Interesting Observation on Society in Burco/Hargeisa

[SilentE1001]

Spending most my time in Burco with a few days in Hargeisa.

1. If you're not used to poverty, it will hit you hard at the scale it is
2. Laziness in a good number of working age men if you hire someone to work from a specific time they will not arrive at that time until call them.
3. The closure of laascaanood has affected allot of the business community the road was a lifeline for allot the business to take their goods to Somalia.
4. Influx of oromo over the past few years who do nothing but either beg, polish or take trash away from people's home with a conspiracy spread by locals where they take the money back to Ethiopia to make themselves profitable.
5. Coming from outside you'll soon realise how quick and good much money you spend. $1 = 9400SLSH before laascaanood it was 7-8000 and the economy was heading into a good place before that catostrophe as they dry port on the border would've increased trade but maybe PL officials were clever to this and did not further want to enrich SL and close this.
6. Tea ranges from 500 to 1000
7. Water is 1000 to 3000
8. But starting a shop is pretty easy as rents are pretty cheap as 50usd per month.
9. Whatever business you would like to bring from the west you would clean up over here as long as your prices are low.
10. There is a lot of hope in the air to what this presidency bring especially for the Eastern regions
11. If you sit and look around at people's faces there's a deep sadness in people's eyes as well on the toughness of life
12. Any masjid in the city at random straight after Salam a Arab will get up and start begging but speaking in Arabic their story which no one will understand.
13. School system is broken, teachers get paid by the gov but will demand money from the kids and will turn up when they want and only last 4hrs with a broken curriculum thatv didn't leave the kids with skills to take.
14. Burco is just a giant village not a city. But it can be fixed as long as roads and pavements are built everywhere

Will update with more observation throughout the days

 

[DR OSMAN]

Spending most my time in Burco with a few days in Hargeisa.

1. If you're not used to poverty, it will hit you hard at the scale it is
2. Laziness in a good number of working age men if you hire someone to work from a specific time they will not arrive at that time until call them.
3. The closure of laascaanood has affected allot of the business community the road was a lifeline for allot the business to take their goods to Somalia.
4. Influx of oromo over the past few years who do nothing but either beg, polish or take trash away from people's home with a conspiracy spread by locals where they take the money back to Ethiopia to make themselves profitable.
5. Coming from outside you'll soon realise how quick and good much money you spend. $1 = 9400SLSH before laascaanood it was 7-8000 and the economy was heading into a good place before that catostrophe as they dry port on the border would've increased trade but maybe PL officials were clever to this and did not further want to enrich SL and close this.
6. Tea ranges from 500 to 1000
7. Water is 1000 to 3000
8. But starting a shop is pretty easy as rents are pretty cheap as 50usd per month.
9. Whatever business you would like to bring from the west you would clean up over here as long as your prices are low.
10. There is a lot of hope in the air to what this presidency bring especially for the Eastern regions
11. If you sit and look around at people's faces there's a deep sadness in people's eyes as well on the toughness of life
12. Any masjid in the city at random straight after Salam a Arab will get up and start begging but speaking in Arabic their story which no one will understand.
13. School system is broken, teachers get paid by the gov but will demand money from the kids and will turn up when they want and only last 4hrs with a broken curriculum thatv didn't leave the kids with skills to take.
14. Burco is just a giant village not a city. But it can be fixed as long as roads and pavements are built everywhere

Will update with more observation throughout the days

This Dude will get killed if u talk reality, the ppl prefer fiction and then nothing obviously changes while mother nature habarti aduunka ahayd is watching them slowly go into extinction such as nutritional deficiency, a lower living expectancy, bad drinking water, diseases from no sewages, tahrib, conflict while it's as u said oromo slowly creeping in and resettling cause that's what happen when a people fail, someone replaces them, it's an evolution principle, I see it here in Australia how aboriginal were fully replaced because as Somalis they feared facing their reality.

