Filed under: Somaliland | Tags: Fear, Peace, Religion, Somalia, Somaliland, Travel
hi all.
sorry for my absence lately. the wireless connection at the nicest hotel in east-addis has crashed, so i have been unable to post all the things i write. a time will come.
sorry, also, for the lack of capital letters. the keyboard i am on is effed.
i am in somaliland now. i only have a few minutes, so i will try to outline the highlights, and then will build on it when i get back to addis. forgive me if this is all over the place.
- somaliland doesn’t exist. look at a map. it is called somalia. but the northern third was occupied by the british while the lower 2/3 was occupied by the italians. the lower portion is the part that you hear about all the time – it has been in a steady state of war for more than a generation, with no signs of stopping. somalia is the most famous failed state in the world. somaliland is different. somaliland is truly unlike any other country i have been to. here, they have known a generation of near-absolute peace. they have defined their own borders, but the southerners refuse to accept them. they have a just police force and a respected rule of law. they have a representative democracy and parliamentary elections that everyone agrees are very fair. nobody complains about corruption. it is shocking. why the world refuses to accept and celebrate this apparent success story in this troubled region is a mystery to me. if i could invest in any country in africa, i would not hesitate to chose this one.
- the country is a mess, though. the phone lines are a tangled disaster. the roads are sand and the sidewalks are semi-paved. outside of the capital, i think the world is really underdeveloped. that said, the power seems consistent, the water seems consistent, and the internet is better than in addis.
- the people are the friendliest i have ever met. they are generous and kind, and never, ever ask for anything. this is an enormous anomaly in africa, where many people want to be your friend only to ask you for favours. here, they refuse favours, and seem mostly interested in welcoming me, making me feel at home and learning about canada.
- interestingly, the government is strongly secular, but the people are devoutly religious. i asked a man if i could build a church (not that i would ever want to). he said the government would welcome it, but the people would burn it down after ensuring that nobody was inside. they are quite happy with their religion. mosques are everywhere. the women are all covered from head to toe and 30% cover their faces as well. the women are terribly beautiful. in ethiopia, where the population is split along christian/muslim lines, religion is on everyone’s tongues. here it is different, and i ended up in a very uncomfortable situation when i bought a great wood carving of “There is no God but Allah,” and everyone around me (being friendly and curious) asked if I was muslim. i said no, and they asked more questions. soon i was surrounded by a mob, and was trying my best to be honest without being offensive. i think it worked, as nobody ever seemed hostile. still, i am technically in somalia, now, and the last thing i want to do is upset the deeply held religious sensibilities of such people as these. soon a koranic teacher arrived, and invited me to sit and talk with him. we have since met a few times. we have talked a lot about islam. he speaks like all those who have given their lives to their religion, without ever really considering the validity of any others. i love 95% of islam, but the other 5% contains some terrifying and dangerous words. that people entirely accept it as the word of god (like the bible) makes me feel very pessimistic about the future of out world. for example, if a muslim encouters a non-believer (including christians and jews), they must try to convert that person to islam. if that person refuses, the koran says that they should be killed as an apostate. needless to say, i am choosing my words with great caution.
- it’s amazing to be back on the road again. i’ve missed it so. when one casts themself into the unknown, it requires a person to take on something of a different mentality. certainty is not only absent, it is destructive and stands in the way of the fullness of experience. one must sacrifice control, utilizing it only so far as is relevant to a reasonable measure of safety. one must accept and befriend fear, for this is where the beauty and diversity of the world manifest. in harar, i set off in the dark of night to visit a pack of semi-tamed hyenas. suddenly, i was standing in the darkness, with a dozen set of circling, glowing eyes trained on me from the blackness around. the eyes belonged to the 2nd largest predator in africa. soon, i was feeding them strips of meat from a 6 inch long stick in my hands, watching their jaws – some of the sharpest and most powerful jaws of any land animal on the planet – open and snap close just inches from my face. i could smell the stench of their breath and could feel its warmth on my face. my guide said “kneel down” “stay strong” … then he threw a piece of meat on my back, and three ferocious predators jumped at my back and tackled me to the ground. life changes in such moment. one does not walk away quite the same. yesterday, i boarded bus in somalia, with no english speakers, into the backwoods neighorhoods of hargesia to find a market where camels and goats are sold. i didn’t know where the bus was going. i didn’t know where it would drop me. i didn’t know how i would ever get back to my hotel. but i did, of course. i found the camel market, heard fascinating stories, had some great conversations and saw the women of this land in a new light. soon, wiht the help of friendly locals, i was headed back to my hotel. but half way back, i spotted an adventure, hopped off the bus, and wandered into the darkened alleyways of a local market. two hours later, i emerged arm-in-arm with a teacher of islam, and full of new friendship knowledge and ideas. life on the road is made of such experiences. life on the road can only truly be lived if fear is befriended, and trust is placed in the certainty of the shifting waves. i have missed the road.
i’m out of time. more to come.
peace and love
