5 Generations of My Family in the UK

5 GENERATIONS OF MY FAMILY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

By Mohamed Duale

My family has lived in the UK for five generations, and I am the third generation. In 1908, Dualeh Mohamed became the first person to settle in Cardiff.

Dualeh Mohamed, my grandfather, was a unique individual with conflicting traits. On one aspect, he was a distinguished war veteran of both great wars (1st & 2nd World War) who risked his life for our freedom here in the UK. On the other hand, he championed a nonviolent anticolonial campaign against the same colonial powers, which led to him becoming a formidable civil rights and political activist. In the early 1920s, my grandfather met and fell in love with a beautiful Christian mixed-race widow with Irish and Brazilian descendent. On August 24, 1924, they had their wedding in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. In addition to her already existing son Mosses Hassan from a previous marriage, my grandmother, Prudence Roberts Dawdy from County Dawn in Northern Ireland, and Dualeh Aftaag were blessed with two boys, Abraham, and Yusuf T Mohamed.

Due to Dualeh Aftaag’s leadership and the establishment of several non-governmental organizations including the British Somali Society, the United Somali Party, and the UK branch of the Somali Youth League, which were responsible for Somalia’s independence, Dualeh came to be known as the father of Somali politics in the UK. In the middle of the 20th century, he also closely collaborated with African Americans leaders like Paul Robeson and W.E.B. De Bios. He consequently became a concern for UK national security. As a direct result, he was branded as a communist collaborator and subject of national security in the UK. However, this rural Somalian man’s meagre resources, aspirations to travel abroad, autodidactic education, and unwavering willpower enabled him to play a significant role in the liberation of his country. His life experiences— from the arid and hostile deserts of Northern Somalia to the humiliations of colonial rule, the bigotry he encountered in Cardiff, and the struggle to restore his nation via shrewd and tenacious political campaigning—defined his viewpoint. After reading a poem titled, I Am Born Today on the day of the flag-raising more than fifty years later “Somali’s Independence Day”. Eventually in mid-June in 1960 Dualeh along with his two sons moved to Somalia, who he had nurtured them in Cardiff.

It is crucial to note that Abraham Dualeh, my father, and Dualeh’s second child, enlisted into the military and contributed to the defence of the UK by fighting in the Second World War and unfortunately an 8-month of being a Prisoner of War under Hitler. Derrick Hassan, Dualeh’s grandson, also became the first black police officer in the Welsh police force. After years of relentless political engagement and giving up 50 years of his life, my grandfather ultimately succeeded in achieving his goal of Somalia becoming an independent republic from the British Colony in 1960. Dualeh Aftaag earnestly wished for his son to wed a strong, beautiful Somali woman, so he and my grandfather returned to Somalia together. The fact that my father identified as a black Welshman who could speak English, Welsh, and a little bit of other European languages (French and German) without being able to speak Somali, and that my mother, Ebado Adan Ali Istahil, was a Somali native in every possible way—culturally and linguistically. My mother was one of the nicest, kindest, strongest, and most familyoriented soulmates that my father has ever met. Without a doubt, she was my greatest inspiration and role model. God, please have mercy on my parents, both. Even though they are no longer here, we will always cherish their memories.

Four boys and three girls were among the seven children my parents were blessed with. We left Mogadishu, Somalia for Britain to be with our father just before the central government of Somalia disintegrated in 1990. To achieve one of my life goals, which was to be a highly educated person, I started learning English as soon as I moved to Cardiff. I enrolled to universities when I become proficient in English and eventually graduated with a Chemical Engineering undergraduate degree, master’s degree in computing, and PGCE. https://mojatu.com/2022/12/07/5generations-of-my-family-in-theunited-kingdom/