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Kutchi girl from Somalia (her great great grandparents moved there). It really wasn't that suprising to come across Somalis with Indian origin, since Indians were shipped around the world by the Brits etc.
But does anyone know how large the Asian population in Somalia is or was..
Perfect_Order wrote:I really don't know, does she speak somali, have they intermarried with somalis?
It's how in the uk asians are known as pakistanies, and indians, while here in the states when we say asians we mean specifically indhoyar
Yes I know you yanks refer to Asians as Indhoyar, thats why I mentioned Indian in my post.
And to answer your Q's.. No, she was full Indian (born in Somalia, as were her great grandparents iyo parents), but she told me a few of her relatives did intermarry with the Somalis (not a lot but a few).. and yeah she spoke both Kutchi and Somali
In Kismayo there were a lots of Arabs and Indians and they were mostly business people who own stores. The Indians didn't mingle with the Somalis that much, but Arabs did.
Yes, there was once a sizable Indian/Paki community in Somalia in cities like Xamar, Marka, Baraawe and Kismaayo.
They were mostly Muslims and were business owners in Shangaani, Xamar Weyne, Ceel Gaab, etc. There was a whole gold district in Xamar Weyne near Afar-irdood that was run by Arabs and Indians. They also had their own burial grounds that also served as a community center of theirs called Ceelka Hindiga near Howlwadaag district and right across from Waaberi. My grandmother lived near the compound and whenever we went to visit her, specially on Friday evenings, loads of them would enter the compound. They mostly kept to themselves, rarely ever married Somali. Most of them spoke good Somali with a major Indian accent.
In Marka, they were fishers as well as business owners. Marka was a very diverse city, there were Arabs, Indians, Bajunis, Europeans, it was actually quite rare to find a Somali from one of the major clans be it Isaaq, Daarood or Hawiye. There was 1 abgaal dude who owned a corner store shop there that was called Ali Abgaaloow, I also used to laugh at that. These Indians/Pakis then fled to Kenya specially Mombasa & Malindi after the war. They found much success there because they were able to continue their businesses there.
I once met an old Indian guy from Somalia on a subway car here in Atlanta, he recognized I was Somali and came up to me speaking to me in Somali. He was very nostalgic about Somalia and kept calling it "dhulkii" like any Maryooleey. I connected him to our local Somali mosque and I've seen him a few times after that. Very funny dude.
The girl I met was only 20 and she spoke Soomali with a extremely thick indian accent aswell (even though I hardly understood anything she said in af Soomali) and she was born in Mugadishu. I was pretty suprised when she told me she saw herself as a Somali-indo (Indian) Brit
The girl I met was only 20 and she spoke Soomali with a extremely thick indian accent aswell (even though I hardly understood anything she said in af Soomali) and she was born in Mugadishu. I was pretty suprised when she told me she saw herself as a Somali-indo (Indian) Brit