The Two Filthy Ponds: Beel & Extreme Religion - WardheerNews

for in droughts severe
worthless goats are
no better cattle are
without maintenance constant
it is Goha that life sustains
O' pride of the home
antelope-like she-camel
noblest of animals all surely she
the furry-necked she-camel
with belly huge
sour milk abundant produces she
you, curly-furred camel of mine... (Ahmed Ali Abokor, Uppsala,1987)
How Somalis move around with their camels, where they water or graze them, deeply
shapes patterns of ecologically sustainable transhumance. It is often the case that clans
whose camels come in contact with each others' in the many wells of Walwaal and
Ciid(Haro Ciideed) forge visible intermarriages and cultural integrations which tame
conflicts that could have otherwise turned much more deadlier.
The water wells of Walwaal were at the turn of the last century the focal point for water
supply for camels in the Danood region that housed several heavily intermarried Somali
clans who had fought wars while at the same time mending fences. It is in this context
that the epic poems of Guba, which ended up pitting Ali Dhuuh, versus Salaan Carabay,
Versus Qamaan Bulhan were individuals who were all related to one another in one way
or another was instigated by a causal conflict on a popular camel watering point in the
vicinity of Walwaal.
So central camel is to Somali existentialism that the late president of Somalia, Abdi-
Rashid Ali Sharmarke, once said of camel poetry (or pastoral verse) to be "one of two
National assets of inestimable values" for Somalis, and is only paralleled in importance
by Islam. Thus, God and Camel are praised in the same verse exclusively sung for camels
to coax them to drink water:
God, men and camels are prayed to
for their bounties limitless….
No wonder, then, that camel occupies an enviable position of mythic proportions in
Somali politics, poetry and culture that it in turn largely defines the very being of
Somaliness. Despite a handful of up starter revisionists within the Somali studies
community that denounces the camel culture as an invading force, or, often as they call it,
the "Dervishization" of the Somali society, this "furry-necked, belly-huge" animal centers
the totality of the Somali being - his harsh ecology, his desires for possessions and in
Camel Milk: A Source of Sustenance for Somalis, Curative or a "Gojiberry-Miracle Juice" of
the Moment By Faisal A. Roble, August 29,2009
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