Hiiraan Online

by Liban Obsiye
Saturday, February 15, 2014

On a work visit to Birmingham a colleague of mine James (not his real name) and I were enjoying cups of tea and a few well-made Samosasand Somali sweet pancakes when a delegation including the Mayor of Mogadishu came down the stairs from a private meeting. Having met the mayor various times previously I warmly greeted him and we had a quick chat before he disappeared with his entourage. James was bemused by all the fuss surrounding what must have seemed to have been just an ordinary man from Somalia now residing in the UK. When I told him who the man was James was so shocked that he asked the makhayaad owner for confirmation. Needless to say, after the confirmation, he also made a lot of fuss about not been introduced. On the way home on one of England’s finest privatised, never on time, out of date and noisy trains where one fights to rest his bottom, James asked why it was that as influential a man as the Mayor of Mogadishu, the man tasked with governing and transforming the most war torn capital in the world, was in a down market coffee shop which only attracted us because we could not afford the prices of Starbuck’s in town. I told him that it is the same reason I invite all those researching the Somali community, people and culture as well as friends and associates to them. The makhayaad was, is and will remain a centre piece of Somali culture.

There are many Somali owned and managed Makhyaad’s in places where the population is large enough to support them. In the UK, America, Sweden and Australia there are many of these usually run as a family business. Even in Dublin the capital of the Republic of Ireland where Somali refugees have only started arriving in the last decade a makhayaad has been established within a small community centre. The Makhayaad usually sells light snacks, hot and cold drinks, sweets and on seldom occasions, heavier foods such as rice, pasta, meat and fish. The makhayaad’s are almost always located within a district or specific areas where Somalis predominantly live such as Easton and Barton Hill in Bristol. The reasons for these are various but among the most important are that rent prices for commercial properties are lower and the target client group lives, shops and socialises in these locations.

As inner cities become more diverse due to lack of affordable housing and new construction projects in this time of depressed market conditions and limited lending on mortgages, more and more non Somalis are questioning the role the makhayaad plays in their new neighbour’s lives. From the outside, the makhayaad and those using it can cause confusion and embed old stereotypes and ill held views such as the Somali people living well on state benefits and not wanting to work or integrate by mixing with others. However, with a closer look using an open mind, the Makhayaad is a place of great power, influence and knowledge sharing.

The past

The Somalis were and in some cases remain nomads. As nomads the people used to follow the rain and much of the nomadic way of life was based on finding and sharing wells and water sources for feeding lives stock and grazing fields. These vital wells used to often connect people from different tribes and families as they were a crucial meeting place for the entire community.  The wells were often over crowded and at times there were lengthy queues and hours if not days of waiting around to feed animals and families alike. As a result of this the wells became a public place in which to meet, socialise, trade and discuss matters of political importance. While by the water wells the people used to share different types of animal milk to drink and food which they brought from their homes. When tea was first introduced to the Somali nomads it was also cooked communally and shared in public places like the wells. Alongside the sharing of milk, tea and food, more sophisticated businesses were built around meeting places like the water wells such as mobile trading between nomads. This was called “Kabadhe” and often camels and other animal caravans were used to transport goods to the wells and smaller occupied pastoral lands for sale or exchange. As an oral community the wells and other communal public spaces were also used to hold meetings regarding peace and war, tribal relations, land sharing agreements and the dissemination of local laws and customs. These wells and the shade of the trees were places of education, local knowledge exchange and socialising which accommodated everyone equally. They were the equivalent and as important as the coffee houses and pubs that much socialising and trade was carried out from in England in the past.

Today

The makayaad in Somalia before the civil war replaced the water wells as a place to gather, meet, socialise and do business. However, after the civil war broke out some of the Somali people who successfully sought asylum in the UK started opening makayaad’s and restaurants in cities where they predominantly settled such as London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Bristol. They had the population to the support it, the need from the community and it was a way of tackling individual poverty through self-employment in the absence of mainstream opportunities. Port cities like Cardiff and Liverpool where Somalis serving in the merchant navy settled after the Second World War have had makayaad’s for decades serving their communities. One I visited in Cardiff has apparently been open since the 1970’s according to some customers and the owner.

“I opened my makayaad with money I borrowed from my family and from the first day it has been a success,” a local Bristol entrepreneur who did not want to be named said. “The people cannot stay home and they need a place to eat, drink and meet. I give them this. I think my makayaad is not just a business but a public service.”

