Mutilation Of Women

The number of mutilated woman and girls in Africa and the Middle East is increasing due to population growth, according to Win News.

But internationally financed population, health and safe motherhood programs ignore Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and have failed to implement effective preventive education.

Education should be provided to the woman and men in the participating countries so the risks of this mutilation can be understood fully. FGM is painful, dangerous, and disrespectful to the woman/child and her body and I belive evry woman has the right to education to help make this critical decision.

The mutilation most often performed is Clitoridectomy or Excision- cutting off without anesthetic, the clitoris and most of the external genitalia. This is practiced in a broad area from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Coast. The most dangerous operation, Infibulation is customary in Sudan, Somalia, N.Kenya,, W. Africa and all along the Red Sea coast. After the clitoris is excised and all external genitalia are carved away, the bleeding raw edges of the libia majora are held together by thorns or other fasting devices, until a scar forms to close the entrance to the vagina. The legs of the little girl are tied together for several weeks until the wound heals; a tiny opening is created by inserting a splinter of wood to allow urination. Thus virginity, which is considered especially important by Moslem men, can be proven.

These dangerous operations result in permanent damage: hemorrhage and shock, which may be fatal; many infections including tetanus, scaring which obstructs normal childbirth and may result in the death of both mother and child; infertility due to infection. And that's not all, FGM causes urinary and menstrual problems, frigidity, painful intercourse, and many, many needless deaths. The highest childbirth mortality is recorded in areas where FGM is practiced.

Some may argue that this is their culture, we cannot judge, or interfere, and I agree. I do not feel that these are bad people, and I do not think we should outlaw this practice. I know that this is a way of life to them. But the decision is not being made by a educated adult. The operations are being performed on children only a few days old up to puberty. These children do not realize that their life could be at stake just so their future husband will be satisfied. They live a life of pain for the mans happiness. FGM is desecrating the woman's body and ultimately her soul.

The American Dream

We immigrants like Somalis always talk about American dream and we have to know what is it. What is the American Dream, and who are the people most likely to pursue its often elusive fulfillment?

Indeed, the American Dream has come to represent the attainment of myriad of goals that are specific to each individual

While one person might consider a purchased home with a white picket fence her version of the American Dream, another might regard it as the financial ability to operate his own business. Clearly, there is no cut and dried definition of the American Dream as long as any two people hold a different meaning. What it does universally represent, however, it the opportunity for people to seek out their individual and collective desires under a political umbrella of democracy.

In the fifties, the 'age of suburbia', the American Dream was epitomized by the ability to own a home, live in safety and in a community of like minded souls. The great exodus from the cities to the suburbs defined the American idea of the good life'.

The American Dream was and always will be something that makes America great. It allows those with aspirations to make them come true. In America alone needs is a dream and the motivation to carry out that dream. Ambition is the driving force behind the American Dream.

It allows any one that has an aspiration, a desire, a yearning, to carry out the individual dream. It knows no bounds of race, creed, gender or religion. It stands for something great, something that every one can strive towards. A dream can be a desire for something great.

In America, the American Dream allows dreams to become realities. According to Webster's New World Dictionary, the American Dream is defined as "An American social ideal that' stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity". To live this dream is to succeed. It allows anyone, rich or poor to have the opportunity to succeed. It is the ability to come from nothing and become so me thing. To succeed at any thing you do, you must have patience and persistence. It requires hard work, persistence and a desire for something better. To have these qualities and the desire and ambition to carry the moutis part of the American Dream.

The Somali Mothers and daughters are clearly struggling to maintain their culture and traditions. while still seeking after the American Dream. They all try to have a relationship with each other that is exemplary to the viewing eye. One attempts to excel in Islam religion while another at science. Still others are merely striving only to be looked upon in a respectful way. Trials with husbands and the gain of independence from them is a great step to their American Dream. Also, the freedom and respect from their mothers is being sought after and is soon found. The goals of each of the characters were met with persistence and the other aforementioned qualities needed to obtain one's own dream.

The Presidency of the United States of America is an office that exemplifies the American Dream. In the past 25 years, we have had two farmers and an actor become President. Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer, and the late president Bill Clinton was also a farmer. Ron al d Reagan was a " B" movie actor. They all shared the same dream, to become President of the United States. And today we have president Barack Oboma, the first black USA persident whose father is from Kenya. And they all succeeded. What they accomplished was part of the American Dream. They all had a yearning and a desire to make their dream work.

That was all they needed. Their job is to make the American Dream possible for others. They are all living proof that the American Dream is possible for anyone. Every day many reap the benefits for carrying out their dream; for not giving up when things seemed to be most bleak. Every day someone else has a dream, and every day many act on it. We truly live in a land of opportunity. The American Dream is a derivative of the principles upon which this nation was founded. This nation was founded by people who had a desire for freedom and a desire to create home in their own nation. That is the American Dream.


Humble families have almost every thing that the portrayed Hollywood families have, but it is not enough because our society today is stricken with greed. We all want more, more, and more. We aren't satisfied with our health, money and family. To live the American dream, you have to believe that you can make it and allow hard work ethic and morality to take its role in out life. We don't understand that other towns a round the United States are far less superior to us, and we don't understand how lucky we are to be living this dream. The Bible states:


Among us, there are many people who have been living the American Dream. Whether it was soccer stars, actors, or even our own friends. Many people who are living this dream don't even realize it because they want even more than they already have. We see them as greedy. Even I feel that I am living this dream. “Humble is at own full of spoiled children who have been living the dream since they were born, and only know, at this age, they a restarting to realize it."(Delahoussaye)

The people that the students a tour school and in other wealthy owns see as living the American dream are sports stars and actors. They are living the dream because they have it all, or so it seems. Even actors and sports stars have their problems. Maybe drug or family, but we hardly ever catch a glimpse at his side.

A poor Scottish lad named Andrew Carnegie immigrated to America as a teen and built up the world’s largest steel mill and became the richest man in the land. Through his philanthropy he gave it all away and helped build our great libraries while reminding us: "No man becomes rich, unless he enriches others."(Capozzoli, 7) It’s OK to fail. After over 10,000 attempts, Thomas Edison finally invented the electric light bulb. Henry Ford put America on the road with the Model T.

So, we somalias also have a lot of work to do to taste the Americam dream. Unfortunately, we are the only nation in the world who is stateless and we are called a nation with no country. So, who wants the American dream when we can't even make peace ourselves and build our country. We, issha allah, will become a great peaceful nation one day, and at the sametime we will pursue the American dream

Tales of a Hidden Ethiopian War

“They killed my husband,” she said. “I’m sorry for your loss,” I said. “And they killed my son,” she said. “Oh, I’m so sorry for your losses,” I said. “And they killed my brothers and some of my brothers’ children,” she said, staring at me with eyes that seemed quite without hope and yet that also seemed to ask me, with astonishing tenacity, ‘Are you really listening, do you really understand?’”

At a Minnesota Market, Tales of a Hidden Ethiopian War

By Douglas McGill
The McGill Report
August 31, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The first time I heard Fatima tell her story, I answered in the natural way.

I didn’t know what to say to Fatima at this point, as my repeated condolences seemed pointless. So instead I stood up a bit straighter, I took a deep breath, and felt my feet on the ground. I looked back at Fatima with eyes that said that I was willing to stand there and to listen for as long as she wanted.

“And they have killed many of my uncles,” Fatima said.

The Ogaden War

At the Village Market in Minneapolis, the major social hub for Somali-speaking Ethiopian refugees living in the Twin Cities, endless stories like Fatima’s are being urgently swapped every day. They are tales of evil that is so profound it would be unkind of me to suddenly start describing those crimes in detail right now.

You might well not believe the stories anyway. And even if you believed them, you might not believe that such unimaginable crimes could be happening in the world right now, in a little-known corner of Africa called the Ogaden of Ethiopia.

Where are the TV news teams parachuting into refugee camps? Where is the definitive account of the Ethiopian government’s mass destruction of the people and culture of the Ogaden?

Bare Feet

Here is more of Fatima’s story (she like the other witnesses in this story offered only their first names, fearing reprisal against their relatives in Ethiopia if they are identified):

“One day the soldiers came and started shooting, they killed my husband in front of me. Then they tortured and beat me in the same place they killed my husband. On that same day the soldiers also confiscated my home and all of my property and all of my money, leaving me homeless and destitute.”

Fatima is a devout Muslim woman who wears a veil and will not shake a man’s hand except through the cloth of her robe. But after telling me this story she stretched out her legs and took off her shoes, to show me her bare feet which are twisted and deformed, from the beatings she said. Today, she limps with a cane.

We in Minnesota have a special role in telling about the Ogaden crisis, because Minnesota is home to the largest diaspora population of Ogaden refugees in the world. Some 5,000 Somali Ethiopians have fled to Minnesota in recent years, fleeing precisely the crimes against humanity that Fatima and others describe.

Matching Details

Last week, I walked through the Village Market and spoke with a dozen Somali-speaking immigrants from the Ogaden region. This is what is happening in the Ogaden today, they said:

• People are thrown alive into bonfires by uniformed Ethiopian soldiers;

• Men and women are strangled to death by soldiers who wrap a wire around their necks and pull the wire on either side;

• Innocent goat herders are rounded up by Ethiopian soldiers and lynched from trees;

• Young girls are snatched from their homes by Ethiopian soldiers, put in prisons and gang-raped day after day, their dead bodies finally tossed like garbage on the street.

One Ogadeni Minnesotan said to me: “We could tell you stories like this all day and night for a week, and at the end we still would not have told you all the stories of all the killing and suffering that is happening in the Ogaden today.”

A single crazy person, or a small group of organized zealots, could orchestrate lies and propaganda about such horrors being committed on a genocidal scale. But how could it happen that the first 12 people that you meet at the Village Mall all tell the same types of stories over and over, with the details matching perfectly?

