hurrah to the inhabitants of Moqokori locality: they have shown resilience in the face of unfriendy envioronmen and civil war.

by: abdullahi m arale

As a native of this locality who followed the changes and transformations made by this community over the decades in the areas of living, education and social justice, and equally watched their growth in social awareness and economic development, I am privileged to bring up in this short paper, the relative progress made in the noted areas and what areas to focus on in the future in order to improve their lives.

Moqokori is a locality that geographically lays ninety kilometers north-east of the city of Bulo/Burte, Hiran. Moqokori establishment evolved over the decades, starting as a rural trading post, gradually rising into a full rural township. The Moqokori name denotes care for the weakest o society, brotherhood, the gathering place, communal-nomadic living and prosperity to those who value close-knit clan ancestral derivation, and toughness, autonomy, warfare, and protection of the clan land’s integrity in the tribal level and defending the Somali land integrity in the national level. The people occupying this locality call themselves ‘true Somalis’. In their perspective, clan and tribal affairs are predispositions that are part and parcel of the Somali cultural traditions, serving only as identification amongst themselves in local levels, but union of the Somali people, under one body of government, has been the core value of their view of the world, since independence. There are many facts that can confirm this perspective. For instance, young warriors from this locality have been a great contributing force to the two epic-liberating wars of Ogaden, against Ethiopia, for which many of them had sacrificed their lives to the cause during their service in the Somali armed forces. Another testament to these peoples’ patriotic values is reflective on the 1990s insurgent war against Mohamed Siad Barre’s regime. Without diminishing the great efforts put in by other freedom-loving Somalis for the cause, one could confidently claim, however that a big junk of the fighting force in that liberation war was from this locality. Similarly, in the ongoing war against the Ethiopian occupying forces, particularly, in the Hiran region, hundreds, if not thousands of young warriors from this locality are giving up their lives for the freedom of their region and the preservation of the Somali territory’s integrity, as a whole. The war-like temperament of the people of this locality is said, anecdotally, to emanate from, not only their camel-herding, nomadic lifestyle which unlike farmers, involve in incessant conflicts and fighting to protect clan graze lands, from invaders, but also from the harsh nature of the terrain in which they dwell that demands resoluteness and toughness in the face of all kinds of hardships.

For lack of better word, this locality’s geographical character is unforgiving and harsh. The terrain is semi-arid in its landscape outlook; a savanna, if you will, a tropical grassland containing of scattered shrubs and small-and-large size trees which provide all animals, big and small, with abundant food nourishment in the short rainy seasons. Moreover, the color of the soil, in terms of its surface outlook, is magnificent. It has got for instance a color that pleases the eyes of the native dwellers. The soil has red-burgundy color tone that provides the inhabitant nomads a cover for their eyes from the violent sun rays which probably would not have provided similar protection had the soil had a different color, say for instance, a plain one. Furthermore, while this terrain may have some good qualities that is beneficial to the people living in it, still, it has been known for its harsh ecological conditions exasperated by the wearing down (erosion) of the soil by many centuries of exploitation by the natives without contingent preservation plans. More to the point, the quantity of rain falling in it, is said to be, approximately 50 to 70 centimeters per year which forces the inhabitants to constantly be on the move in search of new pastures for their livestock. However, despite of its meager resources caused by lack of moisture, over the centuries, the inhabitants of this locality have put up with their environment persistently, exploiting it within the limits of their knowledge. This meaning that based on the Darwin’s survival theory, they made the appropriate adjustments to their harsh environment, accepting it as their providence, and correspondingly developing techniques to exploit it to the best of their abilities.

The old ways Vs the new ways

The old habit

The list of horrible stories to be described here shortly derive from backward customs, lack of knowledge, and resistance to social changes relate to circumstances that are not unique to the community in discussion, but rather common narratives for all Somali nomadic communities, even though they may vary in their degree of severity, depending upon the communities’ geographical locations.

