When most Americans think of Somalia, they likely think of Somali pirates or of the story of the American military operations there that inspired the film 'Black Hawk Down.' What most people, myself included, have no awareness of is the tremendous refugee crisis associated with violence, poverty, and famine in Somalia. This has spilled over to Kenya where refugees flee to large refugee camps as well as to slums near Nairobi. This longread provides a chilling account of life in Somalia and life for the refugees who have fled. It is troubling for so many reasons ranging from the degree of poverty to the pervasiveness of violence to the deplorable treatment of women. Normally on Fridays I try to post a fun longread, and this is definitively not one of those. Nevertheless, it is an important and eye-opening piece.
"A Violent Prone, Poor People Zone" by Tom Sleigh
Published in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Winter 2012
http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2012/winter/sleigh-florio-poor-zone/?src=longreads&buffer_share=5f767
Eric
Here's a link to the neighborhood of Eastleigh the writer is writing from. You can see the Muslim influence in many of the names of businesses/mosques/schools springing up in the midst of the dwellings:
ReplyDeletehttps://maps.google.com/maps?q=kenya+eastleigh&hl=en&ll=-1.255345,36.895094&spn=0.031921,0.042014&sll=-1.093073,37.029419&sspn=2.987399,4.938354&t=h&hnear=Eastleigh,+Eastleigh+North,+Nairobi,+Nairobi+Province,+Kenya&z=15