An American Ally

All of these horrific crimes and tortures are, the Minnesota Ogadenis say, committed by uniformed Ethiopian soldiers. Ethiopia is an official ally of the U.S. and receives millions of dollars in U.S. tax-funded military aid every year.

The Ogaden is a Texas-sized patch of land in Ethiopia that is inhabited by some four million Muslim, Somali-speaking citizens, most of them nomadic pastoralists.

The sparse grassland and shrubland of the Ogaden has been a battlefield for years between Ethiopia and Somalia, with each of those two nations often acting as proxies for global superpowers including Britain, the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

In 1956, when Britain left the Horn of Africa, it set up decades of conflict by handing over the Ogaden, which is populated by ethnic Somalis who are Muslims, to Ethiopia which is mainly ethnic Amhara and Christian. A war was fought over control of the Ogaden between Ethiopia and Somalia in 1977-1978.

In 1984, a separatist militia, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), was formed to pursue autonomy or independence for the Ogaden by violence if necessary. In 2007, the ONLF attacked a Chinese-run oil facility in the Ogaden, killing Ethiopian soldiers as well as more than 70 Chinese and Ethiopian civilians.

Sealed Off

In response, Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, launched a brutal counter-insurgency against the “terrorist” ONLF in the Ogaden. The recent atrocities against ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden have been a part of that campaign, with entire villages being wiped out on the mere suspicion of harboring ONLF fighters. Families and friends of ONLF soldiers are often killed or terrorized and family members tortured to give up information on their relatives.

Here is the testimony of a man named Hassan at the Village Market:

“I was in my home. One night Ethiopian soldiers broke down the door and took me to a military camp in Dhagahbur and beat me. I didn’t commit any crime and none of my family members are in the ONLF. They used the butt of their guns to hit me anywhere on my body where they thought it would hurt the most. I was put in jail just like this on three different occasions and placed in a tiny, dirty cell. I spent ten months in prison without ever being charged, without any explanation. Every day I was beaten and I suffered many cuts, sores and infections, but there was no hospital and I got no care.”

There has been virtually no major media coverage of the Ogaden crisis, and the U.S. and other governments have taken virtually no action. This is partly because the Ogaden has been sealed off to journalists and aid organizations, with the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders forced to abandon operations there in 2007.

But the Internet is teeming with detailed accounts of specific atrocities much like those described at the Village Market, and many YouTube videos graphically show the results of beatings, torture, killings, looting and rape.

"Still in Prison"

Based on interviews with refugees, thousands of whom have gathered in camps in northern Kenya, and other sources, some human rights groups have also been warning about the Ogaden crisis for several years. In 2008, Human Rights Watch published a 139-page report called “Collective Punishment” that documented “widespread and systematic atrocities” and “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed by the Ethiopian military against Ogadeni citizens.

The report detailed “routine mass detentions,” “extrajudicial executions,” “rape of women in military custody,” and documented the destruction (sometimes by satellite photographs) of at least a dozen Ogaden villages. Yet the scale of village burnings and other crimes described in the report “is believed to be significantly larger” than those officially documented in the report, its authors warned.

Here is the testimony of a man named Abdulrahman at the Village Market:

“We talk to our friends and family back home, but we never feel safe, because we know that they could be captured, tortured or killed just for talking to us on the telephone. It is a kind of psychological torture we all still suffer in Minnesota. Also there are Ethiopian government collaborators who live here in Minneapolis, who tell the Ethiopian army if we criticize the government, and our family and friends in Ethiopia could be jailed or killed as a result. America is a free country but in this way we are not psychologically free. It is as if we were suffocating and still in prison.”

The atrocities in the Ogaden have even reached the U.S. Congress where Rep. Donald Payne (D-New Jersey), the chairman of the House Subcommitte on Africa, has repeatedly criticized Ethiopia for “deliberating targeting civilians” with “routine raping and hanging” innocent citizens in the Ogaden region. He says the Ogaden crisis is “by far one of the worst” human rights tragedies he has witnessed in his life.

New Intelligence

In October last year, Britain balked at committing foreign aid to Ethiopia after Douglas Alexander, the British international development secretary, discovered on a visit to the Ogaden that the crisis was far more severe than he had thought.

In the U.S., various think tanks and social justice groups have called for the U.S. government to similarly pressure Ethiopia. But the U.S., which regards Ethiopia as an ally in the Horn of Africa which helps to rout Islamist terrorists in neighboring Sudan and Somalia, has so far ignored these warnings and calls to action.

The Minnesota Ogadenis, through their constant cell phone conversations with relatives back home, are unearthing troves of new intelligence about the nature and extent of the Ogaden crisis. For example they report:

• A network of political prisons throughout the Ogaden. An enormous prison in the Ogaden capital city, Jijiga, has been known for years to house thousands of innocent civilians rounded up by the Ethiopian military on suspicion of knowing or harboring ONLF fighters. But the Minnesota Ogadenis say that prison quarters are attached to every military garrison throughout the occupied territory of Ogaden including in the cities of Dhagahbur, Aware, Kabridahar, Fiiq, Wardere, Gode, and Garbo. Many Minnesota Ogadenis have spent months or years in these prisons, or have relatives currently suffering there. They offer details about conditions in the prisons, the crimes routinely committed by the authorities against the prisoners, and the names of those who run the prisons.

• Burning people alive in Garbo, Ethiopia. The torture and killing methods used by the Ethiopian military against the Ogadenis changes over time, with new methods evolving that are ever-more cruel and perverse. For a time, strangling people with rope or wire, with two soldiers pulling on either side, was widely reported. Burying children alive has been reported, as has the sodomization of young boys. Sources in the Ogaden told the Minnesota Ogadenis that this past July, Ethiopian soldiers killed six Ogadenis by throwing them alive into a bonfire.

• Attacking nomads outside of town markets. Most Ogadeni towns have markets where nomads bring their livestock to sell, after which they buy food and clothing before returning to their grazing lands. According to Minnesota Ogadenis, these nomads frequently are attacked by Ethiopian soldiers who lie in wait for them outside of town where they steal their food, clothing and provisions and often kill the nomads while doing so.

Comfort Enough

At one point during my day at the Village Market, a few of us gathered in an office space at the market. Fatima was there along with four other women in veils, and a half-dozen Ogadeni men as well who told me their stories.

We sat on chairs in a circle. As I was listening to another person in the group, I saw Fatima suddenly cover her face with her hands and put her head down towards her lap. Everyone stopped talking.

No one in the group made a move towards Fatima to comfort her. Rather, they allowed her the dignity of her own suffering. Anyway the comfort was simply the supportive presence of the group itself, and everyone knew that was enough.

If was not enough, it was in any case all the comfort there was.

Within a few seconds, Fatima straightened up, daubed her eyes, and everyone continued telling their inconceivable, impossible, true stories of the Ogaden.

A Family Hero in His Own Right

He was eldest of nine children and lived in a small village in north of Somalia. His father was a poor farmer and lived a very simple life. During their times, children worked in the fields to help the family survive.

Guhaad was a very intelligent and curious child. From the beginning, he was interested in everything around him. He and his brothers and sisters had to walk over a hill for almost an hour to reach the closest school.

They had to work in the field and attend school or otherwise they wouldn’t be able to get their education. Guhaad had to work six to seven hours a day to be able to afford the bare minimum of being able to attend school and have papers to write on. He also had to take care of all of his eight brothers and sisters because his parents were constantly working in the field to support the family.

At the age of fourteen, Guhaad had to move to the city to be able to attend high school since there were no high schools in his village. At fourteen, he had to become independent and responsible. His father, who was a very kind and hard working man, though did not have any education himself, supported Guhaad as much as was within his ability. He even sold one of his small lands to be able to pay Guhaad a very small amount of allowance every month so that he could go to school and get a very good education.

Life was very hard, but they were all thankful that they had their health and each other. Guhaad finished his high school and was number 20 in the whole nation in the national exam that was taken after high school to determine what college each student was to attend (equivalent to the SAT).

He was at the top with students who had attended private schools all of their lives and had role models who were doctors and lawyers. He was with those who knew nothing of work and knew nothing but money. He had gotten himself out of a primitive world and had stepped into a new world where he could excel and become what he had always dreamed of becoming: a doctor.

He got accepted to the most prestigious University of Somalia (Jaamacad Soaamlia). He, therefore, had to move to Mogadissu. Move was even a greater challenge for him and his family than the one he took at fourteen.

He rented a small room that smelled of garbage on top of a vegetable shop where he worked everyday. He had no kitchen and the only bathroom was one he had to share with five families outside in the yard. He had to wake up at four in the morning and ride his bike to where he could buy the vegetables for the shop. Then he would come back to shop and work until eight or nine in the morning. Then he would attend school.

At nights, he studied until a small light until midnight. He didn’t have much to eat, but nothing mattered to him but his education. He was determined and persistent and would’ve done anything to be able to attend such a University. The end of the month was always a struggle for him and his father was always in tears that he had nothing to offer his son. What he did not realize was that he did offer everything that he had and he supported Guhaad in everyway and that was enough.

During his undergraduate, he became friends with one of the wealthiest families in Mogadishu. And after a while the father offered Guhaad a proposition that he just couldn’t refuse, but did because of his family. He was offered to go to the United States of America with his friend. He wouldn’t have to pay for anything and all he had to do was to keep an eye on his friend, but he refused because he could not leave his brothers and sisters who he still had to take care of. So he stayed.

Guhaad successfully finished medical school and married his first cousin at the age of twenty-eight when he was just finishing his residency. He had come from a world of poverty to a world that he had never dared thinking about. He had entered a world that only the rich and famous where allowed into.

At the beginning of his marriage, there were still problem for he didn’t make much money and had to spend most of his time at the hospital. His wife, young and beautiful, would spend everyday at home waiting for him for all she could look for every night was his sight.

The apartment was as bad as his single room during his first years in Mogadishu. After a few years, he brought one of his brothers to Mogadishu and later, with the help of his father, sent him to the United States of America to get a good education.

