Are You Somali Enuf???

Hey Everyone, Naya 3 here want you to check out this quiz I took, it's really sad, I'm low on being somali, but that's to be expected. I am vegan right, I don't eat laxoox every morning or drink gallons of somali tea...Shame, but let's see how well you score. PEACE!


I scored a 46% on the "Are you Somali enough abayo?" Quizie! What about you?

Take this quiz people!! It's hilarious...

S.O.S

No this is not a Rihana song remake,

Hello Ladies,

I know it's been tres tres long time since we posted anything.

I would like to begin with one.

I found our story about the medieval somali queen Arrawelo. It's in a book called Tales of the Punt by Abdi a. Sheik-Abdi
it's also in another story by Margaret Laurence called A tree for Poverty based on stories she collected from prominent story tellers back in Somaliland circa 1950's.

It's a story to make women feel inferior and truly low due to the idea that this queen was evil and a man hater.

I think when women ascend to a certain level of power, men become the haters and try to take the wind from their sails. This story has been told for generations upon generations. My grandmother told me, I totally forgot about it, in reference to female circumcision. She said there was an evil queen who became jealous of women her husband cheated with so she made them circumcised. In the book Tales of the Punt, circumcision was started according to the author by men to keep women from becoming powerful or something. Basically this heinous practice leads to many health problems and psycho trauma that it takes years upon years to heal from it. I can't understand how our people think sometimes but honestly I know it will cease with our generation.

Truely I believe this story has more to it than what it says, remember everything was passed by word of mouth.

The weird thing too, her grave is found in more than one location in East Africa. Being that this woman has a history we need to research upon. Everyone agrees that she was clever, a tomboy, a great horse tamer, travelled and powerful.

Post something GirlS!!!!

Naya3

Submissions..please

Hello Girls

So it's been awhile since anyone of us have made a post ( busy with our lives I guess,...it's summer and all).
Well... I am writing to inform you guys that the plan to start the fundraising for the SCHOOL will begin right after I come back from the long weekend.....I want ideas ladies ..ideas...innovative, creative and mindblowing ideas..no cups sales or any of that stuff..

ENJOY THE LONG WEEKEND

NAYA 1

Relationship Guru Naya 3

Hello again everyone,

Have you noticed Guru has the somali root word Gur which means Marriage, something that we all strive to achieve while we are in a relationship. Well, we try anyway right?

This week I would like to give you a mental "PUSH" you all need to get closer with your lucky partner or soon to be *wink *wink. To basically get you back on that right path you started with.

Well basically we all hit that dirt road with our relationships, whether you just met one or like myself been in one for a long time. We all come to that road where nothing seems exciting like before or that routine is hard to get out of.

Listen, we are women, naturally we like to escape from the mundane to passionate conversations and exciting adventures. I think the secret of keeping it exciting is simply this; Don't share everything in the begining. Like forexample we all like to tap into our lives and get as much info as possible so we can feel connected and related on so many levels. At this point of the relationship with what I call The 4th degree to L.O.V.E. , just don't share so much. Keep some things to your self and reveal it when you feel its necessary. Now some of you may say, THERE IS NOTHING I HAVE TO SHARE TO BEGIN WITH (ahem) unless you are a hermit living in the mountains I understand, otherwise you are projecting something called "invisible block".
This is another dirt road that people hit as well. Think of a relationships as a map, a beautiful map of our lives that comes together and we all travel at the same speed, some people can be too fast or too slow. Sometimes there comes bumpy roads, other time we hit 'DEAD ENDS'. Some people take short cuts or I play the role of that person you ask for directions when lost. But eventually we will like to reach that final destination with each other and just enjoy the scenery either temporarily and go our seperate ways or for as long as we want to stay there.

There are road blocks to every relationships, the one challenge that is hard to get out of is Doubt. When we get to doubt the other person's capability of whether or not they are ready to travel on our Love Maps, you just finished the trip already. When we can't believe in someone, then what's the point of travelling with that person. For example, have you ever went with people on a ride and you speak to that one specific person for hours, get into each others heads and discuss everything? That's what I mean it's a long uncomfortable ride, with no breaks and just deep conversation. Yeah it helps pass the time by, but why would you waste someone's time getting so close then doubting them in the end.

