The next country on the my list of African nations to learn about is Somalia. I was in New York City recently and went to the wonderful and amazing Strand Books and asked for books about Somalia, ideally something happy and upbeat. My choices were tales of war and destruction or Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival (Women Writing Africa), about female genital mutilation.
I went with Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival (Women Writing Africa). (And yes, I know, these are Amazon links. I’m not an Amazon hater, and most of us don’t live near Strand Books. And I think I bought Strand’s last copy.) The book is the memoir of Fadumo Korn, who was born in Somalia. Her life is interesting, too: she was born into a nomad family; received an infibulation (female circumcision) at age 8; and developed rheumatism, possibly due to an infection from the procedure. The joint problems caused her family to send her away from the countryside and to her uncle’s household in Mogadishu. Her uncle was prominent in the government because another relative, Mohammed Said Barre, was the president of the country. As Korn’s health worsened, she was sent to Germany for treatment. She eventually settled there, marrying, having a baby, and dealing with the effects of her circumcision.
To begin with, the first OB-GYN she visited had never seen an infibulation, so he was not a lot of help.
Korn’s life isn’t that of a typical Somali, but in a way, she crossed all of the lines: nomad, urban, powerful, powerless, and immigrant. While in Germany, she had to confront the fact that her family were not beloved, benevolent rules. Later, she had to help orchestrate financial and legal support for her relatives as they fled in the aftermath of the 1991 civil war.
Somalia, meanwhile, is a country in turmoil. There hasn’t been a consistent government since Said Barre was deposed. Some parts of the country have formed autonomous regions. Private militias provide much of the order and security in Mogadishu, which has some functioning economic activity. The per capita GDP of $600 isn’t encouraging, though.
Somalia needs stability. It needs people to be in charge, and until that happens, it’s going to offer high risk, high reward, for a certain type of investor.