Guhaad and his wife, Amina, later moved to smaller city near Mogadishu, which was called Balcad and had three daughters there.

He later brought his other brothers and sisters from their village and gave them jobs in his office. He was also the founder of the first Balacad High School in that city.. Life was getting better finally.

After a few years, he took a trip to the United States to take the board exam and get a license when he found out that his family was put under house arrest. They could go anywhere or sell anything. The government was afraid that Guhaad was going to move to the United States and betray his country. Even his friends turned their backs on his.

There were rumors that he was spying on the Somali government (Dolwada Kacaanka), which was the late Siad Bare's government in Somalia. He immediately came back and was not allowed to travel out of the country for many years to come.

He moved his family to Mogadishu, which was a much larger city so that they wouldn’t be under the watch of the government twenty-four hours a day. But he had to go to Balcad twice a week to visit his patients for his popularity as one of the best Ophthalmologists had grown immensely.

He worked between the two cities for three years until he found out that him and his family was getting their green cards.

This was the best opportunity for him and his family, but how could he leave everything. He was a prestigious and famous surgeon who no longer had any time to spend with his family. He was the head of the University that he had graduated not long ago. Life was finally becoming easy and comfortable. But he knew that the best thing for his family and daughters was to move to a country where they would have a future. So, he sold everything he had worked so hard for and he moved to the United States just to start all over again.

He had to start like a new student in the United States. He had to pass all the exams and go through three years of residency. He had to start studying day and night all over a gain. It was a very hard time for they did not have any money and none of them could work. But, their love and faith held them together.

He passed all of his exams and started his residency at Martin Luther King Hospital and Amina started working as an esthetician, providing the income for the family.

Guhaad is my friend and at the age of fifty-six, he is still doing hid residency. And yes, he is my hero for he never gave up on life. His fortitude drove him to places that he never dared to dream of. He came from poverty in a third world country to the Unites States of America.

Please Show Love and Kindness

Everyone in the apartment complex I lived in knew who Lola was. Lola was the resident tomcat. Lola loved three things in this world: fighting, eating garbage, and shall we say, love.


The combination of these things combined with a life spent outside had their effect on Lola. To start with, she had only one eye, and where the other should have been was a gaping hole. She was also missing her ear on the same side, her left foot has appeared to have been badly broken at one time, and had healed at an unnatural angle, making her look like she was always turning the corner.

Her tail has long age been lost, leaving only the smallest stub, which she would constantly jerk and twitch. Lola would have been a dark gray tabby striped-type, except for the sores covering her head, neck, and even her shoulders with thick,
yellowing scabs. Every time someone saw Lola there was the same reaction. “That’s one ugly cat!!”

All the children were warned not to touch her, the adults threw rocks at her, hosed her down, squirted her when she tried to come in their homes, or shut her paws in the door when she would not leave. Lola always had the same reaction. If you turned the hose on her, she would stand there, getting soaked until you gave up and quit. If you threw things at her, she would curl her lanky body around feet in forgiveness.

Whenever she spied children, she would come running meowing frantically and bump her head against their hands, begging for their love. If ever someone picked him up he would immediately begin suckling on your shirt, earrings, whatever she could find.

One day Lola shared her love with the neighbor’s huskies (Eeyo dhib badan). They did not respond kindly, and Lola was badly mauled. From my apartment I could hear her screams, and I tried to rush to his aid. By the time I got to where he was laying, it was apparent Lola’s sad life was almost at an end.

Lola lay in a wet circle, her back legs and lower back twisted grossly out of shape, a gaping tear in the white strip of fur that ran down her front. As I picked her up and tried to carry her home I could hear her wheezing and gasping, and could
feel her struggling. “I must be hurting her terribly,” I thought. Then I felt a familiar tugging, sucking sensation on my ear.

Lola, in so much pain, suffering and obviously dying was trying to suckle my ear. I pulled her closer to me, and she bumped the palm of my hand with her head, then she turned her one golden eye towards me, and I could hear the distinct sound of
purring. Even in the greatest pain, that ugly battled scarred cat was asking only for a little affection, perhaps some compassion.

At that moment I thought Lola was the most beautiful, loving creature I had ever seen. Never once did she try to bite or scratch me, or even try to get away from me, or struggle in any way. Lola just looked up at me completely trusting in me to
relieve her pain. Alaah waan soo daahey yaakhey miskiin!

Lola died in my arms before I could get inside, but I sat and held her for a long time afterwards, thinking about how one scarred, deformed little stray could so alter my opinion about what it means to have true pureness of spirit, to love so
totally and truly.

Lola taught me more about giving and compassion than a thousand books, lectures, or talk show specials ever could, and for that I will always be thankful. She had been scarred on the outside, but I was scarred on the inside, and it was time for me to
move on and learn to love truly and deeply.

It was time to give my all to those I cared for. Many people want to be richer, more successful, well liked, beautiful, but for me, I will always try to be like Lola.

Walaalayaal it is Ramadan and we will all have to not only fast but also show love and kindness to our brothers, sisters, friends, and to all animals around us. Thank and Happy Ramadan Kariim walaalyaal

First Kiss (Tips andTricks)

You know you want to kiss someone because you have been thinking about it for most of the evening. Unless the lucky person is a mind reader, nothing will happen until you make the first move (4show).


Wanna kiss your girl?
Try either holding her hand, walking arm-in-arm, sitting close, offering a neck massage. If you sense disapproval (diidis), smile, stop what your doing and start a light conversation. You have not put yourself in a scary position. Reevaluate the situation.

If she is responding positively to your touching, the next step is to position yourself so that you'll feel comfortable kissing your partner. if you choose to hold her, make it non-threatening.
Try establishing eye contact. If eye contact is sustained, move to the next step.

If you feel comfortable and have eye contact now is the time to move in for your kiss. As you move closer check to see if they are moving closer to you. If not move back a little to re-examine the situation.
With a positive response from your partner, it's time to have
that romantic kiss. Remember, no tongue, (Somali girls tongue no no).

I f you initiated the kiss, you should be the one to end the kiss. Don't do it abruptly (lamafilan), just move away slowly and kiss again. If your partner seems hesitant, just stop.

How many ways can I kiss my partner?
There are so many different ways to kiss. The two main basic ones are close-mouthed kissing and French kissing but don't forget Somali kiss. French kissing involves an open mouth and with tongue, while close-mouthed kissing is pretty self-explanatory. We thought it would be easier for first-time kissers if they knew at least the kissing basics before they try to approach other kisses, such as French kissing.

The French Kiss
You have been kissing Xamsa Kharta for a while, it is time to try the "French Kiss" Oops she don't know you have to do this. Gently touch her lips with your tongue. If you meet resistance, stop and continue kissing.

If you meet resistance it doesn't mean rejection, maybe she don't know, it could be that she want you to hold back for now. Many Somali girls don't want to kiss during the first kiss. They want to get to know you better.

If there isn't any resistance, go ahead and enjoy the moment. Always French kiss slowly at first and pick up intensity as you get caught up in the moment. Feel her tongue with yours in a gentle and caring way. Never end a session of French kissing abruptly please Abdi, always kiss her with a soft, tender kiss. Future kisses will never be the same as the first, make every effort to make it wonderful memory. enjoy man.

Positioning - Stand close to your partner. As the two of you move closer together tilt your head slightly to one side. If you don't, don't worry about it. she will still tilt her head slightly so your lips meet on a slight angle or she will kiss you straight on. If you can see which way your partner's head is tilting, tilt your head slightly in the opposite direction.

Hands - There are many ways you can use your hands during a kiss. The most popular way is to put one hand on her waist and the other one against the middle of their back. Other ways to use your hands are to cup your partner's face in your hands (very romantic!), put them around your partner's neck, put them around their waist, hold your partner's upper or lower arms gently, run your finger's through their hair if she is wearing Hijab slid you under the Hijab, or just hold their hands in yours.


Methods of Kiss
Kiss on the ear = "I'm Horny"
Kiss on the cheek = "We're Friends"
Kiss on the hand = "I Adore You"
Kiss on the shoulder = "I Want You"
Kiss on the lips = "I Love You"
Kiss on everywhere else = "Let's get Busy"

The ONLF Mujaahidiin

The Ogaden National Liberation Front is a grass-root organisation that was created by Ogaden youth activists and civic organisations that rebelled against the meddling of both the Somali government and foreigners from every corner of the world and made the Ogaden Somali people pawns to further other's political agendas.

From its inception to date ONLF caters to nobody but the interest of the Ogaden Somalis. ONLF is a national liberation front that fights for the rights of the Ogaden Somalis to self-determination in order to decide their future as is enshrined in the universal declaration of Human rights and considers Ethiopia as a colonial state that took part in the European Scramble for the colonisation of Africa in the 19th century.

Emperor Menelik's letter to the Berlin conference clearly states that Abyssinia (Ethiopia) does not intend to stand idle while Europe partitions Africa and that Menelik demands his share. Apart from this rhetoric Abyssinia had no means to materialise this dream, but the then world powers of that time installed him in the Ogaden by providing him with arms and men and by embargoing the Somali people in the Horn from external supplies as is happening today in another form and under another pretext.

Despite all this the Ogaden Somalis resisted and restricted Menelik to the Harar area until the second world war, when the victorious allies disarmed the Somalis in the Ogaden, while gradually re-arming and training new Ethiopian army and handing the disarmed Ogaden people and territory to Ethiopia over a period of 10 years, giving the last part in 1956.

The Ogaden Somalis started their struggle and within few years threatened the New Ethiopia. Again foreign intervention and arms changed the direction of the struggle of the Ogaden Somalis. The Regime in Addis Ababa was advised to divert the attention of the world community that was increasingly anti- colonialism and anti-oppression from sympathising and supporting the just struggle of the Ogaden Somalis by blaming and attacking Somalia and turning the issue into a border problem.

