JEDDAH, 14 April — Most of the tens of thousands of Somali expatriates who have made their home here in the Kingdom are unskilled workers and housemaids, many of whom fled their own country during and immediately after the 1991 civil war there.
Many, however, have been here since as long ago as the late 70s. They are from a well-educated and highly-trained group that formed part of the professional classes who became increasingly fed up with the policies of the Somali government that eventually collapsed.
They traveled to many foreign places in their quest for new job opportunities — most notably Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States.
Here in the Kingdom, they found work with reputable companies as well as small commercial establishments.
What makes Somalis distinguishable from the many other expatriate communities is the way in which they are famous in the Kingdom for gathering in coffee shops and the lobbies of hotels.
There, they sit and obsessively debate the latest developments in their country.
This ancient Somali custom of gathering is known back home as “seat-fighting”.
Arab News asked a number of these Somalis about how they have managed to keep alive their traditional habits while at the same time simply trying to earn a living here in Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Said Adan Abdulle, a Somali-Canadian who is an orthopedic consultant at Abuzinadah Hospital in Jeddah, said the “seat-fights” are a cultural habit that Somalis draw on to cement social relationships and keep alive their memories of home.
“I can also cite the example of the common Somali greeting ‘Nabbad Miyaa?’ (‘Is there peace?’). We assume that peace is always an important question among Somalis, wherever we are.”
The habits of talking and gathering have roots in the strong oral tradition of Somalia.
Somalis simply love to talk; but they are not that keen on reading. This fact is reflected in how Somali poems and music, but not books and newspapers, are widely available in Jeddah’s various Somali heart-lands, for instance Suhayfa market, Sabil, Kilo 7, Ruwais, Anakish, Bawadi, and Ghulail districts.
Somalis greet one another with the words “Iska war?” (“What’s the news?”) and this reveals just how interested Somalis are in discovering everything that is going on.
Adan went on to explain that Somalis “have a much stronger tradition of arguing and debating away differences than of physically fighting.”
With the country’s nomadic history and reliance on limited grazing land and water resources, a group allegiance has always been key to survival in Somalia — and this focus has continued among Somalis living abroad.
Somali culture is based on the morals of proverbs, which are so prevalent that they have even become the objects of many jokes.
Abdullah Rage Hussein, an official of Huta Sete Marine Group, said Somalis came in large numbers to the Kingdom after 1991, and most of them were unskilled workers.
“Many Somalis benefited by the Saudi government’s offer in 1997 of iqamas to illegal overstayers who worked as drivers and maids. Since then, they have been able to take control of their own lives,” he said.
Seynab Ibrahim, 35, a housemaid living in the Bawadi district of Jeddah, said that she came here in 1994 when United Nations peacekeepers were stationed in Somalia.
“I was an overstayer for the first three years. Thanks to the Saudi government, though, I’ve since been given an iqama and now I work for my sponsor. I get SR800 a month. But I also iron, wash clothes and house clean for another two families during the afternoons and evenings. From them I get an additional SR600,” she said.
She added that when there is peace in her homeland, she would love to return.
This last sentiment is echoed by almost every other Somali here in the Kingdom. Indeed, their debates are usually centered on the prospects for peace, and so for their eventual departure.
In the meantime, they add skills and labor to the Kingdom, and keep alive as best they can their rich culture that is being so crudely undermined in Somalia itself.
