So, I just got back from a walk with Amanda, another white Western woman, around the block more-or-less. It’s one of my usual routes – up past the tailors, right at the mosque, through a dusty street past lots of houses and then left up the hill to watch the sunset over the city. This is one of two regular evening walks I have done while I’m here, and I would like to share my experiences and thoughts on these walks.
When I first arrived in Somaliland, I was welcomed warmly, though some people around the hospital were shocked that I had come here all alone – while they have had various volunteers in the past, apparently volunteers often come together, either as couples or friends. They have had the odd solo person, but I think normally, they are men. Because of the fact that I was one, a woman, and two, alone, people were very worried for my safety, and it felt as if they wanted to keep me safely stowed in a glass box, lined with cotton wool, so I could experience the hospital, without having to step outside of either my comfort zone or the hospital premises.
I went along with this for the first week, before feeling so claustrophobic, that I needed to get out. Having lived with the opinion that the outside world was a dangerous place for a woman, particularly a lone, white woman, I left the hospital grounds for the first time in a week on my own, on foot, feeling nervous, anxious even! I strode out on the dusty main road, crossed the road without trouble and headed up the hill past another hospital, up to a mosque at the top of the hill. I don’t remember any major issues on this walk aside from people staring at me – it seems walking is not a normal thing to do unless you are using it as transport – to get from A to B! I also took some pictures of the sunset trying as hard as I could not to get any people in it after my market parlava!! People in Somaliland hate photos! Some boys even asked why I was taking photos, and I pointed at the sky as it was breaking out in streaks of red, orange, yellow and pink. They looked a little unsure but couldn’t really argue with wanting to take a photo of an insaaaaane sunset!!
I ventured out again a few days later for sunset, this time with Asha in tow. We walked the opposite way, past the tailor, right at the mosque and between the houses. A few people greeted Asha while people merely observed me, didn’t really smile and asked why I was taking photos at sunset – when Asha explained they were happy! We bought chapati on our way back from a chapati lady right outside the hospital and had it with Somali tea from campus.
wanderingwelshie travels 