The new inexperienced Somali Government fell easily into that trap and from that day onwards the Ogaden cause turned into a border dispute and so-called Somali expansionism. The Ogaden Elders leading the liberation struggle, who were poorly educated and unaware of the forces arrayed against them, were no match for the regional and international forces that demonised and misrepresented the struggle of the Ogaden people.

In the late seventies the budding intellectuals and students from the Ogaden who were scattered in the region around the Horn started to agitate for the revitalisation of the national struggle. This coincided with the renewal of the rhetoric between the two military regimes in Somalia and Ethiopia that was vying for the control of the Horn.

Somalia sensing the budding struggle and sense of revival in the Ogaden struggle and the weaknesses of the regime in Addis Ababa hijacked the struggle and defeated easily the Ethiopian army and captured most of the Ogaden. Cuban troops and Warsaw Pact pilots and aeroplanes defeated the Somali army and reinstated Ethiopian occupation in the Ogaden.

While all this was happening leading intellectuals and activist students were languishing in Somali prisons for resisting against Somali government intervention in the struggle of the Ogaden Somalis, knowing well the negative impact this would have on the national struggle.

From that day onwards the Ogaden Somalis decided to untie their fate from Somalia and pursue an independent struggle that clearly differentiates between Somalia and the Ogaden. Thus ONLF was founded on the principle that the Ogaden people are independent and sovereign and have the right to decide their destiny without bowing to any strings from any quarters.

After the fall of the two governments in Somalia and Ethiopia in the early nineties, the new regime in Addis Ababa faced a serious dilemma vis-à-vis the Ogaden cause. There was no alibi to use against the Struggle of the Ogaden Somalis for self-determination. There was no Somali government to blame.

A democratic wind was blowing all across the world. Even while ONLF was testing the claim of the new regime of Meles Zenawi that self-determination is attainable through peaceful means, Meles was preparing his scapegoats against the Ogaden Somalis by encouraging the creation of religious organizations such as Itihad-Al-Islam in the Ogaden. He then provoked Al-Itihad-Islam, to take arms against his regime.

Furthermore, Meles started dangling the religious card and started claiming that he was fighting Muslim fundamentalists. This gave him the pretext to attack ONLF and dismantle the peaceful political process that was unfolding in the Ogaden. Despite the regime's efforts to paint itself as championing the cause of uprooting Muslim fundamentalism in the horn, neither the international community nor the different African nations in Ethiopia that were victims of Meles's dictatorial regime bought into his rhetoric.

Somalis, Oromos, Amhars, Afars, Sidamas and Even his Tigrai tribe, who were tired of dictators pitying them against each and keeping them in perpetual poverty and at war were approaching each other and charting peaceful routes to end the senseless carnage, lack of representative governance and denial of rights of peoples by dictators.

ONLF believes in the right of all nations to self-determination, the rule of law and representative government that comes through democratic practice and one person one vote and the separation of religion and government. The Ogaden Somali people are Muslims and have a right to practice their religion peacefully without prejudice to any other religion or group.

ONLF uses defensive combat to defend itself against the Meles militias and the Ogaden people and does not conduct or condone any terrorist act against anybody. ONLF does not have any agendas outside its borders and does not undertake any armed action outside its borders.

ONLF laments the senseless waste of human lives perpetrated by successive Ethiopian regimes and believes that it is in the best interest of all people inside Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa to resolve differences through dialogue and peaceful negotiations. This is possible only if the regime in power decides to stop the endless cycle of violence that it always opts for in or order to deal with political dissent and learn the civilised way of conflict resolution.

ONLF bears no grudge against any people in Ethiopia and regards them as their African brothers and knows that the responsibility of the victimisation of the Ogaden people rests solely with the successive Ethiopian regimes. ONLF will pursue the rights of the Ogaden Somalis and will spare no effort in trying to find a peaceful solution to the Ogaden problem regardless of the constant aggression from the regime in Addis Ababa.

ONLF will engage all forces in Ethiopia and will take part in any effort that leads to a change in the current situation in Ethiopia regardless of political differences as long as the other parties are ready to forgo any bias and come with open mind that can tolerate differences.

As ONLF has stated in its press release(http://www.onlf.org/pressAug062006.htm ) regarding the invasion and occupation of Somalia by Meles, It believes that the current adventurism of Meles brings more harm than good to the whole region of the Horn of Africa.

Both the Somali people and the peoples of Ethiopia have succeeded in putting behind the hatchets provided by self-serving regimes that disregarded them and wasted their youngsters in the hundreds of thousands. For the first time the African people in Horn of Africa, especially the peoples in both Ethiopia and Somalia were basking in new found brotherliness and cessation of hostilities as peoples but unfortunately the current debacle by Ethiopia has created suspicion and fear among all communities in the Horn of Africa.

Meles Zenawi, who failed to adhere to the rule of law and keep power by democratic means, had opted for violence inside and outside Ethiopia, instead of solving the age old problems that he inherited and ushering a new era of peace in the Horn of Africa. Creating outside enemies and threats is an old Machiavellian ploy that is familiar throughout history, and blaming and attacking government- less Somalia has become an easy target for Meles after failing to quell internal rebellion from the Ethiopian people or defeating the Liberation fronts.

Ramadan Mubarak

Ramadan is all about family gatherings. It starts from day one of Ramadan when everyone calls each other on the telephone to wish each other ‘Ramadan Mubarak’. Next you are invited over to break your fast. There you meet the extended family, people you haven’t seen for years and people you would rather not see at all.

Ramadan is all about family gatherings. It starts from day one of Ramadan when everyone calls each other on the telephone to wish each other ‘Ramadan Mubarak’. Next you are invited over to break your fast. There you meet the extended family, people you haven’t seen for years and people you would rather not see at all.

Families can be strange and it’s no exception in Somalia. This mother-in-law dislikes her daughter-in-law but has to tolerate a few hours of dinner with her; this guy hates his cousin because she’s vulgar and rude; this uncle dislikes his wife because she complains too much. But miraculously, they all come together for iftar and tolerate each other, just like you would tolerate a stone in your shoe.

Well it is Ramadan and we should all forgive each other, I hear you say. But some people can forgive but never forget- a Muslim doesn’t fall into the same hole twice, right? By opening borders with certain people after forgivness, they may take advantage and re-start their campaign of hurtful words and gossip. So, many people remain friendly but at a distance. And others just give their salams, say Ramadan Mubarak and concentrate on the glorious table of food prepared for them.

It’s a tough business, making a family and trying to maintain it. We all have a responsibility as members of a family. The least we can do is show up for iftar, grin and bare it, even if you are uncomfortable, even if you feel like they are draining you slowly, opposite to the effect of sitting with people you love, who don’t drain you; they give you energy and a beautiful sense of spirituality. Now that is what family should be like.

But you go for God, despite not wanting to see this person, or not wanting to see these people show off. You go because you wish you could be a good example to them, because they don’t take Ramadan seriously- they think it’s just about abstaining from food and water and nothing else.

Ramadan is so much more than that. It’s about purifying our souls. That after we break our fast, we are still actually fasting in a sense that our eyes won’t watch something unlawful, our legs won’t walk to a place that is unlawful, our hands won’t touch something unlawful. It’s about re-connecting with God, it’s about training our will power and submission towards Him. It’s about forgetting the material world a little and getting in touch with our souls.

In Ramadan we force each other to see family we don’t get along with for His sake, so that He may have mercy on us. But do we necessarily have to be friendly with these people, can we just be conservative and professional? Because you fear that their attitude may bring you down, you fear they are a bad influence.

So, let's welcome the holy month of Ramadan and everyone should be ready, and please don't skip fasting one day, unlsess you're very ill. Good luck! and be happy yaah guys.

I'm Ugly, Damn

Hey guys how does one deal with looking bad? I mean I just have a hard time dealing with the fact that I look ugly. Do you think any sort of treatments help? Does anyone else have a similar experience where they just feel like crap because they can't deal with their physical appearance? Infact it's so damn depressing that I just hate myself so much and wonder why I was born and why god does this to people

Infact it's so damn depressing that I just hate myself so much and wonder why I was born and why god does this to people. People think I look like a terrorist or something like that (because of my eyebrows and my nose)...and when I'm on the metro...I get these wierd stares from everyone (horribly excruciating negative attention as I interpret it)...I just have no idea what to do with myself...life seems too depressing every day. Damn xegeen ku dhuntaa.

I'm not hideous. But I'm not physically attractive either. So I don't attract much attention from the fairer sex. I have to work really hard to get noticed by using my wit and sense of humor. Now you might say that these personality traits are ultimately more important than looks. And I agree with you. But if a girl can't see past my apperance, how can I put those secondary characteristics to work for me?

That's the dilema. Now, I've had girlfriends before. These have been girls that I got to know very well first, as friends. They liked that I was smart and funny. But had I met them at a party, or a bar or something and approached them and started talking to them, I don't think I would have gotten very far.

In a setting like that, the initial attraction is almost entirely physical. How do you get past that? If you're at least moderately good looking, you can approach someone, strike up a conversation, buy someone a sweet drink. If you're not good looking, and you lack confidence because of that, you're just going to be nervous and awkward. And even if you have the confidence, you're chance of success are significantly less.

Ever see those news shows like Dateline and 60 minutes? Every once in a while they'll do an experiment. They'll have some supermodel walk around on the street and see if people will open doors for her. Or she'll drop a stack of papers, and people will stop and help her.

In the second round of the experiment, however, they dress her in dull colored loose fitting clothes that don't reveal her figure, and they'll use make up effects to give her a big nose, a scar, and crooked teeth. In this condition, she gets a lot less help. Fewer people open doors for her, if any. Fewer help her pick up her stack of papers.

The solution is simple. Find a mate who can see past physical appearance, and then work hard to help them see you're more attractive traits. But that is much easier said than done, because it seems that people like that are quite rare. I think that most people, when asked, don't consider physical appearance to be more important than personality. But when it comes down to choosing a mate, they're choices aren't always consistent with that preference.

