SU_A_41

[r] Okay, my name is [name] and I’m from Somalia and I’m 22 years old and yes…
[i] From when will you be from Somalia come to Belgium?
[r] From, uh… 2013 … Yes … And how was the trip to Belgium?
[r] Um… well actually… I’m from Somalia came to Ethiopia and from Ethiopia to here, but when I went to Ethiopia, it was hard but… from Ethiopia to Belgium with the plane, so to speak… Can you tell us briefly how the trip from Somalia to Ethiopia?
[r] First by plane from my country, Somalia, and then I had to go to a land called Djibuti. From there we had to take the bus and that was very dangerous. We had to cross the border between Ethiopia and Somalia and that’s very difficult, to just do that with to do the car. We are also a …in prison, and we had to spend a day and stay a night, and then we finally figure it out and continued our journey. That was really hard and yes… And it was the first time I went to another country. Were you afraid sometimes when you were traveling?
[r] Yeah, I was really scared because it was my first time and I didn’t know everything and I was also with people who… with my family and those, those were also… For them it was also the first times they traveled and we were all just women, too, there was no man with us and… and that was really a a little terrifying.
[i] So you guys felt unsafe because you’re actually only but were with women?
[r] With women were, yeah…
[i] Is there a moment …you’ve been thinking of..: I actually want to go back now to my house in Somalia?
[r] Neither, because when there was war and all that. I know, we had it. difficult in our country and therefore we were also… That’s why we wanted to go to go to another country so… I didn’t want to go back either. go in the back, always go to the front so that I can can find a better life, or else I’ll have to… I’m having a hard time, so to speak…
[i] Yes…
[r] Yes… So you were in Ethiopia?
[r] Huh? So you were eventually in Ethiopia?
[r] Yes.
[i] Have you been there long stayed in Ethiopia?
[r] One year.
[i] Mhm…
[r] To wait for papers and stuff, everything in to bring order to come here and all that. How old were you then? you left Somalia? Um, 16 years old.
[i] 16 years.
[r] I was almost 16 years and then… So 16 years, so to speak… just… So you were actually …another teenager back then?
[r] Yes. Yeah. And what did you think of the decision of your parents to leave Somalia?
[r] I was okay with that because I was no longer felt safe in my country, and also no longer safe felt in my house. And always I heard the sounds of, how do you say… those guns and so I…
[i] Yes, guns…
[r] Yes, guns and all that… And I couldn’t go outside anymore, I… couldn’t even run errands because it was dangerous to to go outside so I felt totally… for our uh… Safety was fine with me. that we were going away to a… better… place… better place!
[i] So it was better…
[r] Yeah, it was better to just leave.
[i] Do you have any family, in there? Somalia, leave behind?
[r] Yes, my mother unfortunately, and my other sister and my father are still in my country. Yeah, I got my mom five now, I guess… seven years… no wait hey… six years I have I didn’t see my mother. And that’s kind of hard, she… couldn’t come with us… Yes. And do you often miss her? Yeah, I miss her. really a lot. What moments do you give her? missed the most since you left?
[r] Just to have your mother is just a part of your life. Sometimes you need support, sometimes you need you’re just a mother who, when you’re you don’t feel well or if you have any problems with feminine things, that you can just go straight to her go, that’s just a mother… Yeah, I can’t say any more so you can’t knows what a mother understands, so…
[i] There’s no one who’s got a place of replaced her anyway?
[r] No, my dad’s got his best done… and yes… Cause you live with your daddy now? Yes, and with my sister. Yeah, I’m fine now, but I miss my mom still so…
[i] Yes… Would you like to be want to go back to Somalia? Yes, if I can. Yeah, I’d really like to go back to my country to see my mother.
[i] And wouldn’t you like to be Mommy’s coming here from Somalia, too?
[r] Yeah, over here… but for my mother… I would have liked to stay in my country, but… because it’s not as good as it used to be, or just not safe anymore… It is just hard to live there.
[i] So you’d like to be …you want to go back yourself?
[r] Yes.
[i] And why would you rather be in Somalia than here?