The irony is that although the makayaad owner laughed at his own playful suggestion that he may be offering a public service, in many ways he actually is. The makayaad’s today, like the water wells of the past servicing nomad communities in Somalia, is a place for socialisation, education and knowledge exchange for a Somali community which maintains its strong oral traditions in Britain and other Western developed nations even in this fast advancing digital age.

For most Somalis arriving from anywhere to a new place, the first thing they look for is a Makayaad as this is a place where they can find information, gain verification, guidance and locate information or people that they are seeking. It is also is a place where they usually are welcome and especially for refugees, where they can communicate in their  mother tongue, escape social isolation, get news from home and even identify relatives through their tribal lineage locally. The makayaad plays hosts to the debates and discussions that are taking place in another continent but involving the future of a country all Somalis living in the UK still see as their home alongside England. On any given day after the main national Somali news ends, Makayaad customers contemplate and discuss the issues which affect them directly in every possible way as they have families living in Somalia whom most support through remittance from the UK and other developed nations across the globe.

In England where homes are generally smaller and many Somali families live in cramped conditions, it is hard, as is customary, to invite visitors back home. The Makayad has filled this void for a Somali community in the West which still remains very social and highly reliant on oral communication by providing a relatively cheap space to gather. Renting meeting facilities and going to the overpriced city centre coffee shops is not an option for many members of the refugee communities like Somalis who are still among the most socially excluded and marginalised communities in the UK. Even if they could afford it, the mainstream coffee shops are generally unwelcoming and cold as customers are culturally isolationist and only communicate with those they know in English or a native tongue they share with their group. The Makayaad, unlike these mainstream chains, allows the Somali customers to continue and build on the sense of community that has always been important to their existence.

While the international media portrays Somalia people as divided and unable to agree on a vision to rebuild their people and nation, the makayaad is a place of unity and community spirit. People of different ages with differing agendas and issues sit alongside each other. Decisions about how to vote in elections, marriage, fundraising for disasters in Somalia and of community strategy to address local issues in their own cities, are taken in Makayaads by Somali community members. It is even a place where prominent community members mediate issues of business, family and on occasions, inter community tensions. The outcome of these meetings, more impressively, are generally binding in the same way a High Court decision would be in all affairs in mainstream England. Important decisions can be taken in such informal settings and place like a Makayaad because it is seen as a neutral space where all are equal in a culture where each person is his own sultan. An old saying from the Banadiri people who historically have resided in Mogadishu, Marka and Barawe areas says that a simple domesticated cat in her own home can have the teeth of a fierce lion. This home advantage in any dispute is mitigated by the Makayaad.

Makayaad’s are not always places of good deeds and unity. They have been used to plot the downfall of governments all over the world including that of Somalia in the past. They also have not been gender friendly as it is mostly men who use it to socialise, gather information and disseminate ideas and knowledge. However, in England today more Makayaad owners are welcoming women to their establishments by creating a separate area for them as is culturally appropriate. Some young, financially independent Somali British women are also actively meeting in makayaad’s as others are opening, running and managing their own. However, this number is still tiny as the prevailing and dominant religious and cultural norm is that women cook and eat at home and do not mix freely with men. This is something all the women interviewed for this article have expressed a preference for too.

Understanding the important role the Makayaad plays in Somali society; many private and public sector organisations are now using it to promote services, goods and collect data on the Somali community. It welcomes everyone and as part of a community cohesion strategy in more culturally vibrant dense urban spaces like England’s main cities where there is a large Somali community, it could and should act as a means of connecting people and communities that currently grudgingly brush shoulders on the streets.

“I eat and deliver case law updates regularly at the makayad’s myself to generate business for my firm which specialises in Immigration law,” said a London based Solicitor. “It is truly the place to engage with the community and reach out to potential clients.” This Solicitor has benefited from using the makayaad to promote his services but many institutional bodies, especially in the public sector working directly with the Somali community, have yet to do the same. This is a big mistake as by using community locations, venues and establishment to engage with the most vulnerable and marginalised in society the objectives of key social policies in key areas such as health, education and housing can be achieved. The prevalent lazy and discriminatory hard to reach excuse has been perpetuated by a lack of understanding of the importance of the use of the most culturally appropriate spaces and communication techniques. The Makayaads offer policy makers an opportunity to turn the supposed hard to reach into the fully engaged citizens they can and should all be with the amount of public money been spent on their behalf by the State.

[email protected]
@LibanObsiye (Twitter).