the next bus stop, jumped on and climbed up to the upper deck. He seated himself in the front seats and held the edge of the seat and broke into tears. He was equally as relieved as he was worried of future consequences.

To be continued…..

Fleeting Moments and Confessions

While in the kitchen, she would occasionally edge closer to the sitting-room where Diiriye was listening to love songs. Whenever the song that most interested her is blasted out, she would feel immense yearning intertwined with hopelessness. Attentive to Diiriye’s reactions to particular songs, she wished he would sing along when some of her favourite songs were playing. If he did so, she believed, it would be possible that he may share not only her appreciation of these songs but also her sound preference of them. She did not know Diiriye that well, yet in all the times he came to the house with her cousin, she felt, with an unexplainable rationality of her own making, that she belonged to him as a future wife or at least as a forlorn lover. What puzzled her much, was that although she felt this way, he has not yet derived any meaning from the hints she has been sending out to him.

To her dismay, she thought, ‘what is more disgraceful than to harbour the willingness to belong to one when he isn’t least bit appreciative of the opportunity?’. Injected with much haste and hotheadedness, she did not know when she dashed out of the kitchen and came into the sitting room. Diiriye, slouched in into the couch he was sitting on, was startled by this rude intrusion. He never liked to be alone with a young lady in her own family home. But this time, he could not avoid it. His friend and Nimco’s cousin has gone out to drive her mother Muxubo to her relations. His absence was Diiriye’s distress, but for Nimco, this was the perfect opportunity to confront him with what she has been harbouring.

Dressed modestly with a traditional scarf, she adjusted it to hide revealed parts of her hair. Clearing her mind, instead of talking, she started to sing along with the song that was playing:

‘Maxaan kaa dhugsayoo ———-(How I awaited hearing from you)
Inaan dhaayaha ku saaroon ————-(And to lay my sight on you)
Ku dheehdo dooney! —————-(To have my eyes feast on you)

Maxaan kuu dhabar adaygoo——- (Oh how I persereved to have you)
habeenimo kugu dhadhabayoon ——–(And in nights hallucinated of you)
Dhuuntiyo laabtaa ————–(And within my heart and throat)
Kaa dhex baarey! —————(oh how I searched for you)

Diiriye felt confounded as to what this young lady was alluding. Had he been giving out any affectionate signals, he thought, he would have expected this lady behave thus. He clutched both of his hands unto the couch and pushed himself back, trying to avoid Nimco who was poking a finger at him. Her her face showed intense emotions. Her eyes were teary; her composure was confused as if her confession to Diiriye drained all sensibility and energy out of her being. Even more distressful, she thought Diiriye was not the man she had believed he would be. For her, a man must have the skill of getting hints when given by a lady, but as concerns Diiriye, even when he was made a direct declaration, he does not seem to yield.

While she stood there in front of the couch grieved and motionless, Diiriye crept up from the couch slowly and went towards the CD player, with the intention of turning it off. Soon as the music stopped playing, Nimco’s cousin, Haajir, entered the house without making any noise. He found himself standing in the sitting room. Immediately, he looked across the room and saw Nimco’s teary eyes and Diiriye’s discomforted figure standing next to the CD player. Nimco turned towards Haajir and speechlessly pointed a finger on Diiriye who kept looking down. She was still shaken and tears were rolling down her cheeks. In a split second, alarm bells rang in Haajir’s ever suspicious mind. However innocent the situation might have been, Haajir assumed the worst of what could have happened. Diiriye, on the other hand, couldn’t utter a word. Haajir thought Diiriye’s silence was a complicit affirmation of what he had tried to do to Nimco.

‘Get out’ said Haajir ‘you bastard’.
‘What?’ cried Diiriye
‘Just get out before I kill you!’ said agitated Haajir
Nimco, whimpering and heartbroken from the turn of events couldn’t hold back from crying.
‘No! It is not what you think, Haajir. Nothing happened. Nothing happend’ cried She.
‘What the hell happened then’ exclaimed Haajir ‘explain it to me’
‘It is nothing, I swear, it is not what you think it is’ explained Nimco.
‘No, I don’t want to hear your excuses of what he has done to you, explain it to your mother and the brothers when they come back’ intimated Haajir.
‘No! Please don’t tell them anything, I beg of you please cousin’ cried Nimco.

All the while Diiriye stood there looking even more distressed than before. He contemplated what the results could be if the mother and the bothers were to get involved in this matter. He has had disagreements with one of Nimco’s brothers before over a girl both of them liked. Diiriye was convinced that if Nimco’s brother was to be given an opportunity, he would have no second thoughts of murdering him. He is that kind of person, he thought. Diiriye told himself, ‘for luck! I am to be killed for a woman who I harbour no feelings! I wish she was Sucaad. I wouldn’t be least worried dying because of her!’

To be continued…

SIMPLE BUT BEAUTIFUL

A THOUSAND WORDS?

Northeastern Kenya..

Click on picture to see an enlarged version. Picture taken by Masha Hamilton.

What do you know about Camel BookDrive? If you don’t know much about this project then I would advice you to visit their websiteside and learn more about their wonderful work. This is a pioneering project that takes books to the pupils (and people) that need them most. Nomads are mobile in their search for water and pasture. It is usually difficult to reach them but this project seems to have brought about a much needed alternative. Take a camel load of books to the nomads … A kind of Somali reer-guuraa library at their disposal. The camel herders and school pupils alike can peruse through the pages of these books while tending to the camels or goats or even in their short break from school…

These are Garissa Primary School pupils, right? I kind recall the colour of the school uniform. I wore the same colour but in another division of the district. Wore Gray in Sec. School – ah, so dull a colour…Bloody County High.. But is so good to be reminded on my school days..especially primary. Insha-Allah, I might pay it a visit when I visit Kenya soon.

Another translation of Qasim’s ‘Sweetness and Bitterness’

The first translation ofQasim’s classical ’sweetness and bitterness’ or ‘Macaan iyo Qadhaadh’ in Somali was done by a Polish Somali linguist and analysis was done by Martin Orwin of SOAS university. But I have stumbled on this slightly ‘different’ translation of the poem above Mohamud Togane’s ‘Memorium for Qasim’ so I was wondering, did he do this latter translation or is the earlier one with few words and sentences added to it? (Also read M.Togane’s An Elergy to Yamyam- Yamyam is a well-known poet in many parts of Somalia who died few years ago)