Just something I've noticed and been victim too repeatedly over the last two years. I try not to be bitter. Damn I look ugly, I can't belive. Hehe where I can find abaayo foolxum, or an ugly girl. Don't laugh at me you guys. because some of you are ugly too. Come on baby, and give me a hug.

Somali Terrorists in Sweden

Americans used to talk about Somali terrorist in America, but we Somalis are hearing that Sweden have their own Somali Terrorists list as well. We will probably hear more countries doing the same sooner than later. A handful of Muslim Swedes have been killed in brutal fights.

Young, Swedish-Somali men have been trained to fight and also participated in the bloody civil war in Somalia. The Swedish security police, Sapo, told to Expressen newspaper that "a handful" Swedes have been killed in the war-torn country on Africa's east coast.

Fought for al-Shabaab

The Security Police confirmed yesterday to the newspaper that a young Swedish Muslim was killed during fighting in the beginning of July, and it is in the wake of this disclosure that it appears that even more Swedish Somalis have fought in the Civil War.

The Muslims fought for al-Shabaab, the Islamist terrorist group that with great force has cut the legs under the fragile regime in Somalia.

The Al Shabaab is fighting for to establish an Islamist state in the Horn of Africa.

The Government’s army has been reinforced with troops from the African Union, but militias continue to make great progress. Al-Shabaab is suspected by the United States to stand in coalition with Al-Qaida, and is considered a terrorist organization.

Own initiative

According to Expressen, the young man came to Sweden as a child, and lived in the country until he recently moved back to Somalia.

Police spokesman, Patrik Peter, said that the man's sympathy with extremist Islam began while he still lived in Sweden.

”It is a process that leads to ideological and religious activism. Muslim is convinced that it is acceptable to use violence to promote political messages," says Peter.

According to Peter the young man and the group he belonged to have been victims of the strong or charismatic people outside who have led them into extremism.

Not alone

Malena Rembe, chief analyst at Sapo’s terror unit, told that Swedish Muslims have traveled to Somalia to participate in fighting or terrorism education.

Dagbladet has previously mentioned that the American Islamist terrorist have traveled to Somali to fight.

A great number of American Somalis have joined the Islamist extremists, and at least one U.S. citizen has conducted suicide attacks in the country.

The FBI chief Robert Mueller III confirmed to the New York Times in February that the Somali suicide bomber was trained by Minnesota terrorist while he was still in the USA. The U.S. is sending weapons and military equipment to the Somali government to strengthen it in its the fight against the Islamist insurgents.

Amnesty Int'l has recorder extensive and serious violations of human rights in the country.

A strict sharia law has been introduced in the areas al-Shabaab, where people who do not come to Friday prayers are being whipped and thieves get their hands chopped off.

Swedish "Youth" Dead in Somalia

Another young Swedish-Somali man has been killed in the conflict in Somalia. According to the Swedish Security Service, he died in the beginning of July after being recruited in Sweden by the militia Al Shabab.

It’s well known in the Somali community that the group, which may have ties to terrorist network Al Qaida, has been recruiting youth in Sweden. Al Shabab has been especially active in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby, where a large number of Sweden’s Somali population lives.

Kadafi Hussein, youth leader at a Rinkeby community center, told SR International that he saw four young men recruit Somalis in a public square. “They talked about jihad and what was happening in Somalia. That it was right to go there, and that they’d help you out with a plane ticket if you needed it.”

According to Malena Rembe of the Swedish Security Service, the Swedish-Somali man who died in Somalia had lived in Sweden since he was very young. This type of radicalization may pose a danger for Sweden, she says.

“We fear that that they’ll develop a network, and get experience and training in Somalia that they can then use in Sweden [to plan terrorist attacks] when they come back.

These days Somalis living in the west are being labeled as terrrorist and many Somalis in the USA in particular are being put under microscope. What the hell is going here. what all we know is that few Somalis kids went to Somalia to fight for Al-Shabaab without their parents' knowledge, but that doesn't mean Somalis are terrorist. We gotta need to be careful and we should keep track of what our kids doing.

My Perfect Life in Your Face

It has become an epidemic. And it’s contagious. Although many people use facebook to genuinely stay in touch with friends, there are others who are using facebook as a place where they can increase their ego. And those are the people I’m focusing on. Facebook has become an important psychological tool in people’s daily lives.

And it is a perfect tool to show off your “ideal” life. And people who aren’t really into the whole showing off thing have to watch these people throw their lives in their faces- literally. Probably why it’s called facebook.

You’ve got to applaud the people who thought this up though. It’s a place where you can show off to the world. I have seen several profiles that scream out “I have the perfect life”. It’s all about popularity- how many friends do you have? Do they love you? How many gifts are you receiving per week from them? How busy is your facebook page? The busier means the better life you have- apparently. But do they actually know a quarter of the people on their friend list? Like really know them? Do they even keep in touch, or is this friend list just a wall of fame to prove how social you are? And we all know that society dictates that successful people are the social ones. If you’re a loner, “then you’re a loser.”

Then there are the photos. They should have called it vanity book. People post up their best photo- it may not even look like how they are in real life- on their profile. Everyone wants a celebrity head-shot- their chance of fame. And the photo albums show off their happy lives- smiling for the camera. Many people use their wedding photos, to show off that they are loved, happy and married. And on their marital status, they can state who they are married to, with a link to their partner’s profile, who has a gorgeous face. What a life!

Then there are the applications. A place where you can show off all the cities you’ve visited- to show how well-traveled you are. A feature that gives you the perfect opportunity to describe your lovely friend as an amazing person- thus increasing their ego and popularity; and creating an air of celebrity fame for that person. There’s a program that let’s you add your best friends so that their popularity level increases. A wall where people on your friend list can stop by and write to you. My; what a social, busy bee! This is like 18th century Europe without the Internet; people were rated on how many people they knew and who invited them to grand parties. Adding a friend on facebook is like entering a whole new world of parties.

But I wonder, if their life is so ideal, so perfect as they try to show on facebook, then what are they doing on the Internet? The people I know who have great lives are too busy for facebook. They have a mobile phone and a house where friends can stop by.

It seems that these people who are boasting their fantastic lives- while your life needs to be improved and not by simple DIY- are spending a considerable amount of time on the Internet. They’re not really living their supposedly fantastic lives, are they?

They’re sitting on a cosy chair in front of a screen writing about it. They are detaching themselves away from real life and drawing an ideal picture on the Internet of how they would like their life to look to others. Avoidance problems, perhaps? There is no doubt that the ’self’ is as important as it first was back in the 18th century.

It’s a shame really. All that time and effort consumed into convincing people you have a good life; that you deserve this minute of fame. It could have been spent differently. It could have been spent actually living your life; the life you so desperately need.

Three Steps Towards Friendship

Friendship and friends or saaxiibo continue to remain central to our lives. The relationship that we share with our friends is grounded in a mutual concern as our friends help us in shaping up our personalities as well. Many Somalis don't know the importance of friendship, damn

Even in this age of online social networking and ecards, the need of expanding the network of friends, whether online or offline remains a primary concern for people. We may have a very vague understanding of what makes saaxiib but we all want to have a good many number of friends around us.

Research has shown that the quality and nature of your friends are one of the key influencing factors in achieving happiness, self esteem, and satisfaction. Saaxiibo often affect the health and energy of a person as well. More and more people are increasingly turning towards their friends for support and mutual sharing rather than communicating to their relatives; and this sociological phenomenon has escalated the desire to make more friends. Dee waa sabata aan facebook u sameysaney sow ma aheyn

Though friendship is an impulsive relationship developed between two autonomous individuals marked by a voluntary, emotional and mutual concern, but there are certain steps, which, if implemented can win saaxiibkaa or at least help you get close to those whom you want to make your friends.

The first step to make friends with someone is to make them like you. If they don't like you in the first place, it is unlikely that they'll be eager to become your friends. To let someone know that you are genuinely interested in them, simple gestures like a little smile and calling them by their names can lay the basic foundation. To make the other person feel important you need to be a good listener and encourage the other person to talk. Give your honest and sincere opinion but do not overtly criticize or make fun of him or her. muran iyo is atooreyn ka fagoow

The second step of making someone your friend is to develop a mutual consideration between each other. You need to share his or her perspective and for that it is necessary for you to develop an inclination to see things from the other person's point of view. To become best of friends you must show a genuine concern and consideration for your friend's desires and opinions.

The third and final step towards friendship is to show your unconditional support and encouragement towards your friend. Moreover, you also need to be very clear about your expectations from your friend. If what you expect from the person you want to befriend, matches with what that person can and want to contribute in friendship, the developing friendship between you and your friend is assured to flourish, making both of you gratified with mutual emotional bonding.

Friendship has overwhelming significance on both social and individual level. Friendship doesn't only provide us with emotional as well as utilitarian support but it also helps us to improve our personal identities. So it is quite natural to feel the urge to reach out and make new friends, expanding your friend's circle.

Using the internet and the associated services like facebook come as a natural extension to this escalating aspiration. Friendship or saaxiibtinimo remains familiar yet quite ambiguous for our deeper understanding of this elusive relationship but then again, friends remain the most important ingredients in the recipe of life! Marka saaxiib noqo saaxiib run ah oo la aamini karo yaah

Dabaqoodhi iyo Dhibkooda

Inta aynaan guda galin sheekadeena, bal aan ka faaloono waxa uu yahey dabaqoodhi. Dabqoodhi waa eray duluc dheer xamabaarsan oo loobixiyy kuwii diintoodii, dalkoodii, dadkoodii, iyo sharaftoodiiba ka iibsadey Tigreega Itoobiyaanka ah ee uu madax u yahey Meles Zenawi nacalad ha ku dhacdee.