[r] Mhm, because I’m there grew up and, uh… I know everyone there, and my whole family is there, and that’s where I grew up to be 16 and… …stayed. That’s just something… of course. It’s different in my country, For example, I’ve been living here for 5 years and it’s not here. bad and I have a better life and all that, but in my country I had… how do you say that… I had uh… I think it’s even better. Because in my country, everything around me just… My family, people I know, Everyone speaks my language and then everything easier for me.
[i] Okay, so the language makes it easier for you, too?
[r] Yes.
[i] So…
[r] And also… just family and people you just know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[r] That makes for me…
[i] So this place is actually a a little weird for you… Still?
[r] Yes, because yes. Here I have it’s hard sometimes, I… can’t be with everyone… You are not welcome at everybody, you know? My language is not yet perfect and some people aren’t going to accept you because you might not be able to use the language properly because sometimes you know maybe, uh… someone from another country and you’re not… always welcome and you doesn’t feel that either… So you’re actually feeling, You like living here. but you still feel not welcome…
[r] Not in every place.
[i] Not every place… Yes …
[r] No… That was in Somalia is like that…
[r] Yes… it’s just… your people, you know who they are. and you can just… Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I also think that for every person, when you know people, it’s easier. I also mean the language and also the culture and everything, you know how you can handle it… and they’re just your people. Yeah.
[r] But it’s different here. Yeah, yeah.
[r] And that’s normal, isn’t it? I was born there and… and I haven’t been here long, and the it’s normal that it’s different for me. Do you think it would be better is going to be with time?
[r] I hope so. Yeah, but, quietly, maybe… Yes … But then again, it’s already hard my first years. it was really hard to just be here…
[i] What is one of the stories that you have from your first years, that you say this was really not normal, for example.
[r] Uh pfff, I’m just… in my language is really my best… Uh… when I got my first went to school and… I couldn’t speak the language, It was hard for me to get to know the language so quickly. But I just went to school and some people are bullying you. I’ve had the experience that I was in a classroom, where everyone came from Belgium, and I was bullied and I was couldn’t talk and they laughed every time and I had to shut up. I had to change schools, I… had gotten a lot of stress so… I always felt like I was, that I just… was so lonely… If I can get people in other schools Look at those coming from other countries, who are also like me, then feel I’ll feel better, then I’ll feel better: Okay, I’m the same as the rest. But people who are really good at Dutch speak when I’m with them, then I feel… that I haven’t… one of them. That she is, when I talk too, say: What do you say, how was that, and… ? That gives me a… I can there not against, that’s hard.
[i] So you’re actually feeling exactly that you… You are here, but you feel like better in people who are not from Belgium either, instead of here.
[r] Yes, not everyone but some do.
[i] Yes… And, uh… how did you do with that? to be able to deal with so far?
[r] Just by being patient and stay social, to… if I’m not good either. Dutch can talk that I’m ask a lot of questions, or that I’m just, uh… just talk… Yeah, so you’ve learned that if you don’t speak enough Dutch, that you just ask …keep asking?
[r] Keep talking, doesn’t matter. if that’s not right either. Yeah.
[r] Yeah, try to get people can understand me and just go on like that, without it. to watch what people say and what they think about you… (stumbling)
[i] Is that also the way in which you’re gonna have to be in five years very fast Dutch …have been able to learn?
[r] I hope so. Yeah, I’m doing the best I can.
[i] Mhm.
[r] Then I hope that after five years I will be perfectly Dutch can talk, but you never know. And, uh, you’re here came to Belgium, were you alone then or were you with anyone else?
[r] No, I was with my two sisters…
[i] Two sisters…
[r] Am I just here came by plane.
[i] Mhm.
[r] Yes, that’s all…
[i] And how is that gone for them? Do they still find it difficult to adapt?
[r] That goes… uh… We all have the same thing, they find it’s also okay but not quite… For us, it’s all the same, not… Yeah.
[r] But my little sister talks really, really good Dutch, She’s not having a hard time. My other sister doesn’t. And how old is your youngest sister?
[r] She’s 16 years old.