Their preferred living in their aboriginal dream time culture lol what dream, they are minority ina gumeed in Australia to British settlers who creeped in slowly like oromo in Somalia and took it. While Somalis are living in their own Islamic dream time and we know what the result will be.

 

[Kun_Ciil]

Spending most my time in Burco with a few days in Hargeisa.

1. If you're not used to poverty, it will hit you hard at the scale it is
2. Laziness in a good number of working age men if you hire someone to work from a specific time they will not arrive at that time until call them.
3. The closure of laascaanood has affected allot of the business community the road was a lifeline for allot the business to take their goods to Somalia.
4. Influx of oromo over the past few years who do nothing but either beg, polish or take trash away from people's home with a conspiracy spread by locals where they take the money back to Ethiopia to make themselves profitable.
5. Coming from outside you'll soon realise how quick and good much money you spend. $1 = 9400SLSH before laascaanood it was 7-8000 and the economy was heading into a good place before that catostrophe as they dry port on the border would've increased trade but maybe PL officials were clever to this and did not further want to enrich SL and close this.
6. Tea ranges from 500 to 1000
7. Water is 1000 to 3000
8. But starting a shop is pretty easy as rents are pretty cheap as 50usd per month.
9. Whatever business you would like to bring from the west you would clean up over here as long as your prices are low.
10. There is a lot of hope in the air to what this presidency bring especially for the Eastern regions
11. If you sit and look around at people's faces there's a deep sadness in people's eyes as well on the toughness of life
12. Any masjid in the city at random straight after Salam a Arab will get up and start begging but speaking in Arabic their story which no one will understand.
13. School system is broken, teachers get paid by the gov but will demand money from the kids and will turn up when they want and only last 4hrs with a broken curriculum thatv didn't leave the kids with skills to take.
14. Burco is just a giant village not a city. But it can be fixed as long as roads and pavements are built everywhere

Will update with more observation throughout the days

Bro when I went Hargeisa, burco, berbera I was shocked and said to my mum you guys have had peace for 30 years but where is the progress? The roads in Hargeisa be looking run down like the rest of the country. The gov should've built a lot more infrastructure, factories and more economic opportunities for the young.

I'm telling you from South to North, some are worse than others but the common theme is that the political elite just care about filling their pockets and siphoning off that aid money.

Btw I loved Berbera, very nice town. What surprised me tho just like you said was how small Burco and Berbera were i was expecting a city.

 

[_Yusuf_]

Spending most my time in Burco with a few days in Hargeisa.

1. If you're not used to poverty, it will hit you hard at the scale it is
2. Laziness in a good number of working age men if you hire someone to work from a specific time they will not arrive at that time until call them.
3. The closure of laascaanood has affected allot of the business community the road was a lifeline for allot the business to take their goods to Somalia.
4. Influx of oromo over the past few years who do nothing but either beg, polish or take trash away from people's home with a conspiracy spread by locals where they take the money back to Ethiopia to make themselves profitable.
5. Coming from outside you'll soon realise how quick and good much money you spend. $1 = 9400SLSH before laascaanood it was 7-8000 and the economy was heading into a good place before that catostrophe as they dry port on the border would've increased trade but maybe PL officials were clever to this and did not further want to enrich SL and close this.
6. Tea ranges from 500 to 1000
7. Water is 1000 to 3000
8. But starting a shop is pretty easy as rents are pretty cheap as 50usd per month.
9. Whatever business you would like to bring from the west you would clean up over here as long as your prices are low.
10. There is a lot of hope in the air to what this presidency bring especially for the Eastern regions
11. If you sit and look around at people's faces there's a deep sadness in people's eyes as well on the toughness of life
12. Any masjid in the city at random straight after Salam a Arab will get up and start begging but speaking in Arabic their story which no one will understand.
13. School system is broken, teachers get paid by the gov but will demand money from the kids and will turn up when they want and only last 4hrs with a broken curriculum thatv didn't leave the kids with skills to take.
14. Burco is just a giant village not a city. But it can be fixed as long as roads and pavements are built everywhere

Will update with more observation throughout the days

Wow I’m surprised most of Somalia abandoned shillings.