That's what I mean about doubt it gives a bad taste in everyone's mouth. We all lead busy nothings in our daily lives. I can gaurantee you that what you are doing today is exactly what you were doing the week before or the month before. When someone comes into our lives, a special person, that mundane boring days become filled with adventures, excitement and you learn so much about yourself. Connecting with another soul is like recharging that battery.
Why get a little block like doubt in the way, just get rid of that old habit we all fall into so that we don't want to get close to someone, then we get back to our boring days and live a life filled with expected nothings achieving temporary highs.

Give people a chance, and give them your faith, it is hard enough to share our past, dreams, ideas, and one day futures. If you find someone you can relate with on sycronistic levels beyond comprehension and beyond explanation, then let the doubts go.
And the rest they say will be history ;-)

I hope I was a good guide today on your road bloc, stick around next week and I'll give you more guidance.
See the thing with relationships is that if you travelled that road before, then you become and expert, even once is a enough. I hope to get your input with your experiences and advice as well.

Don't get attached to one way of travelling down the same road, always take different routes.
Routine doesn't give you a chance to get to see all the beautiful scenes.

Bon Voyage!

Medieval Somali Queen

OK,

So it's a saturday morning almost like any other, You're awake and you don't want to get up. In my case I was dreaming of future goals and I needed motivation. Abviously the internet helps with that sometimes.

Here I was trying to find something to make me go WOW now I can achieve anything, I find a unique story about a somali queen who lived in what would've been Somalia back then.

Other references about her say that men throw rocks at her grave and women lay flowers. If any of you ladies know more about this Queen's story please let us know. I am definately going to find out more, so far the internet is being a let down. Hopefully it will be an excuse to go see family and get it through orally, supposedly everyone should know this story. But as a lesson that women should never be anything but housewives. They say that she castrated men was that physically or politically ?

So far this will be a most interesting weekend.

"Once upon a time, there was a famous Queen named Arraweelo, who ruled Somalia. When she was younger, Arraweelo witnessed many wars and conflicts among Somalis. She also has seen how the council of elders made some unwise decisions. She felt that these were due to the fact that these men on the council were not intelligent and capable enough in their position of leadership. Her recommendations was that these men should be replaced by women who were intelligent and competent enough to make decisions, that would benefit the community. However, Arraweelo's husband disagreed with her and felt that that kind of work belonged to men and that women were better left to do what they are known for housework and childcare. The steps that Arraweelo took to get power were well known even among Somalis especially to Somali men. She organized the women to striking from doing housework, so that men were busy doing housework and looking after children. While they preoccupied with that, Arraweelo took over the leadership, declaring herself Queen. From then on there was peace and prosperity in the Land." Source "Arraweelo: A Role Model For Somali Women By Laadan Affi"

Naya3

Our Debut

Manao ahoana (practicing my Malagasy)