Dadka Somaliyeed ee dega dhulka Ogadenya waxey mudo dheer ku hoos noolaayeen cadowaga Itoobiyaanka oo xasuuq ba'an oo isugu jira, dil, kufsi, iyo barakicin u geystey dadka rayidka ah oo aan waxba galabsan. Lama soo koobi karo dhibka lagu hayo shacabka Ogadenya, kuwaasoo rafaad ba'an la kulma har iyo habeenba. Iyagoo aan haysing quud maalmoodkoodii ayaa hadan loogu daraa dil, kufsi, iyo barakicin xad dhaaf ah oo ay u gesytaan gumeysiga madoow ee Tigreega ee xooga ku hasyta dhulka Ogadenya.

Waxaa dhibkaas shacabka Ogadenya lagu hayo ka dhiidhiyey Jabahada Wadaniga Xoreynya Ogadenya ee marka la soo gaabiyo loo yaqaano JXWO ama ONLF oo u taagan Ogaden National Liberation Front. ONLF oo ay hor u kacayaan dhalinyaro mujaahidiin ah oo naftooda iyo maalkoodaba u huraya siddii loo xoreyn lahaa dhulka Ogadenya, una dagaalamaya sidii shacabka Ogadenya looga qaadi lahaa xasuuqa bani'aadanimada kabxsan. ONLF, iyaga oo aanan haysanin hub casri ah ayey haddna guulo waaweyn ka gaaraan badanaaba dagaalada ay kula jiraan cadowga Soomaliyeed iyagoo ka dhiga wax la dilay, wax la qabtey, iyo wax laga furteyba.

Hadaba waxaa isweydin leh, oo la hadal hayaa kuwan dabaqoodhiga la yiraahdo iyo waxa ay walaaqayaanba. dabqoodhigu waa kooxo tira ahaan yar hadana ka mid ah Ogadenka halkaa degan. Halkii la doonayey in ay ka qeyb qaataan jihaadka lagula jiro cadowga, ayeyba dalkoodii iibsadeen oo ay dabaqoodhi ama daba dhilif u noqdeen cadwoga Somaliyeed ee dadkooda har iyo habeenba xasuuqa.

Markii askarta Meles Zenaawi ay u waayeen tabar ay iskaga dhiciyaan mujaahidiinta ONLF ee xaq u dirirka ah ayey soo aruursadeen rag Ogadenka ka mid ahaa, gaar ahaan intii ugu caqli yareyd. Kadibna intii waxoogaa lacag ah jeebka loo galiyey, tuuto duug ahna loo galiyey, madaxna loo salaaxey, darajooyiin aan micno la heyna loo qorey, ayaa lagu yiri " war orda oo soo qab qabta Mujaahidiinta ONLF".

Waa yaabe ma dabaqoodhi ayaa soo qabqabanaya mujaahidiintii ONLF oo ka yaabisyey askartii Itoobiyaanka aheyd ee ugu xooga badan qaarada Africa. Wey ogaayeen dabaqoodhi ineysan ONLF la dagaalami karin ee waxey uun doonayaan iney helaan shilaamd ay qaad ama jaad ku cunaan qamrina ku cabaan.

Markii la arkey ineysan dabaqoodhi waxba qabaneynin oo ay qaad iska ruugayaan habeen iyo maalinba ayaa dhamaantood xerooyinka askarta lagu soo xareeyey oo loo furey tababar lagu xasuuqayo shacbka Ogadenya oonba awood u laheyn iney dagaalamaan.

Waxaa dabaqoodhi amar lagu siiyey iney soo qabqabtaan shacabka taageersan oo ONLF iyo cidii qaraabo la ahba. Dabqoodhi ayaa arintaas aad ugu farxey maadaama ay hadda heleen shaqo fiican oo sahlan. Kadibna waxey bilaabeen iney wadooyinka ka soo qab qabtaan dad masaakin ah oon waxba galabsan. Raggi aay soo qabtaan qaarna wey dilaan, qaarna xabsiyada laga buuxiyaa iyaga oon helin cid u dooda ama wax siisa.

Waxeyna si ba'an u kufsadaan haweenka ay ka tageen raggii la diley iyo kuwa xabsida ka buuxaba. Waxaase aad u layaab leh in dadkan ay dabaqoodhiga ay sidaa u xasuuqayaan ay ka mid yihiin reeraha ayba laftoodu ka dhasheen. dadka ay sidaa u xsauuqayaan ma ahan gaalo, ee waa dakoodii ewelba ku hoos noolaa cadowaga soomaliyeed oo si aan naxariis laheyn u xasuuqi jirey waayeel, haween, iyo caruurba.

Waxaa dabqoodhiyaasha hada madaxweyne looga dhigey nin la yiraahso Daa'uud Amxaar ood sawirkiisa kor ku aragtaan, isagoo isku sheega inuu yahey madaxweynaha somalida ee halkaas degata. Ninkan ayaa waxaa ilaahey u keenay cudur ba'an oo la garan waayey wuxuu yahey. Waxaa la yiri siduu u joogaba dhulka ayuu ku dhacaa oo uu qalalaa kadibna uu sida sac u ciyaa.

Isbitaal la geeyo awood uma leh Tigreena waxba kama galin ninkaas iyo caafimaad daradiisa. Sidaa awgeed ayaa waxey dabaqoodhiyaashu u qaadaan haweenka qurufaadk ah ee wax faaliya. Habeen iyo maalinba neef ari ah ayaa loo qalaa oo balaayo iyo jin baa lagu aqriyaa. waxaan la yiri wuuba ka sii darey oo dhowr nin baa lugaha ka qabata kolkii uu galgasho sida dameerada, isaga oo kolba kor iyo hoosba lugaha iyo madax isku qaraacya, dhuuso, hunqaaco, iyo calyaba isku qasaya. Markii urka iyo qaylidiisa loo adkeysan waayo ayaa waxaa lagu xiraa geed hoostiisa isaga oo ay waardiyeynayaa dhowr dabaqoodhi ah oo ay qaraabo yihiin.

Waxaa Daa'uud Amaxaar ka daran nin islamka ka baxey oo dadqalato ah laguna magacaabo Cabdi Iley oo ah nin madoow oo aad u fool xun, oo hadad aragtaan aad hunqaaceysid. Kolkaan aragney suuradiisa iyo muuqalkiisa xun ee uu illahey u abuurey ninkan ayaanu ka gaabsaney in sawirkiisa halkan ku soo daabacno. Cabdi iley nacald ha ku dhacdee waa nin dhulka Ogadenya ku caanbaxey inuu xasuuqo walaalhiisa Ogadenya isaga oo diley bololaal qof oo shacabka reer Ogadenya ah.

Markii askrta cadowaga ee Togreega ay arkeen sida uu ninkan dadqalato u yahey oo uu u leynayo shacabka Ogadenya ayey intey aad u farxeen waxey ka dhigeen taliyaya ciidanka nabadgalyda ee hoos tega Dauu'd Amxaar.

Cabdi Iley oo ah nin si aad ah looga cabsi qabo maadaama uu wato ciidan dabqoodhiyaal aad u badan ayuu wuxuu ku wareegaa dhamaan magaalooyinka iyo tuulooyinka shacbaka Ogadenya degan yihiin. Meeshuu tagaba wuxuu ku xasuuqaa dad rayid ah oo intuu meydkooda soo sawirto ayuu ula tagaa ciidanka Tigreega isagoo leh waa ONLF. Waxaaba ka siidaran inuu sawirada meydadka dadkaas uu soo xasuuqey inuu ku soo daabaco website uu cabdi iley leeyahey ee la yiraahdo eegga.com, isaga oo ku faanaya inuu soo diley ciidamad ONLF.

Waxaa hada na soo gaarey fariima sheegaya in askrta Meles Zenawi ka shakiyeen nikan cabdi Iley oo xoog xad dhaaf ah wata. Waxaa kaloo la sheegay in cabdi iley uu doonayo in uu talada madaxweynimada ku sheega uu ka xayuubsado Daa'uud Amxaar oo ah bukaan socoto marna garbaha lahayo marna geed lagu xiro oo aan waxba maamuli karin.

Si kastaba aruntu ha ahaatee, mar uun buu nikaasi u soo gacan geli gacanta shacbka Ogadenya ee uu xasuuqey lagana abaalmarin isaga iyo dabaqoodhiyaasha uu wataba dhiba ay u geysteen walaalhooda aan waxba galabsan. Da'uud Amxaar isaga Ilaahey ayaaba u keeney cudur xun oo kol dhow ayuu ku bakhtiyi geedka ay ku hoos xiraan.

Insha Allah shacbka Ogadenya ee dulmisan marbey guuleysan iyagoo halgankooda halkaas ka siiwadi doona, cagtna marin doona dabaqoodhiyaasha iyo cadowga ay u shaqeeyaanba. Guul mooyee gumeysi iyo dulmi dooni mayno. Dabaqoodhiyoow waxaad calooshaada u shaqeysatba, waxaad walaahaa xasuuqadaba, kolbaynu gacan bir ah kugu qaban laguna hor geyn shacabkii aad xasuuqdeen la idinkana abaalmarin. Aakhirana waxaa idiin danbeysa naarta jahanama halkas ood ku waaraysaan idinka iyo sheydaamiinta aad daba ordeyseenba.

OhAllah! Forgive Our Sins

To the Dearest, Most Merciful, The Most Compassionate, The Lord of the Universe, The Creator of the Seen and Unseen. Dear God: I kneel in this prayer to thank you. What matters to me is that with each year I grow older, I grow closer to you.

I thank you for allowing me to thank you, for this is a blessing in itself. And I thank you for blessing me with another year of my life. I am a year older but age is not what matters to me.

That with each year I grow older, I grow wiser with your Knowledge. That with each year, you elevate my levels in Paradise. That with each year, you bless me with the light of faith that illuminates the hearts of your beloved believers.