 

[Jecli22]

Great post, please post a part 2 in the next few days

 

[Midas]

Spending most my time in Burco with a few days in Hargeisa.

1. If you're not used to poverty, it will hit you hard at the scale it is
2. Laziness in a good number of working age men if you hire someone to work from a specific time they will not arrive at that time until call them.
3. The closure of laascaanood has affected allot of the business community the road was a lifeline for allot the business to take their goods to Somalia.
4. Influx of oromo over the past few years who do nothing but either beg, polish or take trash away from people's home with a conspiracy spread by locals where they take the money back to Ethiopia to make themselves profitable.
5. Coming from outside you'll soon realise how quick and good much money you spend. $1 = 9400SLSH before laascaanood it was 7-8000 and the economy was heading into a good place before that catostrophe as they dry port on the border would've increased trade but maybe PL officials were clever to this and did not further want to enrich SL and close this.
6. Tea ranges from 500 to 1000
7. Water is 1000 to 3000
8. But starting a shop is pretty easy as rents are pretty cheap as 50usd per month.
9. Whatever business you would like to bring from the west you would clean up over here as long as your prices are low.
10. There is a lot of hope in the air to what this presidency bring especially for the Eastern regions
11. If you sit and look around at people's faces there's a deep sadness in people's eyes as well on the toughness of life
12. Any masjid in the city at random straight after Salam a Arab will get up and start begging but speaking in Arabic their story which no one will understand.
13. School system is broken, teachers get paid by the gov but will demand money from the kids and will turn up when they want and only last 4hrs with a broken curriculum thatv didn't leave the kids with skills to take.
14. Burco is just a giant village not a city. But it can be fixed as long as roads and pavements are built everywhere

Will update with more observation throughout the days

One of my hopes someday is someday writes a book about every major town in somalia talking about observations like this combined with the history of the town . As well as it's layout and demographics and what the city has to offer.

 

[Midas]

Also it's not surprising to me in a sense that burco seems so undeveloped. If you've ever been to Kenya and you leave nariobi and travel between cities. It's just countless shacks outside the city. It legitimately looks like all the African stereotypes you see in movies. If kenya which is one of the most developed ssa looks like that. Imagine how much worse the other countries must be. Thats when I realized how difficult it is to develop a country.


Look at how rich a lot of European countries are. If you look at their pouplation from like 40-50 years ago it's barley changed. Even then it took decades. Comaored to African counties where every single one has double within that span of time. Unless theg get a special opportunity most countries in africa will not fully develop.

 

[Flightboi]

Wow I’m surprised most of Somalia abandoned shillings.

Force everybody to take Shillings instead of foreign money.

 

[Tiyeglow]

Spending most my time in Burco with a few days in Hargeisa.

1. If you're not used to poverty, it will hit you hard at the scale it is
2. Laziness in a good number of working age men if you hire someone to work from a specific time they will not arrive at that time until call them.
3. The closure of laascaanood has affected allot of the business community the road was a lifeline for allot the business to take their goods to Somalia.
4. Influx of oromo over the past few years who do nothing but either beg, polish or take trash away from people's home with a conspiracy spread by locals where they take the money back to Ethiopia to make themselves profitable.
5. Coming from outside you'll soon realise how quick and good much money you spend. $1 = 9400SLSH before laascaanood it was 7-8000 and the economy was heading into a good place before that catostrophe as they dry port on the border would've increased trade but maybe PL officials were clever to this and did not further want to enrich SL and close this.
6. Tea ranges from 500 to 1000
7. Water is 1000 to 3000
8. But starting a shop is pretty easy as rents are pretty cheap as 50usd per month.
9. Whatever business you would like to bring from the west you would clean up over here as long as your prices are low.
10. There is a lot of hope in the air to what this presidency bring especially for the Eastern regions
11. If you sit and look around at people's faces there's a deep sadness in people's eyes as well on the toughness of life
12. Any masjid in the city at random straight after Salam a Arab will get up and start begging but speaking in Arabic their story which no one will understand.
13. School system is broken, teachers get paid by the gov but will demand money from the kids and will turn up when they want and only last 4hrs with a broken curriculum thatv didn't leave the kids with skills to take.
14. Burco is just a giant village not a city. But it can be fixed as long as roads and pavements are built everywhere

