Memoirs: The Night that changed my life Part 2 liyuu police

[SultanOrder]

They led us through the narrow streets of dhagaxbuur, where the fortunate citizens gawked at us, not daring to voice any disagreement. We were in their hands, no we were in God's hands now. One by one, four captured in total, a liyuu police on either side, one to the front and another to the back. Now we were passing the part of the city with lights and into the darker edge of town past the grand masjid, complete darkness was enveloping us and all of a sudden we were ordered to stop. One of our guards called out, and another responded giving us the go ahead signal to enter their base. An entranceway so narrow you would be hard-pressed to notice it if you didn't know it was there, we moved slowly and cautiously into a small clearing. A wall about the height of a man was to our right, on the other side laid the bodies of sleeping persons head to toe as if in a cemetery, even in the black night I could make out their long slender limbs covered by a measly bed sheet. "Sit" was the first order we heard.
Thoughts of all the horrible stories were going through my mind, each one more horrible than the other, my imagination picturing the worse possibilities. Calm down I reminded myself, take in everything and stay cautious, its all a misunderstanding they'll let me go soon enough. A young fellow was assigned to guard us, sitting on his chair with his gun on his lap with an aura of superiority knowing he held the gun, he was sitting above us, we were in his hands, only God knows what was going through his mind. The thing about him was that he didn't feel the need to raise his voice above an audible whisper. "Hey you... come here... shhhh....yes you... can't you hear me...shhh... take off your shoes... yes... good... quiet... now go... go back" you confused him with the gentle night breeze uncertain of every order, a dreadful chill of foreboding ran through my body. We sat their patiently, none daring to speak.
Before I knew it everyone was already taken to the other side of the wall and it was my turn. I got up with my shoes in one hand an approached a section of the wall that was broken about waist high, I climbed over and onto the other side.
" Go against the wall, sit down, now!" Four men, each holding semi automatic rifles, had me up against the wall, one who was sitting to the right of me held a notebook and a pen, and something else on his lap. "What is your full name... How old are you... What part of the city are you staying at... What is your tribe?", this was the opportunity I was waiting for to be known, and I immediately replied American. Shock ran through the men, and one of the men asked me again what my tribe was, I replied American, and thats when one man kicked me on my left side and another on my right. Again they asked who I was, I gave the same answer and brought out my passport at this they all stopped and took turns passing it around, by this time several more men joined us, all remarking to themselves that it was the real thing and that I did indeed have citizenship. Sensing that they understood who I was, and to emphasize this fact I told them my Somali was limited and there so happened to be one guy who spoke English. His first question was give me money, but the one with the notepad got upset by that and told him he was not to ask me for money whatsoever.
The questions did not end their but only began. "Where was I from, what city do I live, what I was doing here, where is my family, where was I born..." endless questions and every time they got an answer they didn't like they hit me, every time they got confused they hit me, every time they felt like it they hit me. At this time I was questioning the guys comprehension, and the man who was in charge of the questioning was getting jealous, in a fit of emotion he brought out the pistol on his lap and pointed it at me, commanded that English was going to be ceased, and that I was going to answer his questions. I raised my hands up in act of surrender and they seem bewildered by this gesture, put your hands down they told me. His last remarks in English were "Somali is your mother tongue, if you don't speak it or learn it", he leaned in closer next to my face and said in a deep African accent,"I will kill you".
Again he went to the same questions, but now they were getting suspicious of me. "Are you shifto, do you work with the rebels, don't lie to me", "what are you doing here in Ethiopia." They kept asking me if I knew who Mohamed Omar Hassan the leader of onlf was, and I honestly didn't. At this point a new man joined us who didn't seem to be part of the group but was staying aloof. They had had enough and now they meant business, one guy was ordered to get the long beating stick. This is when I told them I was Darood, and again there was a big uproar, with more kicks and slaps that followed. "How dare you name the big Darood". At this point the unknown man intervened and said the big stick wasn't necessary, and they should just finish it like that. He told them that where I was from tribe wasn't so important and that all the big tribes all live with each other and no one needs to know their sub-clans.
They stood me up, and walked me over to the other prisoners. It was over I thought. They were going to move us out, when all of a sudden their commander came out of nowhere and he was told of the situation he came straight towards me. Hit me right across my face almost knocking me down, grabbed me by the neck hard with one hand, took out his pistol with the other, and isolated me from the whole group. He jammed the pistol onto the side of my temple and asked me one question, "Are you shifto"... a rebel.

