In the border town, he is known as iskoris - Somali for a child fending for himself. He hawks neem sticks as toothbrushes. When he was born, Somalia was in turmoil. Twice, with his family, he has sought refuge in Mandera near Kenya's border with somalia. Master Hussein Maalim Abdullai, 12, and Abikar Iftin, 13, during the interview. Pics by Boniface Ongare Brought up by the gun, Hussein Maalim Abdullai, 12, does not wish to live by the gun. "The gun is bad. If it were my wish I would opt for reconciliation because revenge has not helped to stop bloodshed. I have seen worse times, I can tell you it is not a good sight," he says. Gunshots no longer send cold shivers down his spines. Since the fall of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre's government in 1991, the testing of a gun today, the tossing of hand grenades and the felling of bodies tomorrow are the hallmark of the war-ravaged country. The collapse of the government split the nationals along clan lines and militia control the territories thus created. He learned that they opened fire when he was barely three years old and killed his father. Inter-clan fighting over the control of the tiny town of Bula Hawa in Somalia led to the displacement of the sub clans of the larger Marihan clan. This is the clan Hussein belongs to. They fled to Bula Amin along the border and had barely settled before the gunmen routed them out. With his father dead, Hussein would, eight years later take the responsibility of raising his family. Today, with his meagre earnings from the sale of the toothbrushes, he feeds his mother, three sisters and a brother. His younger sister fetches reeds with which their mother weaves mats, which are used to thatch Somali traditional houses. Due to scarcity of the thatching material, it could take up to six months to make a complete set which is sold for Sh2,000 at most. His day starts at 5.30am. He goes to the thickets to harvest fresh twigs. He has to be at the Mandera bus stage by 6.30am to sell the sticks to passengers travelling to Nairobi via Wajir and Garissa. He sells the sticks at Sh1 a stick. To avoid returning home empty handed, he skips lunch or if he cannot brave the pangs of hunger, he gangs with fellow skoris to pull resources to buy a plate of rice and pasta. On many occasions, the children hang around hotels and scramble for leftovers. But they cannot escape the wrath of hotel owners who view them as a nuisance to their customers. When business is low during the day, he sleeps on the pavements or accompanies colleagues who criss-cross the town offering cheap domestic chores and shining shoes. Some as young as five do odd jobs for a shilling. Their number has not been established but they will be seen loitering the town in groups of twos or fives. He says if given a chance to continue schooling he wont. "My education was rudely interrupted when I was in Standard Two. Gunmen stormed my class and shot my teacher in the head. We screamed and ran away. We liked the teacher very much. He told us the pen was mightier than the bullet, but the bullet fell him. I wanted to become a teacher like him," he says. His mother Indayar Mahat Sheikh says the community did everything to give their children education. But frequent feuds exposed them to easy targets from marauding militia and momentarily kept them off. Hussein regrets that the 14-year-old Somali war has wasted him and denied him many rights he sees Kenyan children enjoy. The most important of all is education, parental love and guidance. Instead, it has been replaced with trauma, family disintegration and lawlessness upbringing. The children are brought up knowing that one has to own a gun. Owning one is the rule. His prayers are that the interim Somali government elected last October in Nairobi Kenya takes over and restore order. The boy says he has been following the development of his country through the BBC Somali. I am a keen BBC listener, he says. "I ask the leaders to stop the fighting and forget the past for the sake of us. Let them hear the voice of the children. Let them rekindle our hope. We are not hopeless. We have not given up, I hope one day I will own some business and settle in a free country," he says trying to control tears. "I am grateful to Kenyans for being tolerant with us. I have been moving around selling my sticks without interruption. I want to enjoy this peace in my country," he says as he walks away to look for a customer. However, occasional incidents dampen his spirit. Officials purporting to be from the Mandera County Council harass them and demand Sh15 as cess. They are not issued with receipts. As evening approaches, Hussein crosses the border to his country and the head of the family will trudge past gunmen armed to the teeth. He has to constantly look behind his back to ensure none is aiming the barrel of a gun in his direction. He will pass by a row of butcheries and with Sh15 buy half a steak of goat meat. By: Adow Jubat And Boniface Ongeri Posted: 07th/May/2005

Inaalilaahi wainaa ilaahi raajicuun May Allah forgive his sins and grant him Jannah. Be patient and Inshallah make Dua for your father.

Home is Somalia Why? Its the only place in this planet I could not be asked: When are you going back home? Its the place where there are people I have everything in common with, language, religion, culture, and colour. Somalia is where the heart is wherever I might be. Allow noo qabooji dalka, Amiin.