Will update with more observation throughout the days

Dadka Burco wa ilbax iyo haweenta deenta jeceliyihin (no pun intended). Someone was explaining how different accents in Burco never turns heads in spite of being a far smaller town to Hargeisa, and they have always been like that.

As much as I'm an advocate for SSC walaalahay, this is still sad and makes me despondent wallahi

 

[Ya.dhahay]

Spending most my time in Burco with a few days in Hargeisa.

1. If you're not used to poverty, it will hit you hard at the scale it is
2. Laziness in a good number of working age men if you hire someone to work from a specific time they will not arrive at that time until call them.
3. The closure of laascaanood has affected allot of the business community the road was a lifeline for allot the business to take their goods to Somalia.
4. Influx of oromo over the past few years who do nothing but either beg, polish or take trash away from people's home with a conspiracy spread by locals where they take the money back to Ethiopia to make themselves profitable.
5. Coming from outside you'll soon realise how quick and good much money you spend. $1 = 9400SLSH before laascaanood it was 7-8000 and the economy was heading into a good place before that catostrophe as they dry port on the border would've increased trade but maybe PL officials were clever to this and did not further want to enrich SL and close this.
6. Tea ranges from 500 to 1000
7. Water is 1000 to 3000
8. But starting a shop is pretty easy as rents are pretty cheap as 50usd per month.
9. Whatever business you would like to bring from the west you would clean up over here as long as your prices are low.
10. There is a lot of hope in the air to what this presidency bring especially for the Eastern regions
11. If you sit and look around at people's faces there's a deep sadness in people's eyes as well on the toughness of life
12. Any masjid in the city at random straight after Salam a Arab will get up and start begging but speaking in Arabic their story which no one will understand.
13. School system is broken, teachers get paid by the gov but will demand money from the kids and will turn up when they want and only last 4hrs with a broken curriculum thatv didn't leave the kids with skills to take.
14. Burco is just a giant village not a city. But it can be fixed as long as roads and pavements are built everywhere

Will update with more observation throughout the days

From what I’ve heard alot of the ppl that used to live in Burco left looking for a better life elsewhere and the city has been filled w reer badiyo..

 

[Tiyeglow]

This Dude will get killed if u talk reality, the ppl prefer fiction and then nothing obviously changes while mother nature habarti aduunka ahayd is watching them slowly go into extinction such as nutritional deficiency, a lower living expectancy, bad drinking water, diseases from no sewages, tahrib, conflict while it's as u said oromo slowly creeping in and resettling cause that's what happen when a people fail, someone replaces them, it's an evolution principle, I see it here in Australia how aboriginal were fully replaced because as Somalis they feared facing their reality.

Their preferred living in their aboriginal dream time culture lol what dream, they are minority ina gumeed in Australia to British settlers who creeped in slowly like oromo in Somalia and took it. While Somalis are living in their own Islamic dream time and we know what the result will be.

Diktoor does PL and Reer Unakah leh face a similar reality or are their cases different?

 

[SilentE1001]

This Dude will get killed if u talk reality, the ppl prefer fiction and then nothing obviously changes while mother nature habarti aduunka ahayd is watching them slowly go into extinction such as nutritional deficiency, a lower living expectancy, bad drinking water, diseases from no sewages, tahrib, conflict while it's as u said oromo slowly creeping in and resettling cause that's what happen when a people fail, someone replaces them, it's an evolution principle, I see it here in Australia how aboriginal were fully replaced because as Somalis they feared facing their reality.

