Diaspora

The Reason Behind the Erroneous Assumption that Somalis are Caucasian

As a young Somali high school student, I was once referred to as a “black Caucasian”. I had never heard that term before, so it puzzled me. That day, I was told that I didn’t possess the characteristics required to be a “real African,”. After that encounter, I began learning about what it meant to […]

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The Beautiful People of Mogadishu

In September 2021, my mother and I got the opportunity to visit Mogadishu, the White Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was my first visit to Somalia’s capital city since I was born and raised abroad. But my mother was no stranger to the city of hope. Her first trip was in the 1970s, and […]

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The Gravedigger's Wife

What The Gravedigger’s Wife Win Means For Somali Film Future

The Gravedigger’s Wife won the grand prize at the prestigious Pan-African Film Festival, FESPACO, in Burkina Faso. The 27th FESPACO edition, delayed this year because of the pandemic, celebrates every two years films produced largely in Africa by Africans. The Gravedigger’s Wife, written and directed by Khadar Ahmed, a Finno-Somali, was awarded the FESPACO Gold […]

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Canadian School Renamed After Hodan Nalayeh

The Vaughan Secondary School was renamed Hodan Nalayeh Secondary School last week after the York Region District School Board trustees voted 10-2 in favour. Hodan Nalayeh was a Somali-Canadian media executive, a community activist, and an entrepreneur who had lost her life in the Asasey Hotel Attack in Kismayo, Somalia, in 2019. Among several other […]

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Somali Centre Deemed Not Black Enough: Canadian Government

Abdirizak Karod and Mohamoud Hagi-Aden, founders of the Somali Centre for Family Services in Ottawa were stunned to learn they were deemed not Black enough after their application for a government-funded program was rejected. Leaders of a Somali organization in Ottawa say their relationship with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) was severely damaged after […]

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