Dear God. With every anniversary of my birth I contemplate on why Your Holiness created me to be included in this world. And I came to learn that it is to know you. To worship you. And better yet, to love you. And I do love you Oh Lord. I love you and wish you love me. I wish for your mercy. I wish to be a better servant to you. For you deserve only the best.

I reflect on what I have been through the past whole year and I realise that through the calamaties that have befallen on me, you have blessed me with perspective. That with the problems I have faced, you have blessed me with experience, wisdom and knowledge. That with the illness I went through, you have blessed me with patience, strength of character and strong-will. That with the hardship I went through, you have blessed me with courage and determination. That with the challenges I went through, you blessed me with excellence, perfection and courtesy. That with the good bounties I have received, you blessed me with remembering charities. That by performing good deeds, you blessed me with even better things that I thank you for.

I have so much to thank for. Forgive me God if I forget the blessings you have blessed me with. Forgive me for my weaknesses and shortcomings. Forgive me. If I don’t have you, I am nothing. Keep me with you God. Please don’t turn away from me in my darkest moments.

As for this new year of my life that I have in front of me, I ask you to bless it with your mercy. I ask you to purify me. I ask you to bless me with an increase of emaan. I ask you to grant me success in my life in the things I do for your sake. I ask you to grant me success in my career. I ask you to grant me success in finding zoog saleh, kholoq wa deen.

The most I ask for is patience in the time of hardship. Good health in the time of illness. Wisdom in the time of challenges. Don’t leave me alone God. I am knocking on your door of mercy and I will not stop until it is answered…

I love you God. I thank you for bringing me to this world. And at the time of my death I will thank you for taking me away from it and bringing me back to you. For I miss you God. I’ve been away from you for so long…

This anniversary of my birth, I dedicate to you- a day filled with worship, supplications and charity.

Blessed am I that it falls in Ramadan.

For you I live. For you I love. I dedicate my whole life to you.

I’m free to do as I please

I am currently going through one of the most painful migranes I have ever encountered in my life. Today I was given another marriage dose from my grandmother in the morning. You’ll tell me that this is just talk. I’ll tell you that you haven’t met my grandmother.

If she says be, then it has to be. It’s been a month since my father’s aunt died. Going to her house to meet her family, we read the Qur’an in memory of her.

Some people believe that coming together to read the Qura’n in memory of a dead person is haram, or an innovation. I believe just coming together with the intention to want to have good, pious company along with remembering Allah by reading His Qur’an is not harmful, but rather a good deed. It all depends on your intentions. It also reminds you that death is not far away.

I sat there in the group, reading surat Yaseen and just thought of life and how quickly is all ends. But here is my grandmother, at 85, still being her usual jihad of the tongue kind of woman. In the gathernig she tells everyone that I am not yet married and that I MUST get married this year.

I look at her in amazement. There are only six months left for this year. Do they think I’m going to get a take-away marriage? I wish it was just talk. In their speech is venom. She also said she will find the bride for me. This is new talk. She’s never said that before. We know she is saying that because she believes my parents haven’t done a good job to find the right woman for me, otherwise I wouldn’t be single in what my relatives see as a terribly-old age to be single. I’m regarded as a boy, unless they save me by the end of the year.

Then she says that I will have my wedding in Qabridahare. my parent's hometown. All I do is sit there and laugh. My life seems to be set out for me, my dear readers. They will find me the bride, they will set the date for later this year and they will have the venue in Qabridahre. There is no talk of what I want, even when I do try to fight back with words that I don’t like their way, it falls on deaf ears. If this was said once, then I wouldn’t mind, really. But this talk is drummed into my ears continuously while I’m in their gathering. It must be brought up more than several times so that I get the message. What am I to tell them that will make them cease?

When I am to get married, I will be hearing how they wish my wife could give birth a girl soon. When she give birth to a girl, they will wish she had given birth to a boy and they will give examples of so-and-so who gave birth just last week to a set of twins boys. If she had given birth to a boy, they will tell me the Arabic saying ‘The one who didn’t give birth to a girl, didn’t give birth at all’. When my wife give birth to both, it will be about how well they are doing in school. When they have graduated, it will be about their marriage and how soon it will be and where. I’m sure I’ve left a few steps, by you get the general idea.

This kind of culture makes me think twice about living in Africa. Even though I do ignore it, when it becomes a sort of nagging voice in my ear that is constant, no matter how much I try to complain, then I know I wouldn’t be able to live with these sort of people around. Unless I cut them out of my life completely.

And I can’t do that since they are relatives, and as Muslims we are not to severe ties with our relatives. What a bummer. If only these people were actually looking forward to such events because of my happiness. No. It’s all to do with showing off and competition. Major migrane initialisers.

For next time, all I’m going to tell them is don’t worry about my life. I’m free to do as I please. If they continue, then I’m going to tell them that I’m doing a private wedding in a secret island and none of them are welcome except those who never gave me such a headache all for the sake of pressurising me. A celebrity in hiding, I’m acting as though these relatives are the paparazzi.

How many men and women go through this daily when they reach a certain age? How many men and women give into the pressure and marry losers just so they can get out of their misery- while they end up in a miserable marriage and divorce? I know I’m facing just a fraction of what other guys go through. Although we are in the year 2009, culture still ties us down.

But no more. We have a voice. We should use it. We should live life the way we want. Hand in hand, let’s get this show on the road brothers and sisters. Let’s give as good as we get.

I know I will.

I'm Free As You're

(This is my sister's story written to all muslim sister's around the world.) To whom it may concern; You may see me as oppressed by my religion. But with my hand on my heart, sincerely and honestly, this is just not true. My religion Islam liberated me and other women more than 1400 years ago.

Before Islam came, young girls were buried by their fathers because it was considered a disgrace to give birth to a daughter. Women were sold as property. Promiscuity was allowed; men had many mistresses and wives. Husbands even encouraged their wives to sleep with certain strong, handsome men so that she may get pregnant with a son who would have the same characteristics. Women were looked upon as sexual objects. In Arabia, women would wear scarves tied behind their necks, so that their beautiful necks and bosoms would show.

When Islam came, it protected and liberated me. It told me to place my hijab over my neck and bosoms so that I may be known as a modest woman, that way no one could harass or look at me as a sexual object. When I walk by, no one looks at my bottom or bosoms because I have covered them. I feel great that I am not regarded as a piece of meat!

When Islam came, I was no longer subjected to being buried in the earth whilst alive, the last face my eyes would see were my father as the sand he dug over my head suffocated me into an eternal sleep. When Islam came, I could walk around freely without fearing being attacked or abused in any way, because I knew men would lower their gaze and respect me to go about my own business, whether it be working, buying items in the market or travelling long distances to other villages.

When Islam came, I had the right to vote and to discuss political and social matters. I was allowed to join the army and fight alongside the men to protect ourselves from attackers. I was no longer to be forced into arranged marriages. I could inherit money, although my brothers would take a larger share, but I know it is because they are the providers of a household and would need more money than me. When Islam came, I was allowed to work and keep the money for myself. My husband is not allowed to take my personal savings. I can spend the money as I wish.

Most importantly, when Islam came, I was considered an equal to man. Men do not have a greater advantage than women to go to heaven. We are both given the same opportunities. There is no gender favouritism.

When I get married, I can write conditions in my marriage contract. If I don’t want my husband to marry another wife, I have the right to state this and have it fulfilled. My husband cannot get married again without my permission. I can ask for a divorce if he goes against my wishes. Neither is my husband or any male member of my family allowed to beat me or treat me harshly. The Prophet taught men to have excellent manners with their wives. God told us to be forgiving, so even if someone had committed a sin, if they had truly repented, then in the Qur’an God says to let them be.

I’m also allowed to ask for divorce, even if the reason is simply because I don’t love the man.

When Islam came, I could start to read and write. Seeking knowledge is so important in our religion. Not just that, but teaching the knowledge we gain is equally as important. Education is stressed for both women and men.

What I also love the most is the manners that come with our religion. Manners is the core of Islam. To be kind, polite, courteous, helpful, are all characteristics we should have. When Islam came, neighbours forgave each other, relatives restored their broken ties, husbands and wives had beautiful relationships with each other, children were kind to their parents. People were kind to not only other people and animals, but to the environment around them.

This is what Islam has given me. To be a good human being. To look after the people of the earth and to look after the earth itself. No matter what religion you are from. There is no hatred between tribes, religions nor sects. We are required to live together peacefully with the common thing we share: we are all human.

When you hear that I am oppressed, when you hear of stories that I am beaten, illiterate, humiliated, this is not from my religion. It is from the culture and old ways of men and women who can’t let go and join the liberation of religion.

I know that Muslim women and men who read this will also tell you many more beautiful blessings that I have not included.

When you say that I need feminists to free me from this religion, Islam has already freed me long ago. But it is the chains of patriarchy and culture that ruins our lives. If we return to the true teachings of Islam, of how women lived peacefully and successfully in the times of the Prophet and his followers, you will see that Islam is innocent of all that it is associated with in recent times.

I am not oppressed.

I don’t need to be freed from my own religion by you.

Indeed culture and patriarchy are the enemies.

Islam freed me long ago.
Wasalaam
By Ayaan, your sister in Islam

Be Yourself Sometimes

Many Somali single women and men are not really single. In their minds they constantly day dream about the perfect one who will soon rescue them from their tower of loneliness. Some women and men have never experienced some time alone. Real time alone.

Where you take yourself out on a date, alone, to treat yourself. Where you celebrate being ‘you’, an individual with accomplishments, with future dreams, with present desires. This is a challenge for us all; to embrace being single for a day, a week, whatever it takes. Take a break from your relationship, take a break from daydreaming about your future prince or queen. It’s time to live in the now.

It may be hard for you to visualise what exactly is required of you. How do you exactly become single? When you break free of all the demands made on you by life. When you take an hour, a day, a week if you can afford, to be comfortable in your own skin. To recognise that you are an individual, you are not part of a package that has the stamp ‘this belongs to prince charming and co’.