Sahal is it me or the article contradicts itslef; the third thing could be my somali has fadedand needs refreshment : Look at this: Riyad:Sheekh Caaid Qarni oo ka hadlay filimka (Naago aan har lahayn)oo ay soo agaasintay Hayfaa Mansuur ayaa ku tilmaamay in wajigu cawro yahay lagana rabo Hayfaa haday rabto filankaa inay soo bandhigto qariso wejiga dumarka ku jira filimka, waxaa filimka lagu soo bandhigay Qunsuliyada Faransiiska ee Jida. Then this: Khudbad uu ka akhkriyey magaalada Riyad uguna magacdaray (cadaynta mugdiga) ayaa waxuu ku sheegay in uu la hadlay culimo waawayn sida , muftiga guud sheekh C/casiis Alsheekh,Wasiirka arimaha diinta Sheekh Saalix Al-sheekh yo Sh.Salax Al-fawzan , waxayna kula taliyeen dhamaantood inuu si fagaare ah arinta uga hadlo una cadeeyo ra'yiga loo badanyahay(raajixa ah)ee culimadu qabto kaas oo ah in wajigu aanu cawro ahayn. Is the sheikh advocating for the Niqab or is he against it?

What a heartless man!!! How can he spend that much money on a little girl when he can feed and shelter it with 30 million poor people in the corners of the world ..What xaasid!!

Some of the comments made in here show how far some Somalis' hatred towards others can go. By just mentioning the name of certain cities in parties of Somalia inflammates some people and want to burst with anger Why does a capital city matter anyway? isn't it a seat of the goverment minsters and the president to run their affairs from, how does it change the status of the country? it's matter of fact many countries change their capital cities for one reason or onther. For gods sake our whole existence as state is on the line and you make a lot of fuss this city or that city can never be capital. What alot of maangaab we are!!

OK let me speculate what is likely to happen if this threat of these MPs materialise. Half or less than that will relocate to Mogadishu claiming to have impeached the president and nominte another president, the other half of the MPs and the president, the primeminster will relocate into Baidoa and Jowhar. The latter group will vote to bring IGAD troops to the country including Ethopia and after few months will vow to return low and order and will attack Mogadishu with full force. There will be bloody war ofcourse and many Somalis will die. The situation will then depend on if some group of the two come out as a winner, if not things then go back to square one and new warlords will emerge taking the country into further fiefdoms. Let us pray we never wake up into this scenario and these ****** sort things out for the sake of the poor people.

Inaalilaahi wa inaalilaahi raajicuun. Allaha unaxariisto Islaan Mohamed Islaan Muuse. I heard he was a great leader and champion of peace.

I am surprised no one is talking about Islamic solution to the problem. Islam practically solved the problem through "Islamic brotherhood". We need to look back the way of life of the Arabs who lived in the Arab peninsula before Islam and how tribal loyalty was very important for their existence, honour and livilihood, pretty much the present Somalilands. Islam recognized the problem but did not call for outright uprooting but taught muslims to be brothers for the sake of their "Deen" The believers are but a single brotherhood. Make peace and reconciliation between your two (contending) brothers and fear God so that you may receive mercy Quran 49-10. . This in turn gave them justice, security, stabilty and economic order that forsake them to rely on their tribe. It is true that on face value, you can uproot tribalism by providing a man made laws (that seem just), security and stability, but the fact of the matter is any thing of that sort would be temporary one rather than a solution and tribalism will re appear as soon as wealth and other worldly things are gone. In summary, let us not work to renounce tribalism let us instead induce "Islamic brotherhood" in our nation that would dilute the negative and destructive capabilty of tribalism. Some people mention how wealth changed the tribalism in the gulf but that is temporary coexistence. You have to remember that tribalism in these nations still exist but for a different use, and once the oil and the wealth elements that make them self sufficient are gone things can go back to square one. Allah knows best.

^^^Su, aal, 1) Hadal waxaa ka muuqda inaad rabtid dawlad iyo dad militia ah oo labduba hubaysanyihiin. Taasi macquul ma noqon kartaa? yaase hadii taas la daayo wadanka xukumaya oo sharciga iyo kaldambaynta ilaalinaya. Miyeey marwalba ahayn in dawladu ka xoogbadantahay shacabka si loo kala damabeeyo? maxaa ku jaban hadii ciidamo shisheeye (preferably from muslim countries ) wadanka yimaadaan milooshoyooyinkana hubka ka dhigaan inta dawladu ciidamo ka sameeysanayso? 2) Malagu kalsoonaankaraa nimankan warlordska ah oo ay soomaliya u xayirnayd 14 sano inay huba iskood isaga dhigaan, kaladambayntii iyo xasilooniddina soomaliya kusoo celiyaan? 3) Macquul ma tahay nin jaahil ah oo qof maskiin ah dhacay, naag maskiin ah kufsaday, dad masaakiin ah isbaaro u dhigtay in boolis la dhigo umada iyo shacab soomaliyeed u adeegaan iyaga oon wax dhaqan celin iyo tababar loogu caqli celin loo samayn. Aanu ka doodni arintan si ay ku jirto istixgalin, iyo ismaamuus, maxaa yeelay waa arin na quseesa anag iyo dadkeenaba. Mahadsanidiin

Mayee Haraam dating maxay tahay. Nowdays you hear evrything...ninkii noloow waxbaa kuu laaban

This is real war on Islamic faith? And this is happening in Kuwai?, is there no muslim remained in there?. Subxannallah But we have to be confident, no matter what happens to muslims, and however they are weak Allah has promised to preserve his book and he will.