[i] 16 years… she was younger on arrival… Yeah, younger on arrival, That’s why it was easier.
[i] That’s an advantage sometimes he… Yes … ok … And, uh… you’re from Somalia… uh… your faith… Uh… What is your religious beliefs?
[r] Muslim.
[i] Muslim… Yes … and has that played a part in your journey, too?
[r] What do you mean?
[i] So when you went from Somalia to here came, did that during your trip played an important role? That you sometimes thought, for example, of… Have there been times when you’ve been was still holding on to your faith?
[r] I can’t do that. well understood…
[i] Have you had moments during your journey where you had a lot of support for your faith?
[r] Support as what? …
[i] Support as in, um, when it was difficult for example, or that you were sad, and because you were going to pray for God or for Allah, that you might feel stronger. That it played a role during your trip, too…
[r] Yes, yes, always, we pray to God and we talk… and we hope everything will be okay but… we always do that with us … “Doha” we say, we always do… when you are struggling.
[i] Also during your travel a lot?
[r] Yeah, done a lot. Yeah, always… That did help a lot… Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And still?
[r] Yes, always, because I believe in God and because I’m a Muslim do I what I feel that… Yeah.
[r] … can help me. Yeah. Is it also for you harder to get here in Belgium to find your place, because you’re Muslim?
[r] No, that’s why I don’t have any problems.
[i] No, no…
[r] That goes… Yeah, okay, okay…
[r] I don’t feel racism because I’m a Muslim. When do you feel racism, if I may ask?
[r] Uh, I feel racism… by my language… Your language.
[r] Always. And also my color but I don’t pay much attention to that. My color and stuff, that makes not out, I don’t pay attention to that. because I just know that I’m a good person. But because of my language… sometimes… I have especially real problems with my language. People are… people here usually talk well Dutch and that is normal that they don’t find it easy when people don’t speak Dutch well. So you’re actually feeling, yeah, discriminated against by your lack of language.
[r] Yes. i] From the Dutch language.
[r] Yes. And you’re a Somalian Muslim woman. Yeah.
[i] All that stuff around it is nothing, but only your language will you find…
[r] Yes, my language, because the other things aren’t things I care about, that’s just for me…
[i] Wow…
[r] Yes.
[i] That’s, uh…
[r] That’s just what I’m gonna do. not at all to… yes… Where other people’s problems with skin color and those things, they don’t feel like racism for me… I’m just proud on who I am.
[i] Mhm.
[r] Because I’ve been just don’t see.
[i] Because that’s for you’re normal…
[r] Yeah, because that’s for is just normal to me. Yeah.
[r] But I also have dark people who have seen were racist towards so white people that’s in every human being, every country has people who are a little racist. That’s normal… and that I just don’t care. Mhm, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[r] But what I can do attraction is just the language. I just have a problem and that’s the language and yes… Mmm. Yeah, and what do you wish to do? …to change your language?
[r] Hmm? What do you want to do in the future for your language?
[r] [sighs]… I’m trying always just contacting people to make, to talk to people, so that it just becomes normal. And, uh… I hope that then everything better goes… Yeah, I can’t… but I do always my best and then I talk a lot of Dutch and yes… That’s why I hope it’s better and goes better and that I’m can talk normally like the rest of them. But now I also feel like a Bit good but not yet… Yeah, not quite…
[r] Yeah, ’cause I’m working in a restaurant and in the restaurant sometimes… Most of the time you come in. contact with people.
[i]Mhm, and how’s that for you when you’re talk to the people at the restaurant?
[r] I do have stress sometimes if there’s a group… Going to a family and asking what they want to eat and drink and sometimes it makes me stressful, but… I’m trying to get to myself. come and say what I… if I don’t understand, say… I don’t understand. But most of the time, people are sweet against me, but some of them don’t. Some also do weird but yeah…
[i] What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done you’ve been through so far?
