Thomas Deacon & Abbie Wightwick
‘It’s a blessing to have two countries – I can say I have Wales and all its traditions and culture but I have that as a Somali as well’
Fahima Omer (Image: Mark Lewis)
Fahima Omer speaks English, Welsh and Somali. She wears a hijab and black Converse trainers.
She’s 21 and from Grangetown in Cardiff and kind of from Hargeisa in Somaliland as well, even though they shout at her in English when she goes there because somehow they instinctively know.
Her mum and dad and sister fled the civil war in their homeland in the 1980s but she was born and bred in the Welsh capital.
And yet there’s no contradiction or conflict in any of her complex, continent-and-culture-spanning identity and family. She’s 100% Welsh Somali.
She’s the inheritor of a thriving tradition that has been evolving and developing ever since the first Somali seaman landed in Wales when Queen Victoria was on the throne, life expectancy was only 45 years, and Cardiff wasn’t even a city – never mind a capital.
“It’s a blessing to have two countries,” said the former Willows High and St David’s College student.
“I can say I have Wales and all its traditions and culture but I have that as a Somali as well. In a way there are similarities between the countries.
“People say ‘Where are you from?’ and I always give two countries. Home is Cardiff, Wales, but also Hargeisa in Somaliland. But I feel more at home here because I have been here my whole life.”
More than a century after the first of her family’s countrymen and women first arrived in the docks of Wales’ capital in the 1880s the Somali community in Cardiff has grown to number in the thousands and become part of the city’s own identity.
Around 10,000 Somalis currently live in Cardiff, according to latest figures from the International Organisation for Migration, making it one of the largest populations in the UK.
Many of them today are young and they grow up in diverse areas without experiencing some of the racism their parents were subjected to.
They grow up happy to be not just Welsh and Somali but belonging to a community that has its own identity forged over decades.
Her friend and fellow third-year Cardiff University student Sara Kalinleh, 20, whose family has been in Cardiff for four generations, said: “As a kid I thought nothing of being Welsh and Somali.
“It’s funny because when you go abroad no one knows where Wales is or what Somaliland is so I am always explaining where I am from.
“I have so many family here. Maybe that makes me feel more grounded.
“My great-grandfather came before any of the rest of us in the early 20th century and had kids. I am fourth generation but some of the younger generation in my family moved here from Somaliland as adults.
“I have so many family here. Maybe that makes me feel more grounded.”
Sara, who went to Fitzalan High School, said: “I think being in the big community here we do discuss the fact that we are Welsh and Somali too a lot.
“It is fun having two countries. I have been trying to explain our culture to English friends at university. They don’t understand what a Welsh Somali is – but it’s what we are.”
Sara Kalinleh (Image: Mark Lewis)
Fahima added: “Perhaps people understand themselves and their identity through the landscape?
“I feel at home when I see the hills around Cardiff and I say this is home – but I am also from Somaliland.
“I’ve only been to Somaliland twice for summer holidays when I was seven and 11 but it does feel like home too and I’m going again this summer.
“It was funny when I was there because when I was walking in the market in Somaliland people at the stalls grabbed me saying ‘Buy, buy, buy’ in English.
“I don’t know how they knew I am not from there but they just knew. I wasn’t even speaking. Maybe it was the way I walk and the way I am?
“I am studying English Literature and I’m doing an essay about culture and landscape and identity so I’ve been thinking about that and how I feel at home here.
“I have friends here who are English Somali students and they don’t understand.
“They wonder why there are signs with two languages for everything. But that’s normal for me.
“I think it is easier being Welsh Somali – they don’t identify as English Somali. There is a distinct Welsh culture and that helps.”
Fellow Welsh Somali Nasra Ahmed, 19, whose family were born in Somalia, believes feeling proud of your family’s heritage is a very Cardiff thing.
She said: “I feel like because Cardiff, from what I see in Riverside and the Docks area, the multicultural areas, everyone is so proud of where they are from so it’s only right to say I’m proud of where I come from.
“And even when the media portrays my country in like a bad light I can say we’re not all like that so I have to just stick to my roots.
“I’m proud of being Somali and Welsh and I like that combination.
“I say I’m Welsh, from Cardiff – it’s better than saying I’m English.”
Nasra Ahmed (Image: Rob Browne)
With Somali-born grandparents on her mum’s side and a half-Welsh half-Maltese grandmother on her dad’s side, Nasra has never doubted her own identity.
She said: “Growing up I was always proud of being Somali, I was never embarrassed. Because I went to Kitchener Primary school where there was Bengalis, Pakistanis, whites, everyone just got along, there was nothing like that so everyone just got on.
“I felt very welcomed [and] I love screaming that I’m from Cardiff. Because Cardiff is not seen as a big city but now it’s like it’s getting there.”
A member of an older generation, Ahmed Hassan, 36, had a different reaction when he first started high school. One of only a few Somalis at Willows High School, he was subjected to racist abuse.
He said: “I went to Willows High school and there was probably only about 12 Somalis there then.
“They used to call me a Paki. It did affect my education. There were fights all the time and I was taught not to ever start on anyone.
“It was worse in year seven and it did get better after that.
“Thankfully I’ve never had a real problem with racism but with my youth work a lot of them come to me with these issues.
“I find it difficult to talk to them and to be real with them about it – I try and give them little doses to not knock them too much.”
For Ahmed, a change in the community’s identity came after the balance between the generations began to change.
He said: “It was different back then [when I was younger] because there were a lot more senior members of the community than younger people.
“There was a massive over-40s presence and not so much a young presence. We were spoilt a lot more then.
“Back then we were more Welsh than Somali I think. But when more Somalis started coming over, when the men would bring their wives and families and people fled the war, it started to change.
“People would go to the mosque more and start speaking the language more – you would have more of an identity.”
As with any community, there are often stark differences between generations – and for some young Somalis the struggle with identity can cause issues.
Ahmed said: “I would say that there is a fracture between the generations. And the reason is that we Somali, we are Welsh and we are Muslims and we all have ways of doing things.
“And the country that we are part of has values that are different. So what happens is things rub off on you, so you do have young people going out and drinking and sometimes the elders don’t understand.
“You have experimenting of course and sometimes it is just a phase and the elders may not see always that there is time for them (young people) to turn back.”
Like many minorities, the Somali community in Cardiff face being stereotyped – something Nasra said she tries to combat.
She said: “I feel like when someone relates to Somaliland/Somalia they just think about the pirates and al-Shabab and the terrorist groups but obviously they don’t represent our religion.
“Because more time it’s not down to the fact they are Somalis it’s about the religion aspect of it, so we’re just trying to get across the message that being a Muslim is a peaceful thing. We don’t like the violence.
“If someone tries to talk to me I try to educate them as much as I can.”
Source: WalesOnline