The Somali community in the UK: What we know and how we ... - ICAR

from the UK, Somalis were expelled, and women
began to join their husbands. In the early 1980s the
beginnings of armed conflict in the north initiated a
trickle of refugees, but it was the beginnings of allout
civil war in 1988 that encouraged women such
as Quadra to flee. The ensuing chaos in the south
after the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991
provoked the major exodus, and the often tortuous
and traumatic journey to the UK. Not all women
came accompanied by men. Some were widowed,
some left their husbands fighting, and so, during the
late 1980s and the 1990s, the majority of Somalis
reaching England were single mothers with their
children. The latest phase of Somali immigration
from third countries is also composed of relatives
of those already here, some who originally fled the
war, and some who were born elsewhere.
Generation and date of arrival crucially affect
experience in the UK. As with all members of the
Somali community, generalisations about women
must be read with the proviso that they do not
form a homogenous group. The teenagers in
the Breaking the silence team also testify to the
devastation of war, but do not share their elders’
nostalgia for home: “There are opportunities for
me. I will stay here forever”; “I have a home and
friends. And I am happy now”; “…I like the other
people here. I like it here”. 130
But one critical difference, that of social class, may
not be apparent to an external eye. Ruqia Hersi
told the audience that:
Most Somalian [sic] people want to go back.
The only thing stopping them is the war.
And here, they feel like they’re nothing.
The lowest class. The bottom of society. 131
Ruqia herself, besides being a mother, has a
Master’s degree in chemical engineering. Educated
and professional women face the same problem as
their male counterparts - the difficulty of obtaining
work commensurate to their qualifications. They
suffer the same loss not only of earning power, but
also of status and self-esteem. Sales and Gregory
(1998: 19) quote Fatima, who had been a nurse in
Somalia:
My work was very important in my life. Now,
when we go to a hospital here, they think we
are nothing, we don’t know anything.
Fatima embarked on a health promotion course,
but, like men, professional women have difficulty
in retraining or converting their skills in order
to equip themselves to continue their career.
There is also the problem of expense: if a wouldbe
student does not yet have refugee status, she
would be required to pay overseas students’ fees
- way beyond most women’s pockets. Even with
status, she must fulfil the three years’ residency
requirement before being eligible for grants and
student loans on an equal footing with home
students. As do men, women like Fatima often
turn their energies to voluntary work within the
community.
Many women have arrived in the UK with no
qualifications at all, but even those with skills have
been prepared to undertake the kind of menial
work - cleaning or low paid work in service
industries - that Somali men reject. But the feeling
of being at the bottom of society is not only
generated by the workplace, but by experience in
society at large. After Ruqia’s contribution came an
extract written by Ayan Farah:
When I came to Europe, it was a cold period,
Snow and ice everywhere,
I was very cold….
Two day [sic] after arriving I tried to go out….
I had nowhere to go, no one to speak to.
I took the bus to an address I knew
I asked an elderly lady if she knew the place I
was looking for.
She gave me a dirty look, and replied, ‘Don’t
ask me, ask the bus driver. I’m scared of you!’
The bus was full of people.
An old man said, ‘Why have these refugees
come to our country?’
I was embarrassed.
Everyone was staring at me, as if ‘refugee’ was
written all over my face…. 132
Racism is experienced by both women and men,
but the feeling of isolation with which this extract
opens is high on the list of women’s problems,
60 The Somali community in the UK