[r] [sighs]… that I just have asked someone what they wanted to drink and that person has me so looked at, and didn’t answer. And I said, “Madam… And the other person next to her: She didn’t understand you… Can you talk a little louder? And I thought of… ooh not again… and yes… And I just… clearly repeated and… that person has for her. And then I felt really hurt but… Yeah, ’cause that other person did have you. understood but the lady next door…
[r] Yes, that was a a little weird, but yeah… There’s nothing I can do about it. That hurt you. I do, yeah…
[r] Because you really see that those person you understand but… Yeah, there’s more.
[r] Yeah, that there’s more, and that’s sometimes… That’s a sensitive issue for me. So I’m just looking out for this, and I’m… gets stronger and stronger and stronger every time and… hope I don’t have any more problems later. have… with that language… I hope so.
[i] And your colleagues at the restaurant, what do they care if you tell them something like that?
[r] Uh… When I tell them, they say: people are difficult, just don’t mind… just keep going and… yes… That’s important.
[r] Yes… that’s important…
[i] Have you been yourself so far… Um, did you still… Yes… formerly… you have, uh… Normally, you’d have a Take a picture?
[r] Yes. Could you perhaps describe what that picture is, and why it’s so special to you?
[r] It’s a picture of my mother, my sister and I when we were were very small… And we stand before us house in my country and… That picture is just a reminder when my country was good. And we had no problems, and everything… the people were… Happy. We just had a happy life, the picture reminds me of that… And it’s in my room now, too, and that’s why I think he’s important, then I had… I don’t remember when I was little was, but my dad always tells me how the land was and how we lived and all those things, and that makes me happy and… That’s just something that for me is a memory is… Yes… that’s just… yes…
[i] And what would you like now wish to your country?
[r] I hope it’s back in my country is going to be okay, and that there are no bombs and… that people don’t die for nothing to calm my country down so we can just go back and… can just build a new life… Have you ever understood what the reason is that your country is at war?
[r] Because people don’t listen to each other. Because every person wants to be the boss, and because of that… the country is just for me… it feels that way. That every person doesn’t want listening, and I can’t, and then arguing and… so nothing’s gonna be okay…
[i] So mainly by misunderstandings, everyone wants…
[r] Yes. Saying something, wanting something and That’s not going well, actually.
[r] And most of the time everyone wants to be the boss play, and that’s the problem… Yes. Yes, and Somalia is a big country, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do. A lot of people live there.
[r] Yes.
[i] But there is no structure now…
[r] No, no, not at all, the is just all mixed up… And every time it just gets worse and worse, sometimes it gets quieter and then worse and that’s… that’s all complicated…
[i] Are they all people from Somalia itself at war? Or is it also from outside Somalia?
[r] There are soldiers out there. of Uganda… in my country … And they’ve been taken there to take on two Somali groups that are against each other… and that doesn’t help either… That makes it worse, and that’s the government and a group that Al Shabaab hot, that’s… That conflict is just between those two… Yeah, and then there’s gonna be a Ugandan group…
[r] Yes, there and… Then it gets worse, yes. People just die, die, die, die, die. Nothing comes back just fine … yes …. And we just live in other countries where we don’t feel quite right and… Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Our country is just so… and that has been around for a long time, 30 years or so… That’s right, so I was born… that there is war … and I’m in it. grown up so that’s…
[i] Mmh…
[r] Sometimes it was good in my country, but… that didn’t last long, for example 2 years that it was quiet and that everyone was happy was and stuff, and then it started again and then…
[i] Mhm.
[r] Yes.
[i] So you’re actually also who grew up in the war…
[r] Yeah, just grown up.
[i] In Somalia, it’s actually, like, you know… himself says, almost 30 years of work…
[r] Yes. So you were born in there, You left in there too.
[r] Yes. And…
[r] And then…
[i] Then you’re still always go… Yeah, it’s worse. become but…
[i] Yes… But there are also parts in Somalia that’s not at war?
[r] Yeah, yeah, but those parts want to be become another country themselves… So, yes. But the part where I lived is the part that’s always in trouble. Okay, and where was that?
[r] Mogadishu.
[i] Mogadishu, that is the capital.