[ToughGong]

@

At this time I was questioning the guys comprehension,

The guy is a comedian,or an idiot why say I'm American to his fellow Somalis and mock their English,when they're holding a gun to his head

[SultanOrder]

@

At this time I was questioning the guys comprehension,

The guy is a comedian,or an idiot why say I'm American to his fellow Somalis and mock their English,when they're holding a gun to his head

War waxaan islahaa If they accept I'm american they'll understand why I was carrying a camera and that I'm nothing more than a tourist, ileen wax tourist la yidhaado ma garanayaan.


Funny thing is they asked me about everything except why they arrested me, wa cajiib

[ToughGong]

Perfect_Order I'll tel you what your'e either mad or very brave m8
I that was me I'd be trying to find anthing to have in common with them
How long did they make you sweat,and did you at any time think
"This is my las night on Earth"

[SultanOrder]

Bro it was pretty dumb in retrospect, but I had a very logical reason for it. Unlike you I wanted nothing more than for them to see me as a foreigner, if they saw me as an Ethiopian then I would be treated like an ethiopian, if they saw me as an American then they would 1. know that I cannot be grouped into the same category as others 2. They would understand the reasons of my arrest 3. Would think twice about why they even have me. As you can see I failed Miserably

And then I was also told by some old ladies before I left never to tell them who I was, that some Og's hate marexaan and will kill me at any chance, and these nigga's are the ones who love to kill Og's imagine me

But honestly my mind was just focused on the questions and answers. Now if they started walking me into the woods then I would of shit my pants

[ToughGong]

I was also told by some old ladies before I left never to tell them who I was, that some Og's hate marexaan and will kill me

I see well that makes sense then.Somali politics confuses me Wallee.
I would have thought they would have sen you as a fellow Darod who's from abroad
and gone easy on you

[SultanOrder]

Waryaa Qabil is just an Identity a category for you to check box, it doesn't matter to these people. It is like how you fill out these forms Check 1. Caucasian 2. African American. 3 Hispanic.

And I absolutely didn't want them to categorize me as such, for fear that they would then feel they could do anything to me without any reprisal. I didn't even want to be considered Ethiopian let alone a qabil. I wanted them to make this specific distinction, and some of them understood this and others were just too dumb

I've seen these guys beat people just for looking at them the wrong way

[sexy-kitten]

I would seriously freak out! Why didn't you ask for a translator? They can't be barbaric like that, if they're going to gaurd their boarders they at least need to invest in English, Arabic, and Somali speakers.

[SultanOrder]

I would seriously freak out! Why didn't you ask for a translator? They can't be barbaric like that, if they're going to gaurd their boarders they at least need to invest in English, Arabic, and Somali speakers.

There was an english speaker but he sucked, couldn't understand the difference between washington state and the capitol washington d.c.

[sexy-kitten]

I would seriously freak out! Why didn't you ask for a translator? They can't be barbaric like that, if they're going to gaurd their boarders they at least need to invest in English, Arabic, and Somali speakers.

There was an english speaker but he sucked, couldn't understand the difference between washington state and the capitol washington d.c.

You should've done some serious habaar under your breath. "Allahayo, may he lose his left eye" I'm sure they carry cells in Africa. Why didn't you phone your famz up in Ethiopia they would've drove there and bailed you out!

[SultanOrder]

This is just a continuation of the last part when I was being taken away that night they stoped me for carrying a camera, my family knew I got arrested but there was nothing they could really do, except my grandma thanks to her I avoided a real beating with a big stick

Incase you didn't know these guys are somalis

[sexy-kitten]

This is just a continuation of the last part when I was being taken away that night they stoped me for carrying a camera, my family knew I got arrested but there was nothing they could really do, except my grandma thanks to her I avoided a real beating with a big stick

Incase you didn't know these guys are somalis

Yoooooo!!! Why didn't you put a hit out on them once you got back alive? I'm sure you got some gangsta ass relatives somewhere in Ethiopia, everyone does LOL.

Sorry you had to go through that, do you have any permanent scars from it or did it all go away?

[SultanOrder]

My face is still cute

[sexy-kitten]

As long as your face isn't cut up you're good. You'll learn from it and that experience will make you a better man. Shit like this changes how people view life. Did you turn into a sheikh yet?

OK... lame joke, BAD KITTEN!!! Sorry, I just had to insert the sheikh joke!

[SultanOrder]

istaqfurrullah its a lovely story to tell girls on those late night convos

I don't know, I just saw it as an expirence I could put on college papers and uni applications etc

I didn't start praying until later simpler things like maturity is what got me started praying, but honestly it was like an initiation you got to go through coming to ogadeniya, so don't go there