Have you heard of Xagaag Xalimo ?

It started out as a random statement that came out of nowhere "I hope I do not marry a man from clan X" . Interested I asked " why not ? "
And the response was one of the strangest story I've heard over the years:

Well haven't you heard of the phrase "Xagaag Xalimo (Summer Halimo) " . As I waved my head in response, she said ; See in that part of Somalia , when it get's really hot in the summer, women go to cities where it's cooler, taking their children along and leaving the husbands behind since they're working. While they're gone, some of their husbands marry a second wife and settle her into the first wife's home. Just before wife one comes back from her summer holidays he either divorces wife 2 or settles her in a home on the other side of town , keeping her a summer secret never to be known by his "Formal wife" . Hence the name Xagaag Xalimos - they're a Summer fling.  

Over the years I thought I had heard every kind of Strange Somali story. But this was one that I've never imagined of hearing over my 20 years of living. Naturally my mind started imagining if I was in place of any of those women who went on a summer holiday only to come back and find another woman walking through the halls of their living room. Of all the emotions I imagined feeling, rage would be the one to take control. The absurdity of that situation would be beyond words, and what would follow would range from simple name calling to the death of a man who could not control his lust, and in the most extreme of cases it would include the death of a Xagaag Xalimo as well.

For the Sake of the men in that city , I hope that story is simply gossip mentioned over afternoon teas for a good laugh.
Have you heard of Xagaag Xalimo ? and Do you think it is based on true stories ? 

Sport or Diplomatic Tribalism

So if you have been following Universal Tv or simply the Somali Gossip lately , you will already know that Somaliland is having its annual Football championship in Burco . This is an interesting event for a few reasons . and the timing couldn't be anymore perfect . Here's why :

A few days ago, there was some tribal tensions in the northern region of Somaliland , precisely between Qabiley and Borama. I wont go into any specifics of the incident , since I have heard only one side of the story and am not very familiar with the whole situation. Let's just say there were Gunshots through 24 hours, Tribe Seniors Locked up and protests leading up to civilian clashes with the police - not very pretty at all.

So with a tribal feud building up slowly , what better way to settle it all than in the field with a ball - It was GAME TIME !!!! . a day after the tension started , there was a match between Qabileey and Borama. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said the whole town was glued to their screens through the 90 minute game. - and if it isn't clear yet , it wasn't because the whole town were interested in football.
You even had the Old women on standby and everytime a goal was scored , they'd ask who scored [ that's how oblivious they were to the whole game. to them it was just a bunch of men running around with a ball , but what they knew was they were playing the so called enemy !!!! ] and when they were told it was Borama - The drums would be playing and the whole ilyilyilyilyilyyy was the national anthem for the next 30 seconds. this was clearly tribalism invading football , a more diplomatic way of solving issues. No Guns involved , just loads of sweat on the field and a ball.

I dont particularly remember the score , but Borama did win that day and the Gunshots and clashes from the day before were followed with celebrations, drum playing and a joyful feel in the air.

Peace is restored once again to Borama, thanks to the beautiful game of Football :).

PS: To the readers of the blog, I'd like to introduce myself . I am the co-writer of this blog while Fatma is away. I will simply go under Anonymous for now but I will add my contact info to the "about me" page for those of you who are interested in knowing me . Hopefully I will be able to bring you an interesting read .

Dear Readers

I write this post with very mixed feelings. Lately My writing has been interfering with my Education .When I say that I do not mean I have been spending more time writing than homework, however apparently my opinions and observations have almost ended my University education. I am sorry I cannot go into the details of the incident or what I might be referring to for personal reasons. But hopefully in a few months , I will be free to get back to updating you all on the latest from wherever I might be .  
I do promise to come back with better stories after my graduation. But for now I am forced to stick to a Journal.


I love you all , and to those of you who do want to keep in touch you can always send me an email or tweet me @fayyDs. 
                                                           
                                                                                    Love,
                                                                                        Fayy [ Heblayo]

Do Not Enroll Into Med School - Advice from a med student

Through most of my School years , I've played with the idea of majoring in different fields. I've thought of being a lawyer, a Journalist , a psychologist , nutritionist , translator and ofcourse a Doctor. As HighSchool came to an end , I had narrowed down to 3 fields. But like most Somali families most of my choices were dismissed as inappropriate and I was enrolled into med school. The first 2 years of med school was a breeze , I wasn't challenged or impressed by the level of difficulty - A's grew on trees for me . Fastforward and I'm a senior with only 18 months to graduation and things are not all that easy anymore, the pressure is high, expectation even higher and the wide road to greatness seems to be turning into a narrow bridge . Not to mention being on binoculars at all times by the entire Somali community . So after much whining to everyone in sight here I am putting together a few paragraphs on why you should NOT enroll into med school. 

 Let me simply put it this way ; If anyone tells you medicine is the hardest field to be in , smack them in the face and tell them to FEAR THE LORDD for their outrageous Lie!!!! .
On a more serious note , from personal experience I would tell you I felt "smarter" when I was in highschool than I am right now. Med school killed a good portion of my brain cells. Studying medicine is 90% about your memory skills and 10% critical thinking. So basically you are rarely challenged to come up with a solution of your own , most of it is in the books . So unless you are willing to spend a minimum of 6 hours reading about sickness and disease, DO NOT ENROLL IN MED SCHOOL!!! . 


Reason 2: If you're a laid back person to begin with , who enjoys doing nothing most days except hanging out with your friends and living your social life to the max, then again I would tell you not to enroll into med school . You see there's this Triangle to med school , and the equation to success can have only 2 of these 3 factors. ; Homework , Sleep and Social Life. You will always have to sacrifice one , and when in med school it's always the social life that gets cut out. You could try and act all smart about it and cut out sleep , but once again from experience that is usually a short term solution and will most likely lead to a good number of D's and F's on your transcript .


Reason 3: you have to be an A or B student AT ALL TIMES, anything below that is just unacceptable- Talk about Pressure!!! . And when you have about 95% of the class getting straight A's , your C+ will have you feeling like an Idiot all day long. So if you enjoy the comfort of having to "Just pass" DO NOT ENROLL INTO MED SCHOOL!!!!!. 


And my closing Argument , The Work field is already highly competitive as it is , and unless you are the best around, you will most likely not get a decent job as a doctor. There is no " just okay applicant" - Be the Greatest or Go Home. So practically speaking are you willing to go through 6 - 10 years of school and risk ending up staying home? or even worse working for minimum wages in a village in the middle of nowhere ?. 


Final Words - DO NOT ENROLL INTO MED SCHOOL , MAKE ME PROUD AND BE ANY OF THE THINGS I COULD NOT BE ;)