Drought in Somali Folklore

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

A column (“Kolumni”) by Dr. Georgi Kapchits, first published in “Afrikan Sarvi / Horn of Africa Journal”, No. 1/2012, issued by Suomen Somalia-verkosto ry (Finnish Somalia Network).

‘From where rain was expected dust has come’, said one of the Somali ancestors, first looking at the pale sky and then at the herd of camels which he had just brought from the half empty Well of the Last Hope. ‘A she-camel which has not drunk water for thirty days will endure three days more’, answered his brother, trying to soothe him. ‘But what shall I do with them’, asked he, pointing at his sheep and goats which were hiding themselves under the tree from the hot rays of the Sun at its zenith. ‘A drought is coming’, uttered the first one.

The Country of Poets and Pirates

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

In May 2009 the Voice of Russia observer Georgi Kapchits returned from Somalia where he served as an interpreter and consultant for a Russian television crew. He visited numerous parts of this formerly integrated country, met with political leaders and cabinet members, as well as fishermen, pirates, city residents and rural villagers.

In recent years, the fractured nation-state of Somalia, which occupies a vast territory on the Horn of Africa, has become notorious for the scandalous activities of local pirates who have captured dozens of trade vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, then received millions of dollars in ransom money to relinquish the cargo ships and their crews. The amounts of money received by such marauders and their collaborators sometimes exceed the annual operating budgets of the current governments of Somaliland, Puntland and a shrunken “Somalia.”

Essays on Kapchits.Online

Drought in Somali Folklore

The Country of Poets and Pirates