[r] The capital, yes… And what do you remember …from the capital?…
[r] I remember… Nice things and bad things… many things…
[i] What are the best things you can do about it? can say right now: I remember that… ?
[r] The nicest things were just… just… the school… Going to my school… because I also went I didn’t get to go out much, I wasn’t allowed to. But I was also allowed not very much. Girls there usually have to stay indoors. If they go outside it’s just go to school… or they buy something for the home, or they wouldn’t be allowed to.
[i] Mhm.
[r] So, I couldn’t get out much. but if I could go outside… I was just going to school… and… just go outside, walk with friends, just go to school and come back. So I didn’t come in much the capital and all that…
[i] Okay.
[r] I lived there, but the capital… there is a marketplace … But I remember a lot of cops that were there. …and when you’re there, you really get scared. There was a lot of different police between the road and the cars, that’s a bit… completely different.
[i] Different from here.
[r] Yes. Yeah.
[r] Yes.
[i] And what is one of the worst memories you have of Mogadishu?
[r] Worst memory is, uh… that I just, where I lived… that when that conflict between the government and the Shabaab has begun, how much I huge amount of uh… how do you say that … those things… those bombs and all that… And guns.
[r] And guns and stuff, different… we couldn’t go outside and we had to stay in our house for a week and we couldn’t even get out. And every time we heard those sounds and so, and one day we were allowed to go outside buy something, because we don’t have any more had to eat… and… I see people on the street lying around, dead, who are dead, and you step over those people and you walk because you’re just hungry. And you just want something to eat, and you can Don’t even look at the people anymore. and you just walk on otherwise… maybe… There’s only two hours when it’s quiet. and you need to get the food home soon, or it’ll start again… And I just had to talk about dead people steps, and that was really bad to see… And yes, that was the worst thing I could do I’ve been through, seeing someone die. and you just have to keep going because you’re can’t help him because that’s… Yeah, I felt, if I was that person, it would be I just kill and I just had no help… Did you feel powerless?
[r] Yes, no power, you just don’t have any power. Even if you want to help someone, there’s no hospital to take that person. Your own safety isn’t even there, so you’re can’t help that person, you just have to… running for your life so…
[i] For yourself…
[r] Yes, for yourself just… Yeah.
[r] We had to spend a week in our house stay, I’ve had a depression… I was scared, I just have a whole severe depression, that I… That I just don’t… was normal…
[i] Yes, even after seeing those people, of course. Yes, and a very good friend of us, we used to play together and stuff, and one day he died too, so all that made me really… I was even afraid of my own mother, and everyone’s. And I thought: that person’s gonna be kill you, this and that…
[i] Have there been moments which made you think of… this is… I might be next, that you thought of: we’re not going to survive…
[r] Yes, when we were traveling to Ethiopia and we had to go to jail, and my mother had been angry, because we were in a very dark room with a lot of people, and my mom… Because there was a girl who fainted because of the heat and stuff, and the police standing outside wanted no one to go outside. And my mom’s really mad and she’s been saying words that they didn’t want to hear.
[i] Mhm. But with those cops, there’s no dear people, they’re very aggressive, and then… If they heard those words… they’d kill you right away. Then I was really scared, and I was… was really crying, I didn’t know when I’d be allowed out, or we’d have to get there. …stay. Did we ever get away? And I was really… like: when do I go from this world away, from this… You name it… When am I going to a place where I don’t have to be afraid. So you were actually like that: maybe it’s better not to be here…
[r] Yes. Yeah.
[r] Better to just… to be gone, because there were already for a long time problems, problems, problems… And that made me tired, you think… the world is just a problem … Yeah, but it’s quieter here, you don’t hear any more and so…
[i] So Belgium was actually a bit of a relief…
[r] Yes, and you do have a hospital where you can go when you get sick. Yeah.
[r] If you get sick in there, it’s just… expensive, or there are no good doctors… Yeah.
[r] Mhm. You have to pay there first. before they help you.
[r] Yes. Yeah.
[r] And every time I thought: if there were ever get shot or anything, What are we gonna do? If you go to the hospital, you have to pay for that person first. Yeah.