Take yourself out on a date. Just you and yourself. Plan it, just like you would spend hours planning it on the person you love. The person you should love is yourself. Be excited while planning. You probably haven’t really had this alone time for ages. Even if you are single, we often spend great moments thinking, ‘if only he or she was here to share it with me’. Well let’s forget about prince/ss charming for a bit. Let’s remember ourselves. Let’s focus on ourselves. We deserve it, don’t we?

The date can be a day out with your friends, just having fun and spoiling yourself. Or it can be a lovely warm bubble bath with candles. It can be you putting on make-up and a lovely outfit and just dancing around to some music. It can be you meditating or praying. It can be anything you want. But you have to feel happy with yourself. You have to love yourself. Just switch off and be you. Men can wait, can’t they? Switch your phones off, and relax with who you are. Get to know yourself again. You’ve been buried under a tonne of social-pressure-dust. It’s time to uncover yourself to yourself.

It’s up to you how long you want to do this for. An hour for those who are married, a few days for those who are single. To just switch off mentally and stop thinking about others or how others will save us. We are our own heroes. We can save ourselves. And we will come out of this experience refreshed, recharged, confident in our own skins, sure of who we are and what we stand for.

And we deserve this time out. It’s time to live for us. To enjoy being with our selves. To just simply be.

Now, who will celebrate with me? Come on! farta taaga yaakhey, nooh!

My Blog is My Home

I will never forget the wise words a blogger once told me: “Jaakoole, people who comment on your blog should know it is a privilege, not a right.” Funnily enough, some people are ignorant of this, thinking that a blog is a country and with it comes freedom of speech.

But this is completely false. A blog is like a home. You would not expect me to come into your home(gurigaaga) and say hurtful, inappropriate words. You’d kick me out because it is your home and no one should treat you like that in your own home! You would expect me to knock on your door and wait for you to invite me into your home. You would expect me to respect you and your property in the duration of my visit, sow ma ahan.

It’s the same with a blog. It’s a person’s online home. The blog owner decides who can come inside and comment. If the blogger doesn’t want a comment to appear on their blog and if they choose not to respond to a certain comment, then it’s their choice, they haven’t done anything wrong. It’s their property and some people shouldn’t be trespassing.

Why some people choose to write hurtful, unsympathetic, inappropriate comments and expect them to be published, is beyond me. And why they get angry because their comment hasn’t appeared and then threaten the blog owner to publish their comment otherwise write nasty things about them on the internet is quite bizarre. Yaab dheh.

There are unwritten rules to posting a comment on a person’s blog. One should be courteous. One should not write inappropriate comments that are off topic. One should not attack the blog owner or their intelligence. And if one wrote something that offended the blog owner, then one should have the decency to apologize. A person should think before they comment, otherwise face the consequences of having their comment ignored.

Ultimately, having comments on a blog promotes healthy dialogue between different people. But one must understand that blog owners have to preserve their blog’s quality. They will not publish every single comment, just like a newspaper will not publish every single letter received. Because some comments are regarded as spam, those ridiculous comments that don’t deserve to be published. It will amount to blog chaos if such a thing happened, and an unhealthy atmosphere will infest the blog and even cause it to self-destruct.

Like trolls, a term for people who like to cause trouble on blogs. They are little invaders who like to ruin the success of a blog, probably because they are envious that another blog is more successful than their own. Other trolls write strange comments, trying to provoke the blog owner, so that they are noticed and in turn attract readers to their own blog.

In some cases a blog owner is so scared to be called a suppressor of freedom of speech, that they will, out of ignorance, publish a troll’s comment, which causes more harm than good. Blog owners should know that they actually have the choice, the right, to throw it in the spam folder and not even have to explain why they chose to do so. They can ignore it completely and not even have to read it.

If a person’s comment hasn’t appeared on a blog, before criticizing the blog owner and ranting on about how unfair they are, think about the fact that it is their blog. They have the right to keep it a safe, peaceful haven, free from verbal diarrhea. And sometimes the comments are caught in the spam folder without the blogger’s knowledge, so it is unfair for the commentator to jump to conclusions.

There are many instances where a blogger must make decisions whether or not to publish a comment if they are serious about preserving their blog and promoting healthy dialogue. At the end of the day it’s not to be taken personally- those who do take it personally and go on a vendetta against the blogger are not only childish and narrow-minded, but also seem to have a lot of free time on their hands.

So while visiting blogs, it’s good to remember that we are in someone’s “online home”, we should treat it with respect. Because it’s their blog- their choice. They decide.

I'm Not Muslim (Obama)

Yet again the word “Muslim” has been smeared across news sites and -not surprisingly- it isn’t good news. It was a shock to read the outcry received from rumours that Democrat Barack Hussain Obama, running in the 2008 Presidential elections, is a Muslim.

Like an instant knee-jerk reaction, Obama pulled up his hands and swore the rumours were false, assuring everyone he wasn’t from the Muslim faith.

“I think it ’s very important for people not to buy into the kinds of dirty tricks that we’ve become so accustomed to in our politics, and people need to understand I’m not and never have been of the Muslim faith,” he told CBN’s David Brody.

The latest political smear-campaign is a means to create fear and apprehension in the American public. The scene is all too similar to rumours calling a public figure a homosexual or even a patient with a contagious, fatal disease. The word “Muslim” now falls in line with those dark labels, with Obama frantically trying to reassure his voters that he is a “committed Christian”.

It’s not a concern that Obama is a committed Christian, this is his belief and it must be respected. What isconcerning is the fact that someone chose the word “Muslim” to ruin Obama’s reputation, probably because of ties to his Kenyan background which led to his middle name “Hussain”. But in truth Obama was never a Muslim and was baptised at an early age.

Still, does this recent political smear-campaign against Obama reflect the strong Islamophobia tendencies the majority of Americans have and the confusion they have between ‘radical Islam’ and the true, peaceful Islam?

Interesting to note, whoever is spreading these rumours could have said that Obama was a drug dealer, or an alcoholic, or even a serial killer. But they opted to attack his religious beliefs, knowing well that the public would turn against him for being a Muslim, because it takes no genius to know that Islam is not on the American public favourite list.

Taking a diplomatic stance, Obama does not disrespect the 6-8 million American Muslims with his speech; he clearly needs their votes. He told reporters: “I think that those who are of the Muslim faith are deserving of respect and dignity, but to try and feed into this fear-mongering and try to question my faith commitments and my belief in Jesus Christ, I think is offensive,” Obama also said. “And I want to make sure that people are absolutely clear about what’s going on with this, and if they get another one of these e-mails that they’re deleting it and letting their friends know that it’s nonsense.”

Is there a written rule that the President-elect cannot be from a certain faith? Not according to this: “No religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or Public Trust under the United States.” (The Constitution of the United States of America, Article 6). Furthermore Section 4 of Article I of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, written in its original form by Benjamin Franklin and others state: “No person who acknowledges the being of a God and a future state of rewards and punishments shall, on account of his religious sentiments, be disqualified to hold any office or place of trust or profit under this Commonwealth.”

So what is all the fuss about? The fact that the majority of Americans see Islam as a threat to global security and do not want an insider, their very own president, to be associated with that world.

Whatever the consequences of these rumours, it is evident that the word “Muslim” is on the American blacklist and it is to be avoided like the plague. The latest tactic to destroy Obama’s reputation just proves that Islamophobia is on the rise, with moderate Muslims looking on and feeling disheartened that so many have misunderstood their peaceful, hijacked religion.

How To Make Friends for Life

Friendship and friends continue to remain central to our lives. The relationship that we share with our friends is grounded in a mutual concern as our friends or saaxiibo help us in shaping up our personalities as well. Even in this age of online social networking and ecards, the need of expanding the network of friends, whether online or offline remains a primary concern for people.

We may have a very vague understanding of what makes a friend but we all want to have a good many number of friends around us, walaahi dee.

Research has shown that the quality and nature of your friends are one of the key influencing factors in achieving happiness, self esteem, and satisfaction. Saaxiibo often affect the health and energy of a person as well.

More and more people are increasingly turning towards their friends for support and mutual sharing rather than communicating to their relatives; and this sociological phenomenon has escalated the desire to make more friends.

Though friendship is an impulsive relationship developed between two autonomous individuals marked by a voluntary, emotional and mutual concern, but there are certain steps, which, if implemented can win you friends or at least help you get close to those whom you want to make your friends.

The first step to make friends with someone is to make them like you. If they don’t like you in the first place, it is unlikely that they’ll be eager to become your friends. To let someone know that you are genuinely interested in them, simple gestures like a little smile and calling him or her by name can lay the basic foundation.

To make the other person feel important you need to be a good listener and encourage the other person to talk. Give your honest and sincere opinion but do not overtly criticize or make fun of him or her.

The second step of making someone your friend is to develop a mutual consideration between each other. You need to share his or her perspective and for that it is necessary for you to develop an inclination to see things from the other person’s point of view. To become best of friends you must show a genuine concern and consideration for your friend’s desires and opinions.

The third and final step towards friendship is to show your unconditional support and encouragement towards your friend. Moreover, you also need to be very clear about your expectations from your friend. If what you expect from the person you want to befriend, matches with what that person can and want to contribute in friendship, the developing friendship between you and your friend is assured to flourish, making both of you gratified with mutual emotional bonding. Doing that is very important walaale

Friendship has overwhelming significance on both social and individual level. Friendship doesn’t only provide us with emotional as well as utilitarian support but it also helps us to improve our personal identities.

So it is quite natural to feel the urge to reach out and make new friends, expanding your friend’s circle. Using the internet and the associated services like free friendship ecards and Facebook come as a natural extension to this escalating aspiration.

Friendship remains familiar yet quite ambiguous for our deeper understanding of this elusive relationship but then again, friends remain the most important ingredients in the recipe of life! we somali have to make as many as friends and keep them as long as we wish yaah saaxiibayaal. Good Luck!