Growing up in Moqokori, I recall my father and his close fellow nomads, at their afternoon gatherings, braggingly talking about how many camels do each of their close fellow clan members own, and the qualities of these animals in terms of physical beauty, strength, and longevity. As these conversations went on, I recall, as well, these clansmen predicting what kind of seasons they expect in the upcoming year that is, whether they will enjoy abundant rainy seasons or, ones that will bring draught and destruction to their livestock. Moreover, during their predictions and forecasts, known in the Somali language as “Odoros”, there was a clear and discernable fear in these men’s tone of voices and body languages for their animals’ survival in the event that the upcoming seasons would not yield enough rains. I want to bring my readers’ attention to these men’s worries as they made the survival of their livestock as the first priority, when their own survival and that of their families seemed to be a non-issue. In other instants, I recall hearing stories of survival of heroic proportion. In my native village, Moqokori, I remember seeing young men brought deep from the bushes on camels’ back. These youngsters apparently suffered from dehydration and hunger while looking after their families’ camels. This actual physiological break-down was/and still is most certainly sustained from long years of starvation, malnutrition, sleeplessness and fatigue which slowly turned these youngsters’ bodies into walking cadavers. Back then, I recall as well, men (family males) taking their camel herds far away destinations in pursuit of green grazing lands and water, leaving behind helpless women and children at the mercy of god. Also, tales of people victimized by predator animals (carnivores) such as hyenas were common occurrences. Such atrocious incidents would occur, for example, when family members get stranded in distant location for weeks and months without water and food while in search of strayed family animals. These incidents of hyena attacks would occur as well, when children looking after family animals, take down their guards by falling asleep in isolated areas without immediate help in the vicinity, and as a result becoming easy kills for the predator animals. In other times, in my childhood, I used to hear tales of horrendous infant deaths at birth. Routinely, at daybreak women left with the family livestock normally ranging from sixty to one hundred heads of family goats everyday, watching and steering them to the green postures, all day. During this long tortuous day, expecting (pregnant) wives may face labor by themselves alone by themselves, whenever the child decides to come out of the womb, except for few lucky ones whose neighbors are in the vicinity for assistance. The rest of these women faced dangerous experiences of giving birth alone by themselves by which the baby and the mother were at risk of violent death.

The degenerative life style maintained over the centuries

Furthermore, flashy fights and squabbles over resources, i.e., water and green postures were the most disturbing routines practiced by this community. As I mentioned in other writings, the supply demand needed to satisfy the ever-growing quantities of livestock exceeds the resources available in the land. As a clarification note, I like my audiences to understand that fighting over resources is not a phenomenon restricted to the inhabitants in the discussion; it is rather a phenomenon that is common for all Somali nomads whose livelihood is directly contingent upon their livestock. Simply put, living animals need grass and water and nomads have to provide, wherever they can find them, for whatever price they have to pay, including injuring their next to kin. The continuation of this difficult lifestyle is encouraged by three elements: first, the assertion that the more livestock one owns, the more his social status increases; secondly, the common belief among clansmen that the richer their clan gets, in terms of camel ownership, the higher their collective social standing and respect, from others, increases; and thirdly; the assertion that camel owning and nomadic lifestyle is superior to other lifestyles that require skill-based knowledge such as farming, shoemaking and metal work crafts. By its deep rooted discriminatory views, pride and self-fulfilling prophecy, this is an ideology that forces its devotees to not only practice it, but also get into fight for its virtue and morality. In this ideology, the wellbeing of the life stock, as a property, becomes the front and center of these nomads reality, and as a result, anything or anybody blocking their efforts to find the needed resources will be met with violence. Can this mindless behavior perpetuated by this expensive and boring lifestyle be changed? Yes, it can be changed, but it requires a total commitment on the part of Moqokori inhabitants to take radical transformative measures for an alternative, less expensive and more relaxed living.

The progress made over the decades

As someone interested in the lives of this locality’s inhabitants, and followed their social changes, through objective enquiries, I am pleased to report that they have made tremendous changes in their social lives for the best. To their credit, the inhabitants of Moqokori, notwithstanding of the natural obstacles put before them, have lived decent lives within the limits of their means since their settlement in this peace of land. Here are some concrete examples of their progress: the people of this locality’s literacy rate, in terms of reading and writing Arabic and Somali scripts has jumped from zero sum to a staggering 60% just in the last 50years—what a leap eh!!! Fifty years ago, in this area, there were about five to ten known koranic teachers, who could independently offer learners the necessary writing and reading skills in Arabic language. These teachers, Moallim Hassan being one of them, other than helping children to be literate, they themselves did not have sound linguistic and philosophical understanding of the Koran in order to be able to interpret the koranic verses correctly. Moreover, in fifty years time, the inhabitants of this locality made a quantum leap in comparison to other parts of the Hiran region. Owing to the mass revolutionary literacy and educational campaign and the associated school construction efforts throughout the country initiated by the deposed government of Mohammed Siyad Barre, this community had established its share of learning institutions, in 1970s. Since then, Moqokori has produced hundreds, if not thousands of high school graduates, graduates from institutes of Islamic studies, undergraduate and graduate students in international science and art learning institutions; and graduates from graduate programs ranging from masters degrees and PhDs. I hope that the Moqokori community doubles its efforts in the coming years with, or, without a national government, to farther improve their quality of lives and standard of living and raise sons and daughters good enough to participate in the reconstruction of our country and its defense.