[r] Yeah, and that person’s gonna see if you might have enough money. Every time I changed my mind: who is gonna have a problem? And now I’m still scared because my mother is there and yes… I still have it very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very. always think of my mother…
[i] So you’re afraid that one of your relatives or your mom…
[r] Yes. If anything happens to her and… she has to go to the hospital…
[r] Yes. And now maybe I can, because I’m here, maybe pay money, but they’ve got no good doctors there.
[i] Mhm.
[r] It’s just hard there, I find it it’s important that there’s a good hospital, and that you just don’t have guns or whatever it is you’re supposed to be… life is easier than it is. But without a hospital, I’m sorry… Yeah.
[r] Yes, so… It’s hard, yeah… So on a political level there’s unrest, but also health care isn’t really good… in Somalia… Which one?
[i] Health care, so the hospital and…
[r] Very bad… Yes … If the hospitals there were good, then… maybe people had a better life. But they both have them: they have no hospitals and they don’t have any money, and they don’t even have a job, There’s not much work there. And if you’re someone who studied well and you know a lot of things… and you’re going to work… some people go kill you because you’re someone who… …knows a great deal. Before that my country kills people. Wow. So… my mother… she is… she’s done with her college, but sometimes she’s having a hard time working because some people… They say: yes, she knows a lot. And those you just go without knowing it… You walk down the street and they’ll kill you. Or who think that you are knows a lot of things, I don’t know, they really have a problem with that. People who are very know things well. Or sometimes find those just no work.
[i] So you’ll be punished there, too. because you have a lot of knowledge?
[r] Yes. That’s just the problem, you can’t… don’t open your own business either… They’re gonna come and ask you for money, if you’re gonna be says you don’t have any money yet, they just shoot you down… So you’re just living, but there’s nothing you can do. That’s the biggest thing problem in my country. When do you think it’s going to be solved? Or do you think it’s ever is going to be solved?
[r] That’s a very good question but… I keep asking myself but… I just look like nothing come of it… I guess my country never is gonna be good again, but… anything can happen, that’s exceptional, but I don’t see anything right now that’s gonna work out and change. We have a new one every time. president, but worse or worse. no better. Each time a new President, we’re just choosing for nothing.
[i] Mhm.
[r] So I don’t see any… yes… What do you think of, uh, Somalia, that’s one of the… the diaspora of Somalia is very broad hey, that’s in almost all countries around the world… Israel and Somalia, I also have a little looked up… How do you feel about there being so many Somalis? and that they can’t go back to their country?
[r] Because they just know that they don’t have a better place. Otherwise, we would have been back long ago. If you also ask people where they live, who are are satisfied but not like in their country.
[i] Mhm.
[r] So, because it’s just not quiet there. For example, today is good, you have no problems and all that, but tomorrow there’ll be trouble again. So you move every time. For example, this place is today or a year good, you stay there, but the next day is… it it’s just that you move over and over again. People get there just tired of and…
[i] Mmm.
[r] There’s less place you can go and then you’ll have less money and then again you don’t have any good hospitals. Yeah, so a lot of people are going abroad. Yes, that’s why so many Somalis foreigners in different countries. Because they just don’t have a place where they can build a better life. And my country has good weather, and I like it much better… because the weather there is good and also… Yeah, just because there’s a lot of good things are… But if it were quiet there, I would never have come here. It’s just my country. Where I’m doing the weather a lot better and all that… I always get jealous when I’m see how they live here and… Then I always think about my country and I think: If you had like this… Yeah.
[r] So, who calls, I always have a picture of it: If your country was like that, you’d be like that… You know what I mean?
[i] You’re actually comparing Belgium sometimes a little bit with Somalia. Yes, but I see… used to look I’ve got videos, videos from the old days, how people lived, what the girls …as here, everyone was satisfied, you can wear whatever you want, you can believe what you want, and then I think of it: Had I been alive then, I would have had a lot of …things I can’t see right now.
[i] Mhm.
[r] So yeah, it used to be real. just like here, so to speak… Is that also the extremism who played a part? Who’s extremism?
