The Good Wife in Somaliland

Thank you for the beautifully written work and a glimpse into such life.

Where is the rest of the article? Would love to hear more---what did the women think of the young man's (to my ears) inane advice? What was said about sex? What did they say about women continuing their careers after marriage? What were some experiences and motivations that some different students brought to this class? Great article, made me curious, would like to read the longer article now.

Where is the class for "The Good Husband of Somaliland?" and why isn't the Aid Parade funding it? Many parts of Somalia practice the most brutal form of FGM in the entire world. There is no point in women taking a class on how to be good wives if the husbands won't take a class on how to be decent husbands. Make classes for "Good Husbands" a thing in Africa, and stop believing that classes for "good wives" is a sign of development.

Are the dates of her and her father's migration correct? She was 4 but her father had been in the UK already for years? So he went back, married someone, left his wife there and went back to the UK?

Further proof of Muslim women wanting and knowing that the Western way of life is a better way of life. And for this lucky Nadifa, having been brought up in the West, she is now the envy of her peers, with or without her hijab.

Fascinating. Another way of life. Hargeisa must be quite a city, what a history.

As somebody once said, where is the beef?

Interesting article and I'm glad I read it.

That said, it just made me sad.

Sad for the women there, sad for the restrictions on their lives, the oppression, the hardship.

This paragraph got me the most, "In front of him, the dim room was a sea of black: black abayas, head scarves, niqabs, gloves. I stood out there in my gaudy prints and sheer hijab. (In Somaliland, that item is nonnegotiable.)"

The Muslim world used to be so advance, hundreds of years ago, when did they start to wrong? Why?

Why do we still have societies that force women down, by rights, by liberties, by dress? Where are their modern leaders who will make changes? Will they ever, or will the majority of Muslim countries continue to lag behind in all areas?

Saudi Arabia is only wealthy because of the oil. That's coming to an end. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, all hundreds of years behind. Even Turkey seems to be taking long steps backward recently. Iraq is non functioning, they can't even get their men to properly fight in a military. Syria is all but gone forever. Yemen is in the seventh century, they're still riding camels.

Young men from Muslim countries desert their families then flood Europe with their backwards culture and create more problems for modern society.

Good article but one takeaway: If we are going to give billions in aid to these countries, we must INSIST that they make social changes, or no money. They move forward, they treat women fairly, or they collapse. Their choice.

Nadifa Mohamed's article is reminiscent of two world views-the birth place nostalgia and the reality of cultural up bringing of a foreign culture. The author eloquently, sheds a light the ever evolving Somali culture and the struggle of those born or grew up in the west to fit in -the particulars of marriage, modernity and the religiosity. I frequently travel back to Somaliland, and every time I go back, I see things that surprise me. When it comes to Somali literature, and cultural evolution, Hargeisa is dubbed as the Mother of Somali Literature. Therefore, I would say Nadifa's curiosity, may lead to more inquisitive interest of Hargeisa's ever evolving culture.

The only few women that are independent are like Edna Adan, President wife and few other pretty much famous women in the country. And maybe any woman that left the country for atleast once. So sad that when someone like in Nadifa situation finds out they have to entirely take in a culture and no other option.

Nice Article!