This is real war on Islamic faith? And this is happening in Kuwai?, is there no muslim remained in there?. Subxannallah But we have to be confident, no matter what happens to muslims, and however they are weak Allah has promised to preserve his book and he will.

If I am being honest, Somalis are very loud, dont respect quees and lot of us lack basic discipline. A year ago I took my sister to Gatwick airport to catch an airplane to Somalia, and most of the passengers in the terminal were somalis. Guess what, the airplane staff had to call the police becouse people were jumping the quees and there were a lot of querrel and pushing you dont see in any where else in this land. And ooh dont even mention children running around the escalators as if they have never seen one.

Although brothers had some other options that they could perform their Salat but instead, I think,prefered to honour Allah's"Signs" "Shacair" as Allah says "Waman yucadhim shacairaallahi fa inahaa mintaqwalquluub". It also could be they meant it a way of passing on the message of Allah to others so unlucky to do so, so they could get their attention and them then starting to enquire about what they have been doing. I remember few times I have been to speakers corner, and the Salah time arrived we prayed together, iniatiating a huge attention from non-believers. They looked on like we are mad or so but then they find out we weren't, but we were just some people who have a firm believe in their religion.

If there were ever an article this long that I have read in its entirety on SOL (or so I remember), this is it. Thank you for sharing it with us brother, I really appreciate it. I always had my doubts about this so called Islamic morgages, simply becouse their similarity to conventional morgages specially the fixed rate morgages which is similar to the Ijara scheme in many aspects. Allah knows best.

Alla maanta welendo aa meesha lagu jarjaray. And there I thought I spoke fluent Swahili, but found myself struggling with some of the words un-leashed by Raula and her friends. May be its time to go back huko bongo kujifundisha luqha ya kitaifa kidhogo. Ama inawezekana kiswahili chenu kipovu. Does that make sense

Nationalist, Puntland is part of Somalia and I don’t know why you single it out. As far as I know this problem is not exclusive to the people there. It is Somalia problem as a whole and something that a government only can solve for the people. First of all you have to ask why people migrated to Mogadishu and it’s surrounding in the past. The government of the day did not share the resources of the state with the rest of the other regions and based everything in Xamar. For example there were no good educational institutions, health care and all other basic necessities for the people to stay in their regions. People felt the need to come and live in Xamar. They wanted to have their share of the public services that they were denied in their own cities and regions. Even the basic thing like passport, ID and other documents were only available in Xamar. So you see this is not a choice that people can make, they are to go where their needs can be met.

I read it before in here, but it is also refershing to read it once again. Thanks for sharing it with us. It is always delightful to see some of these people see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I read it before in here, but it is also refershing to read it once again. Thanks for sharing it with us. It is always delightful to see some of these people see the light at the end of the tunnel.

double posting

14 sano oo qax iyo dhibaato umada soomaaliyeed kujirtay dadbaa wali la buka cuqdad qabiil..may god help us...If these humans decided to solve things peacefully and want this time to choose Qaran before personal and tribal interest, why would some one shunn and shame them is beyond me..the only thing i can think of is that such person has been overpowered by qabiil pride that takes no one to no where.

As I predicted the topic has become a hot debate. But I think you all being too serious about this issue becouse on the groung the reality is different, not manay guys are flocking to the East and every other day there are Aroos in every London's Somali neighbourhoods. Somali men tying the knot with their fellow western bred sisters. Many people feel that girls in here are more understanding in life general compared to the ones back home. But the issue of high rate of divorce is worrisome to some but instead of addressing the issue I dont know if getting wife/husband from back home is the solution. we need to examine why so many new families are breaking up so soon after only being together for few months or so. That is not only heartbreaking for the two couples but specially when young children are involved. May be we need to debate about the issue facing us in here before we decide to export our pridacament to home. May be that is more relevent to us than the current debating of matters that do not help us in any way.

The scenario lacks any credibilty!!How is it possible that after 10 long years of getting to know each other go to waste like that described. I believe when couples have spent together that amount of time to gether as well as having children they are in good situation of caring each other more than ever before. After all, I have got grown up children to play with, a wife I know in and out to touch the right buttons,how could it go wrong one wonders!! oh its unlikely scenario or one in million nafta

Inaalilaahi wa inaa ileehi raajicuun, Ilaahay ha unaxariisto hooyadaa dambigeedana ha dhaafo isagaa awaood lehe..Amiin