[i] Extremism, for example Al Shabaab and all that.
[r] Yes.
[i] That that, too, is a has played a role?
[r] Yeah, it really does have a played a very important role. By Muslims, I’m a better Muslim, you are a worse Muslim, that’s why… a lot more fire.
[i] That people’s faith …to compare with each other.
[r] Yes, in my country it’s just problem with faith. I’m better, you’re not better, I’m better than you, I want […].
[i] But in the end his it’s all Muslims.
[r] Yes, and I think that everyone can choose what he wants to believe.
[i] Mhm.
[r] You just can’t be busy, in the faith… just being busy that… with what you’re just better off with. makes, your country, or… Leave everyone alone and believe, but in my country, they just want to be the boss. I know better, you doesn’t know any better and…
[i] Mhm.
[r] That never comes… good.
[i] So, faith shares not to participate in the peace…
[r] No. Just listen to each other and see… I just find that… set aside the faith and also… that everyone’s at peace… they mix it up.
[i] Mhm, politics? Yes, politics and faith mixing, I just can’t.
[i] Mhm.
[r] So some people just want their freedoms, who want to wear what they want and they just want to… do what they want, but Shabaab says that girls should wear headscarves and They shouldn’t be without a man go walking outside and that… The conflict just goes like this, some people don’t want that and some people… …and that’s how there’s gonna be more trouble. So they mix faith and politics together.
[i] Mhm.
[r] That’s the problem. that my country has now. Al Shabaab no longer existed, but they now exist because of their bombs. They’re coming here today, no one knows who they are because they behave like normal people, who throw a bomb… and yes, 100 people are just dead at once… So you can never know who Al Shabaab is and who isn’t. So they exist as if… how are you saying that… as if that… that animal that lives in the sea… You can just don’t know who Al Shabaab is… It’s just like a fish in the sea, you just can’t know.
[i] Mhm.
[r] How many people are just… Yes … That’s the problem, so now we have we’re just having trouble with bombs… If there are 100 people in die once… Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. and that’s supposed to be just like that… In almost two months once… Once in three months, I hear. They are bombs. Now for me it’s exactly has become normal. When I hear there’s a bomb has fallen in my country, that’s exactly normal.
[i] Mhm… Don’t you mind that it’s… exactly… breathing has become actually?
[r] Yes. Isn’t that right?
[r] That’s very bad, because that’s why I’m I sometimes get scared when I go to my country go, I want to take my mom to a better place… I’m thinking now. That I’m going to take my mother to a better place so that I can bring her… That I don’t have to be scared anymore. But that is a lot of money, then I have to see clearly… You just don’t know, you go outside and you think it’s a good day… you go to the store or so, and suddenly boom… A bomb is beneath you and you don’t know… And they don’t even say it in advance, that they’re going to set a bomb… Suddenly there are 100 people gone, that happens now… Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. now that’s real a problem… Do you think the worst thing about her being the to lay down rules in the country or do you find the worst thing they can do kill so many people? Without knowledge, so just throw a bomb…
[r] Yes. I’m sorry that they just… with them there is no such thing as… This is from the government, and this is the boss. They want as many people as possible just kill them, I think that’s what’s going on with them. is just like that. They want fewer people.
[i] The people, too, are common.
[r] Yes. Yeah, yeah.
[r] They just go where a lot of people meet, for example, shops. There’s a lot of people coming, and all of a sudden a bomb, I feel like they just want fewer people. I don’t know what they’re thinking, but every time I hear… 200 people, 100 people, just dead at once. And yes, I think that’s the worst part. That’s very… And they also throw bombs where people relax like by the sea… Where people eat, and families, and where they’re having a good time. Yeah.
[r] There they throw bombs, and that’s… That’s the only place people think: okay, this place is a better place and all that. There they’re gonna throw bombs and yeah… People are gone and that’s very… to experience …
[i] Are there any people afraid of certain places? That she’s not gonna be there anymore. are going to go because they’re thinking: There goes maybe to be bombed?
[r] Yes. You know that?