Their preferred living in their aboriginal dream time culture lol what dream, they are minority ina gumeed in Australia to British settlers who creeped in slowly like oromo in Somalia and took it. While Somalis are living in their own Islamic dream time and we know what the result will be.

I feel sorry for the kids the innocence in their smiles while they play. Not knowing that their circumstances will be much harder as adults

 

[SilentE1001]

From what I’ve heard alot of the ppl that used to live in Burco left looking for a better life elsewhere and the city has been filled w reer badiyo..

Everyone that could or is even a little ambitious had moved to Hargeisa

 

[SilentE1001]

Wow I’m surprised most of Somalia abandoned shillings.

The shilling has been encouraged with zaad edahab anything less than 100usd is in SLSH.

I bought slippers on my first day for 22k which is 2 dollars which is 4 x 5k notes plus 2 x 1k note.

The notes currently in circulation
5000
1000
500 - this is going soon.

No longer in circulation
50
100

 

[The Oponian Guild]

Diktoor does PL and Reer Unakah leh face a similar reality or are their cases different?

I’ve been to Galkacyo and from what I saw I think things are looking better and there’s good reason to be hopeful, a lot of the Somali kids are in school and if you go out during midday, the streets are teaming with students, the infrastructure has improved, now there’s like 3 paved roads behind my house and new neighbourhood being built (sinaay area), whereas before it was all barren country, however there is a lot of poverty, especially with non PL folk, jarerweyne kids from the idp camps, the eelay and sws folks, a lot of the kids are working menial jobs or alongside their parents.

And yeah there’s also been an influx of destitute Arabs into the town, as well as professional and working ones. From my experience the Syrians seem to be more skilled and proud than the Yemenis in Galkacyo, whereas in Garowe and Bari a lot of the yemenis are employed and working.

to summarise, there is reason for optimism, we can achieve something good in PL but there’s a lot of hard work to do.

 

[SilentE1001]

I’ve been to Galkacyo and from what I saw I think things are looking better and there’s good reason to be hopeful, a lot of the Somali kids are in school and if you go out during midday, the streets are teaming with students, the infrastructure has improved, now there’s like 3 paved roads behind my house and new neighbourhood being built (sinaay area), whereas before it was all barren country, however there is a lot of poverty, especially with non PL folk, jarerweyne kids from the idp camps, the eelay and sws folks, a lot of the kids are working menial jobs or alongside their parents.

And yeah there’s also been an influx of destitute Arabs into the town, as well as professional and working ones. From my experience the Syrians seem to be more skilled and proud than the Yemenis in Galkacyo, whereas in Garowe and Bari a lot of the yemenis are employed and working.

to summarise, there is reason for optimism, we can achieve something good in PL but there’s a lot of hard work to do.

Everyone is in poverty every shilling in their pocket is not guaranteed they gotta hustle everyday.

Don't automatically assume by what you see. I see kids in uniform all going to school and finishing happily smiling but they are not equipped for the world of work when they finish with no skills to help them make money to help their families.

People end up being in the same cycle for years and the university that they save up for years are bogus allot of them with hardly any having any international recognition.

There is currently 15 nations that grant visa free status to Somalia Passport Holders 14 are useless the 1 is Malaysia which was surprising when I found out.

 

[Kun_Ciil]

Dadka Burco wa ilbax iyo haweenta deenta jeceliyihin (no pun intended). Someone was explaining how different accents in Burco never turns heads in spite of being a far smaller town to Hargeisa, and they have always been like that.

As much as I'm an advocate for SSC walaalahay, this is still sad and makes me despondent wallahi

Loool I remember once trying to buy some fruit in Burco, and I was shocked by the prices. I was like in Xamar a watermelon costs $1-2 dollars and I can buy 4 massive mangoes for $1, whereas in burco they were selling watermelon for $6 and 1 small mango for $1.

