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.