[r] Yeah, just in most places where people just… if it’s a place where a lot of people getting together, you gotta be scared. Yeah, okay.
[r] That’s the only one place where they… A place of risk, then.
[r] Yes.
[i] Yes, yes…
[r] And that’s usually… to the… […] where… In town.
[i] In the city, on a public place? Yeah, where a lot of people come together, usually just happens there. If you go there then… is less likely that you’re being bombed.
[i] Hmm.
[r] Yes. They are interested in more people, not in fewer people. Then the bomb takes a lot of people at once, she don’t want the whole bomb to catch just one person. I’m sorry that one person has so many …to put in some time to place that bomb. That person I find… who want to go on one day just killing a lot of people. That feeling of that person, I want to be with that person ever talk, someone who does, how… How he feels.
[r] How he feels. You come on a place where everyone is happy, is buying something, do something while you’re knows that those people within a few are gonna be dead for minutes. That’s… scary.
[i] That’s right. …interesting.
[r] Yeah, that’s right. very interesting. Do you have any wishes for Somalia? What do you hope for the future of Somalia?
[r] I hope everything’s… well comes … I hope everything… I hope that we have peace to… better… just have a good life… I wish forever … And that’s all I can say. I never know if it’s is gonna be good again, but I hope that it will ever come back once. But I want to see it someday. Before I grow old, or die, I want to see my country that’s good again. Yeah, I don’t know. How people behave now, see I’m not gonna get anything out of it. But yeah…
[i] So you’re a little critical about the future, you don’t know…
[r] Yes.
[i] You’re a little worried that it won’t, uh…
[r] Yes… I also say always against my father… I don’t think my country’s ever been is going to come back, but what do you think? And he says… You’ll be fine! So he gives …a positive answer. So that I don’t have a bad I’ve got thoughts and stuff. But I see… Cause I’m also looking a lot at politics and all that… but I see how people behave… I really don’t think that something’s gonna be okay. Those politicians, those they’re not there either… Agreed, you know? They fight, too. And then nothing comes out.
[i] Hmm.
[r] So yes… But you never know. But yeah, I hope she’s on a day just decide that they… just make a decision that they no longer, that those… I don’t know. I hope so for… And what is your wish for yourself?
[r] For myself?
[i] Say within five years, where Do you see yourself in the future?
[r] I see myself in the future… Just what I like to do, I want to be an actress… Somali actress.
[i] Mhm.
[r] So I see…
[i] Mhm.
[r] In five years I’ll see… that I have finished my studies and that I’ve moved on with my… with what I’d like to do with my… just become an actress and better yes … Making films or Somalian films.
[i] Mhm.
[r] That it made me… is going to be known… by … people, Somali people and others. But most of all I want to Become a Somali actress. And why Somali? Why only really . …that you say: I want a Somali …
[r] Because we’re not really good movies like the rest of them, for example. American films or just Belgian, we don’t have that yet. We just have short films and they do. not good, they don’t act that well either. So I want to make it better so that the world can see that we can do the same. That’s why I want to… Become a Somali actress to… to just good Somalian movies… to be able to make.
[i] Okay.
[r] Because I like acting, I also have… theatre and I’m just very happy to do it. And I also want for the others making things for the Somalis.
[i] So you also want influence on the Somali world. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, with your talent as an actress.
[r] Yes, indeed… And you’re doing the same thing now. any movies or… ? Yes, we are now… in a group … and we do short films. We’re starting now, but we want grow quietly and get better.
[i] Also all Somali youngsters?
[r] Yes. Yeah.
[r] A Somali group. Yeah, do you like to be with Somali youths working together? Yeah, I like that. Yeah.
[r] We’ve got the group …was also set up by himself. At first, it was me and another youngster, there are now 5 or 6 other young people among them and we all want make something better.
[i] Yeah, okay… that’s good.
[r] And that’s my… wish for the future … Yeah.
[r] For myself.
[i] Super… Thank you…
[r] Please. Would you tell me anything else maybe? But I’ve asked all the questions…
[r] No, because I have nothing more in my head. No. That’s good, thanks [name].
[r] You’re welcome.