Islaanta qudaarka gadeeysay wixi igu jawaabtay "qudaar waa la gadi kara laakinsa nabad ma la gadi karo"

 

[The Oponian Guild]

Everyone is in poverty every shilling in their pocket is not guaranteed they gotta hustle everyday.

Don't automatically assume by what you see. I see kids in uniform all going to school and finishing happily smiling but they are not equipped for the world of work when they finish with no skills to help them make money to help their families.

People end up being in the same cycle for years and the university that they save up for years are bogus allot of them with hardly any having any international recognition.

There is currently 15 nations that grant visa free status to Somalia Passport Holders 14 are useless the 1 is Malaysia which was surprising when I found out.

I’d gander you haven’t been to puntland or Somalia, so it would be you who’s guilty of assumptions. I assumed nothing. Simply noted my surroundings and spoke to the locals.

 

[Tiyeglow]

I’ve been to Galkacyo and from what I saw I think things are looking better and there’s good reason to be hopeful, a lot of the Somali kids are in school and if you go out during midday, the streets are teaming with students, the infrastructure has improved, now there’s like 3 paved roads behind my house and new neighbourhood being built (sinaay area), whereas before it was all barren country, however there is a lot of poverty, especially with non PL folk, jarerweyne kids from the idp camps, the eelay and sws folks, a lot of the kids are working menial jobs or alongside their parents.

And yeah there’s also been an influx of destitute Arabs into the town, as well as professional and working ones. From my experience the Syrians seem to be more skilled and proud than the Yemenis in Galkacyo, whereas in Garowe and Bari a lot of the yemenis are employed and working.

to summarise, there is reason for optimism, we can achieve something good in PL but there’s a lot of hard work to do.

I have never been Gaalkacyo, but I hope to go soon inshaallah. I want a movement to begin to make Gaalkacyo the capital, literal make that the main initial objective of our time. Why? Because Xamar is a relic of our past, it doesn't befit us to build around it - it literally symbolises everything we want to move on from: divisive, traumatic, danger. Gaalkacyo, especially with the symbolism of the Tomaselli Line, symbolised to me a new beginning, a line to show that the two feudal clans (Darood vs Hawiye). Gaalkacyo is the centre point, it is the midpoint of the Garacad port (the model for all of Africa in terms of self-sufficiency) and DDS (the aspiration for freedom and not abandon our brothers in spite of colonial borders). It provides a corridor into PL, no more "southern" bias. Gaalkacyo the city itself is big enough to expand and naturally grow, it has a PL and GM part - but that will naturally come to an end because it the capital and no one owns the capital. Which brings me to the final point, it allows Reer Unakah leh to actually... let them have it lol, we tired of the unbearable nature of having to hear it. Cumar Maxamuud wa dad gob oo sharaf leh, wiligood Unakah leh malaga maqlaayo. Not sure about Sacad, HG lakin the mere fact that they have to wrestle and live side by side with HG gacanta uu taaga, HG are difficult, reer isbaaro, its all love but its the truth.

Even the name is befitting of a new era: Gaalka kicinayna - no more AMISOM, intl players, AFRICOM, Ethiopia/Kenya, AU, IGAD. All got to leave. It allows a new beginning, with a security apparatus built to maintain stability which Xamar clearly isn't fit for. So much can happen with a change in capital to Gaalkacyo.

Believe you me, this may not be on the agenda of Somalis but if & when a civic unity is to be properly established a new capital must be assigned, and no better than Gaalkacyo. Believe me, 5-10 years this will be on the agenda. It is inevitable. Xamar cannot continue imo, its a symbol of the past. Too much destruction, if not physical then mental.

#Gaalkacyo4Capital

 

[Rayaale]

Replace Burco with any Somali city and you’ll get the same results