A Ugandan Living and working in Mogadishu

[gharle]

Ismail Mugisha Ssetumba was one of the first few civilian Ugandans to go work in Mogadishu after Al Shabaab lost control of the capital. He has learnt a lot in the two years he has been there on what life in Mogadishu right now really is. Here he shares his experience.

“If you had told a younger me fresh out of high school that I would one day be living and working in Somalia, I would have thought you crazy. But here I am 37, and this is my second year of doing so. I have lived in Mogadishu since March 2012 and I cannot say it is half bad.

I was living in Kenya before I moved to Mogadishu so in total I can say it is about 15 years since I was last permanently based in Uganda but I was born and raised in Masaka and did all my schooling in Uganda.

I was doing business which is how I made some friends from Somalia. We often talked about their war torn country and the effort to get some modicum of peace as well as rebuild it. He wanted to start a university there and asked me if I was interested.

Since I have a bachelor in Education from Kyambogo University. Teaching did not sound bad, neither did the pay. My family members were concerned but I had already made up my mind so off to Mogadishu I went. I now teach Public Administration at Somali International University, a two-year-old private university with a student population of 3,500.

First impression

I remember my first impression of Mogadishu when I landed at Aden Adde airport in Mogadishu. I thought: “what a pity, this must have been a very grand city, once upon a time.” I saw the shelled out, abandoned buildings along the way. But as we drove towards the middle of town I also saw something else. Despite 20 years of instability, people are still living or doing their best to do so.

There were buildings with fresh coats of paint, others under construction. Markets are open and very busy. Even without moving around a lot I realised Mogadishu is a good city with a lot of opportunities, business opportunities. I settled in my work and life in Mogadishu very well and quickly learnt how to behave if I was to live peacefully with my hosts.

The differences

Mogadishu is different from Uganda and many other places in that the slightest misstep can get you into trouble. While Ugandans are complaining about the Antiporngraphy law, over here everyone has to be ultra-modest.

The ladies have to be fully covered up and even for men there are levels of decency you have to maintain. I wore a vest around our residential quarters and someone told me that it is not acceptable. I had to rush inside and throw on a shirt.

Interacting with the women here however smitten you are by their beauty is a no-no. It could get you in a lot of trouble. I have to be extra careful when relating with my female students.

While in many places you can freely make observations about the hosts’ culture more freely, Somalia is a different kettle of fish. Despite the what they have experienced because of the war, they are fiercely proud of everything Somali. They love their country and everything in it. Make disparaging comments about the country or the people or the culture at your own peril.

I found it interesting that everyone here has their own security. Not in the way we know it in Uganda of a security guard or two, rather heavy guns stationed at strategic points. It feels like one is in a mini-fort. Guns are ubiquitous, which I suppose contributes to the insecurity a great deal.

It is only when you live here that you realise al-Shabaab is not behind every bad thing that happens here. So many people are armed, so many militia. Sometimes it is business deals gone bad, interclan feuds and other things that cause problems.

A lot of people back home find it funny when I tell them I got used to the sound of gunfire and bombs going off. It is what you have to do here in Mogadishu. It is much calmer now but when I had just come it was very common. People here do not stop everything to crowd around the site of an explosion. If you go to a place where a bomb went off a few hours later, it is like nothing ever happened.

There are many things you will never hear about Mogadishu and if you do you will not believe at all. Did you know for example that Mogadishu has working streetlights? They are not everywhere but wherever they are, they are all working? And then there is Bakarra market, arguably the biggest in east and central Africa.

It is fed by a port and billions of dollars worth of trade goes on here every day. You could find virtually anything under the sun there and did I mention the sheer size of it?

you can read the rest HERE

what you guys think of this story?

[Marques]

Good find. Hope he enjoys his stay. Mogadishu needs the cosmopolitan touch it once had.

[FarhanYare]

He has a bachelors degree in education and he was given a lecturer position at a university in Mugdisho tell me this is a joke lol.

[jamal9]

Hutus are finding their long lost cousins in xamar

[Cherine]

I did a double take when i saw his pic, thought they put the pic of local Moqadhishuan by mistake.

Read all the parts, very interesting.

[MaliPrince]

I did a double take when i saw his pic, thought they put the pic of local Moqadhishuan by mistake.

Read all the parts, very interesting.

yea he looks like he can pass as Somali



his nose isn't flat and broad and since there are many somalis with timo jareer, that wouldn't make him stand out either.

[Cherine]

Yes he does, but please no need to dissect his looks.

[jalaaludin5]

niman ay xidid yihiin ayu soo booqday

[GalliumerianSlayer]

Bachelor Degree and now a lecturer?

[LobsterUnit]

He is a professor of Education
wax kasta soomalians wey Ku ciyaareen.negroe doesn't even have a masters degree.feel sorry for people paying a bag of money.

[knowthyself]

He says that he suffered namecalling when he first touched down In Mog and was taunted as bearing HIV Aids. It's amusing that a race which lops off women's clits would give itself airs about sexual wellbeing.

Starkest comment of all is the observation that as Ugandans fight against creeping anti-porn laws, Somalis fight for the right to keep their women in bin bags. I need to move to Uganda.

[Talo alle udaa]

This man is earning an honest living, what do you have BaastoUnit?
why don't you get a Bachelor degree and be willing to take the risk to teach. Too many folks full of hot air

[FarhanYare]

I don't know about da "he can pass as mugdishian"

[Marques]

This man is earning an honest living, what do you have BaastoUnit?
why don't you get a Bachelor degree and be willing to take the risk to teach. Too many folks full of hot air

Farhan and Baasto have a point. The guy obviously knew a mere Bachelors would be enough for him to assume a high profession in war-torn Somalia and make easy money, as opposed to the established Masters/PhD requirement (you need fellowships after this in many developed countries) before lecturing.

niman ay xidid yihiin ayu soo booqday

Aren't you an insecure Isaaq who pretends to be reer Jabuuti when your clan have nothing to do with it?

[knowthyself]

All the niggas here hating on the Ugandan's bachelor's degree don't even have a spinster's degree.