So I have discovered that Tuesday is not a productive for moi. Tuesday is my designated day to think about (shopping, health, world issues, shopping, eating, my dress size, shopping, etc.) everything under the sky but work. While I was complementing world issues and health I can across this website: http://www.baobabwomen.org/, this a non-governmental organization based in Nigeria which aims to address and rectify the problem of the lack of awareness of basic legal rights of women in that country.
This got me thinking about if there was any female based not for profit non-governmental organization run by women for women in Somalia. Well I checked (thanks to my trusted and dependable “GOOGLE”) and I discovered one
http://www.saacid.org/resaacid.htm-based in Australia
This website isn’t very helpful but I emailed them anyways to get more information about what they do exactly. Looking over stats and depressing images sent to me daily via email about the suffering and hunger that is going on back home makes me think feel helpless.
But I am NOT..We NOT. I don’t think the solution is to throw money into temporary aid (like old saying goes..” teach the man how to fish, damn it…don’t give him a fish, you ding dong”, ok so that’s not how it goes…modifications have always been my specialty but you get the point)
So here’s our opportunity, girls to make a difference, a significant difference. I think we are sassy, over educated females from three different parts of Somalia, with three different views (from three different qabils…how are we friends again..:). We can make a difference in SOMALIA (Not the North or the South…but the whole SEVEN , that is before I jump ship and become a Malagasy and leave you suckers..jk).
I think we each have a specialty that is unique and beneficial to what I have in mind.
WHAT DO WE ALL HAVE IN COMMON>(BESIDES THE OBVIOUS )
ANSWER: EDUCATION
“Education is the gift that never stops giving.” I truly believe with my entire being that if you educate a girl that you not only educate her but a whole entire generation. This is quite evident in my family; my mother is biggest proponent of education and still is the driving force in my life to get more of it…. She went to all girls’ school she credits this to her view of education and the importance of it in one’s life. She always pushed for her girls and her boys to do equally well in school because she felt that it was equally important that all her children succeed in life, professionally and personally.
Anyway, this blog was not meant to be a tribute to my mother (no matter how wonderful she is) but instead to our mission to help Somali women. So here’s the plan or mission that I foresee that we can work on this Summer (Naya 2: if you are counting..this is the second initiative for the summer..the other one is still on!!). Let’s build a school. Yes, I mean. A school. I haven’t lost my mind..I really believe we can do it. Building a school will be our first forte into the world of GIVING BACK and the first project for the SedexNaago Organization.
I have done my research, (I am not just going to propose something just for the sack of doing so or out whim), I come prepared.
There’s currently a Somali organization (http://www.scerdo.com/) that is dedicated to building schools in Somalia. My plan would be to partner up and work collobrative with this organization and build a school (An all girls’ school) or perhaps find an all Girls schools that we can support (my trusted friend, “GOOGLE” failed at finding me one but I am sure one existed). The education is gateway to better life..we all know that and besides If Oprah can do it, So can we, right girls. I hope I am not on my own on this one. Anyways, I don’t think this would be a difficult task for us. It would just require some creative and imaginative fundraising strategies (wink.. wink ...I am looking at Naya 3 for that!!). Since we are all going to be a in the same city for four months, we might as well put our time to good use (Incentive: Oprah by 2009..J).

Ok, I am all excited. Let me know if you guys are in. Knowledge is power!!

Veloma

Naya 1

P. S The following are some of my favorite quotes on education, for inspiration:

Education: a debt due from present to future generations- George Peabody
The future depends on what we do in the present. Mahatma Gandhi

"Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate,no despotism can enslave. At home, a friend, abroad, an introduction, in solitude a solace and in society an ornament.It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at once grace and government to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage." Joseph Addison

"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet." Aristotle

"Education is the movement from darkness to light." Allan Bloom

P.S.S Part 2 of Examination of Naya 1 is still on the way...

THE THREE NAYAAS DON'T FIT IN

I was listening to one of my favourite self-help authors on an online radio probably everyone knows his name, if you don't you will find his books mostly every where. Dr. Wayne Dyer was one of the first authors that reflected into words inspirational truths that help us to improve our lives.

One topic that stuck a chord with me today was his idea of "non-conformity." How it shapes all of our lives to direct us to our true paths. I reflected on my case including my two good friends on here. Briefly I will outline our non-confirming ways here,

Naya1
Intelligent, open-minded. She's the kind of person who would go to any restaurant from any different countries. Boasting of having friends from every country in the world, she embodies the UN spirit. She inspires me with her passion for science and helping people beat cureable diseases specailly helping her people, Somalis. Naya 1 abviously did not fit in with her views growing up, when she was younger she dreamed about being an important scientist and making breakthroughs while the rest of us fantasized about becoming Mrs. Will Smith or Penny Hardaway ( I KNOW WE ALL DID ADMIT IT PEOPLE LOL) Her strength in her studies kept her out of many failings in our young women lately which is vanity and getting pregnant young out of wetlock. She stood above it all and made a great impact not only to inspire my younger sister but all the sisters out there. Keep up the good work Naya 1, you don't need props but keep doing what your doing and save us all! jk Madagascar could never be prepared for a person such as yourself, I hope one day you make it there and pursue your breakthrough ideas.




