To Bear Witness: A Journey of Healing and Solidarity

Health on the Horn of Africa

146 147 influenced the mores of the Somalis except for the profound impact of the Arab introduction of Islam. An intensely poetic, physically beautiful people, the Somalis long ago learned to share in order to survive. The very word so maal means “welcome, and milk my beast”- a generous greeting that I have known at remote wells and shall not forget. As the twentieth century began, therefore, the eastern Horn was unique in Africa. It was occupied by a nation of people with one language, one religion, and one cultural heritage, living mainly a nomadic life that was basically similar throughout the Horn. It was their land when Queen Hatshepsut sent expeditions there 3,500 years ago to obtain frankincense trees. It was their land when the white man came and drew artificial boundaries on paper maps that meant nothing to the Somali nomad. Colonial politicians could carve up a continent, and coastline conquerors could come and go, but the nomad in the interior knew none of this, for his life was spent in a lonely, endless search for water. Sir Richard Burton, the first Englishman to travel deeply in the Horn, described the Somalis as “a fierce race of Republicans, the Irish of Africa.” In addition to their obvious love of the land the Somalis had other typical Celtic qualities, those of unquestioned, if not occasionally injudicious, bravery, articulateness, and humor, coupled with a great respect for poetry, democracy, age, and religion. Above all, they had a fanatic pride in Somalia and the Somalis. Burton noted “they are full of curiosity and travel the world accepting almost any job without feeling a sense of inferiority, perhaps because they believe that they are superior to everyone else.” Their contact with neighbors was limited largely to warfare, and they Health on the Horn of Africa 1969 The eastern Horn of Africa is the land of the Somalis. Itisaharsh,aridlandwhoseculturereflectsanexistence geared to an eternal struggle for survival. All aspects of life revolve today, as they have for centuries, around the semiannual monsoon seasons and the success or failure of the rains. Water is the crux of the economy, the synonym for beauty, the common thread of all cultural expression, and the greatest single factor influencing health on the Horn. In the dry savannah and semidesert plains that cover almost 80 percent of Somalia, men and their herds migrate endlessly from pasturage to pasturage. Only the hardiest nomads and animals survive. Fertile strips of arable land border the two rivers coursing through southern Somalia. The Juba and Uebi Scebeli both originate in the Ethiopian highlands and flow southeastward to the Indian Ocean. It is the interriverine agricultural area that still holds the major hope for a viable economic future. Despite its strategic coastline, stretching for 2,600 miles along the Gulf of Aden and down the Indian Ocean,fewforeignerssoughttoinfluencethisunyielding corner of Africa, and even fewer succeeded in doing so. Persians, Turks, Arabs, Portuguese, and armies of the Sultan of Zanzibar held coastal enclaves in Somalia at various times from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, but none were able to penetrate and conquer the interior. Just as their extensive desert borders effectively isolated the Somalis from surrounding African tribes, so also did their fierce pride prevent assimilation of other migrants who landed on their shores. None of the many coastal settlers significantly 146 147 influenced the mores of the Somalis except for the profound impact of the Arab introduction of Islam. An intensely poetic, physically beautiful people, the Somalis long ago learned to share in order to survive. The very word so maal means “welcome, and milk my beast”- a generous greeting that I have known at remote wells and shall not forget. As the twentieth century began, therefore, the eastern Horn was unique in Africa. It was occupied by a nation of people with one language, one religion, and one cultural heritage, living mainly a nomadic life that was basically similar throughout the Horn. It was their land when Queen Hatshepsut sent expeditions there 3,500 years ago to obtain frankincense trees. It was their land when the white man came and drew artificial boundaries on paper maps that meant nothing to the Somali nomad. Colonial politicians could carve up a continent, and coastline conquerors could come and go, but the nomad in the interior knew none of this, for his life was spent in a lonely, endless search for water. Sir Richard Burton...