Jan 29, 2013 ... friends have faced a difficult life, a life full of fear, threat, chills and neglect, a life
of hopelessness where none of them knew where their next.
The neglected genius: Sorrowful nights Plight of the Somaliland street children It was on 29 January 2013 during the winter season at the middle of Hargeysa city. It is the season when the cold and the dew usually become good neighbors! His home is the wall of the regional police centre; his beddings are empty cartons of coast milk. He covers himself with a piece of tattered cloth as a blanket. He is not disturbed by the traffic noise or movement of the people, his ears are used to this noise as they became like a lullaby to him whenever he wants to sleep. Winter is the season of the year that he can never forget, because this is the time he gets lot of friends some from different species e.g. dogs and monkeys which give him company unlike the other seasons. The person described above is none other than Mursal Yare, one of the street children of Hargeisa city whose main accommodation is south canal behind the fence of Sheikh Bashir School and the wall of the Regional Police centre in central Hargeisa. Though his real name is Mursal he likes to be called dheg-
jar, a nick name he has acquired during his street life which he is more comfortable with than his real name. He is of medium height; his skin complexion is very dark. Signs of neglect are evident on him. Mursal doesn‟t know his real age or his exact date of birth, though he appears pale and signs of sluggish growth are apparent on him, he doesn‟t seem to be older than 10 years. Mursal knows very little about his origin or the history of his life. The only thing he knows is that he and other 21 children were in an orphanage Center in Hargeisa city which was closed in the year 2010 due to financial difficulties. The administrator of the center, Mr. Hassan, one day announced to all the children of the centre that, they cannot continue running the centre due to economic reasons. He had therefore appealed to all the relatives and the parents of the children in the centre to take their children, while he gave Mursal and 9 others whose parents were not known, each one a bed sheet 1
and asked them to go the city and take care of themselves! Afterwards Mursal and his friends have faced a difficult life, a life full of fear, threat, chills and neglect, a life of hopelessness where none of them knew where their next meal will come from. But it appeared to them their main worry was accommodation more than food. Munir who seemed eldest of the 9 children had proposed to them to spend the night near the fence of the central police which he has chosen for security reasons. When they reached the Central Station Yard they met 4 other street boys who seemed older than them and busy sniffing something they didn‟t know from a soft plastic bottles which they came to know later that it was filled with glue. Mursal and his friends didn‟t encounter any problem from their new friends since they outnumbered them. Munir the eldest of the 9 children squatted while the other eight boys quickly scrambled to sit on the ground leaning on the wall of the police station,
however, they didn‟t discuss what to sleep on. Munir who was the team leader now, said in consoling and encouraging tone „my friends cover you with your bed sheets and sleep on the ground” Mursal has described that night (his first night) as the beginning of the life full of loneliness, misery and with no support. Though the last meal they had was the breakfast they ate at their centre in the morning, none of them complained of hunger due to difficulties they encountered in their first night. Mursal and his friends now realized that the day and night are the same as each one carried for them the same misfortunes. As usual, at sun rise as people started going for their business, Mursal was still sleeping he heard the voice of Muneer telling them to wake up and look for sustenance but since none of them had an idea where there next meal will come from in this big city, they all sat down stared each other . Mursal asked his friend Munir why did our teacher chase us away from the centre to this hard life. Muneer, while justifying the teacher's action replied „our teacher was not wrong he had nothing to give us‟ While still worried about the bleak future and the hard life before them, Mursal again asked Muneer “why didn‟t our
teacher let us sleep in the hall at night while we look for food during the day in the town?” Mursal replied if the teacher had money to pay for the rent, he would have allowed us, but he had no money. Finally, Muneer reminded his friend „‟we are so many we can‟t go together so let me go to the town and get us some food. Upon hearing this, Mursal requested to accompany his friend and Muneer agreed. The sun was already up and the movements of the vehicles and people were increasing every minute. Streets and roads we filled with people all rushing to their different places of work and business. Mursal and his friend had never witnessed such population rushing in different directions. It was survival for the fittest and everybody for himself and God for us all. When we asked Mursal, how he can get out of this difficult lifestyle he replied, “I can overcome this difficulty if I get out of the current situation and get education" While he was also speaking on the reason as to why they sniff glue he said, "perhaps glue is the only escape we have from this harsh existencece, but it sometimes makes us hate life even more”. From his reasoning, Mursal is genius and bright boy full of aspiration but un-
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fortunately he didn‟t get a chance to basic rights of life. He has now completed 1001 nights in the streets with no single happiness. He was throughout subjected to abuses such as imprisonment, beatings, forced labor, harassment, threats and humiliation. Over and above all these problems, Mursal is also facing another problem that is giving him stress and psychological trauma, that is the question about the whereabouts of his parents and his lineage that some of the community members like to him all the time, questions he hates to be asked since he knows nothing about them . All the human beings in this world are the children of prophet Adam (PBUH) and every human being is born by two parents and Mursal is not any different, he is born by a father and a mother. He didn‟t meet anyone to tell him about his two parents, family or tribe for that matter .These questions have actually traumatized him and he feels discriminated by the community. It is surprising that a child who is already facing all these problems is constantly asked about matters his mind cannot comprehend at all or insulted or shamed for something he knows nothing about.
Yes, the Somali culture and customs did not grant him the justice, equality and freedom he deserved. He has encountered a lot of problems for matters he is innocent about. He did not choose this difficult life; if he lost his parents then he is failed by this government (state) and his people. Therefore Mursal is Genus boy who didn‟t get a
shoulder to lean on. This problem is not limited to Mursal only but in every city there are hundreds of children in the streets. These children are the most unfortunate people in the community. The street children are subjected to all sorts of abuses, violations and in recent years streets Girls have also
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joined them. These children get no help from the community but they are mistreated and harassed just like the stray dogs or even worse. The government has not shown any efforts to collect children from the streets and give them their basic rights. In conclusion, can we say Somaliland is the punishment of children!?