Naya 2
Also intelligent more so with the literal word, she is the kind of person who you can discuss any type of subject like philosophy, politics, and ofcourse religion. We all have interests in these fields but no one like Naya 2 commands to memory better than anyone I've known.
She stands out to this day for her command of words and the wisedom she aqcuired for such a young person. I feel that non of us has endured her hardships, and these were lessons that molded her to be a strong woman who will one day receive the attention she unknowingly commands. But I feel that her non-conformist ways stem from not only reading and thinking differently from the rest of us, but her compassion for all. She stands out as a hijabi, even being that she speaks freely her thoughts while still adhering to Islamic modestly. Dangerous combination I think. I know for a fact words have been the movement of her life. So far her true inspiration is the Quran, and trust me with my ignorance about it to this day, she can make it plain and understanable even to anyone, which is rare indeed. You know Naya 2 no one can be you and that should be enough for you ;-). Keep inspiring us with your life and spirit. I found a good quote to discribe you by William Arthur Ward, "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." One day you will be our great Teacher for all Somalis....



Naya 3
That's me! I feel that I have been blessed and lucky to have 2 young ladies like these to connect with intellectually, personally, and nationally. It is not by accident that we all met at the same time in the same University. Together we fit in with one another, and seperately we stand out (RIGHT NAYAAS?) When we get together and just hang-out, the stuff we talk about would never be enough to fit into this blog. This blog is a small example to share our uniqueness and dispell the tired stereotype that somali women are just good for breeding 10+ kids. Even though we are able to over populate this country, its not our passion. We all stand out to set an example to other women that you can still be religious, smart, successful, and have a good relationship.

My non-conformist ways all began with always wanted to be just like the boys. Physical strength was my passion till I was 17 and got into a car accident with my brother. Not serious but serious enough to tell me that I was not invincible. At the time that most somali girls in my highschool hanged out 2 discuss make-up, Aldo shoes, and guys ofcourse. I was climbing cliffs, snowboarding, and doing down-hill mountain biking. True eventually I ended up being in a relationship with a professional biker/snowboarder. We still did have that passion for nature, and physical strength. Rock Climbing was my dream career, and at the age of 16 I was doing things I even couldn't believe physcially. I stayed in shape till like the last 2 years. LOL marriage does that to you. But that spirit is still there, I wish still to be an inspiration as a fitness expert one day. Just that accident scared me, but it did change me, it made me look into the spiritual side of life. Back then, I don't think I even thought about death, but after that's all I ever thought about. The ironic story is my husband got to his car accident (4 years ago) and wasn't able to work out due to his injuries kinda like me, it made him spiritual too. One day I'll talk about our coincidences that led to our union. I left that professional biker/snowboarder because he didn't understand my spiritual side. I used to think like him, that we are the "ubermanch" super human. Though, being that way kept me out of trouble, and helped me do well in school. I was proud of having physical strength, enough to beat my older brother (every sisters dream LOL) but then something was missing, and that hole left by that accident has been my passion ever since. I started being religious which sorta explained things but not fully, then I became rebellious. Then I had a so called experience one night that changed my life, another story to talk about another time. But events since then has led me to who I am today, and that little girl who wished to be the next Bruce Lee/ Xena still exits. Only now I see the world has more wonder than I ever thought existed.

Our Non- Conformist ways should leave you with this that you can be smart and cultured like Naya 1. A literal genius and Islamic inspiration like Naya 2. Lastly, being strong somali women is our ancestral inheritence. We were the builders of homes back then and nations. Conforming to little nothings is a sad example to set for young women. My non-conformist ways might not be easiest to adopt, but I too wish to bestow something profound. Just be your unique true self like my friends here, and everything else shall follow your lead....



~I hope I stayed true to my Nayaas personalities,
The door is open for you ladies of course to include your personal
life stories of a non-conformist. It is not a bad thing really, not fitting in
has made you the way you are~

Till then, PEACE
NAYA3