Since the collapse of Somalia’s central government, in 1990, this community has organized and maintained a system of governance that suited them, led by selected leaders of their own. In these testing times for the whole country, the inhabitants of this locality have organized local committees that had/has ensured protection for their individual members and for the their territory as a whole, from local and foreign invading forces, such as the Abyssinians. As well, they have put in place a system of revenue collection through taxation of the service and goods exchanged, within their area of influence. Moreover, with the help of the Diaspora native to the community, the inhabitants have put together agendas pertaining to economic development, education and defense. Also, based on the information I am getting from the locality, regardless of their insufficient salaries, native teachers, for the last ten years, have been running art and science classrooms, at least five days per week. We salute these selfless teachers’ efforts to educate their fellow villagers; we take our hats off to them and say congratulations for job well done. In short, after such disastrous twenty years of civil war and invasion of destructive foreign force, the inhabitants of this locality have shown perseverance, resolve to survive and resilience in the face of difficult environment and wars.

What has not changed however in the meantime however is the fact that the people of this locality still live in the same medieval backward living approaches that they have lived in the past millennia. This unending attitude of maintaining ancestral ways of life, has reduced the recreational and innovative abilities of this people to nothing, consequently forcing them to lead an unsuccessful way of life, monotonous habits that are incompatible with the current world trends. For these inhabitants, this recurring-never-changing mindset is the reason behind the rampant chronic poverty, social and economic distress that they endure, everyday

What they must do in the future

On the other hand, despite of their relative success in living with their environment and making a life that suited them, out of it, the inhabitants of this locality have never and still do not realize that they can no longer maintain the status quo that is, continuing on their centuries’ old nomadic lifestyle. Due to the changing world in terms of social and economic imperatives the leaders of this community must require every individual, family and society to change with the changing world, and deploy new ways that maximize their survivability leading to decent living such as having adequate food sustenance in everyday basis. In order to achieve that, they have to change the way they govern themselves. For these leaders, it is no longer enough to appoint clan chieftains who emerge once a blue moon and mediate young people’s brawls and clan conflicts. Future leaders of the community must be selected or elected on the basis of their knowledge concerning modern social services, community planning, environment reservation, and most importantly spiritual and political/philosophical figures, able representatives that can promote the community issues in the national parliament and equally advocate for the community’s needs, both in the regional and federal levels. Furthermore, working with whatever expertise in their reach, the inhabitants of this locality must take a bold move toward changing their generational nomadic lifestyle and adopt one that combines nomadic lifestyle with other forms of living. In sum, Moqokori inhabitants have to understand that the continuation of exclusive nomadic lifestyle, as we know it, will not help them survive in this competitive 21^st century, in which the usual traditional tribal mantra of “who do you know” will soon be a thing of the past, and “what do you know” becomes a reality that they have to embrace, sooner rather than later, for their own survival. In addition, by continuing on this trend, these inhabitants must understand that they cannot build a violable community of their own that can generate economic revenues and businesses for its members and most definitely an enlightened community that can promote and ensure human rights amongst its citizens and objectively tackle with its centuries long social ills, of chronic starvation and malnutrition, of injustices against the defenseless specifically the oppressed minority, (the outcasts living in there), women and children and the elderly. Regardless of their inadequacies, in just 50 years, the Moqokori inhabitants have made an incredible transformative social change for which any insider/outside observer must be pleased with, thus, Hurrah to them!!!.

I am very proud of you

Thanks:

By: Cabdullahi M. Arale (Bulac)

abdullahiarale@hotmail.com

Toronto-Ontario-Canada

                                                                   Bogga Hore