My journey from Bristol to Neepawa (Manitoba)

By Cabdi Jaamac

Submitted and target Neepawa, the small town where Margaret Laurence was born in 1927, where her grandparents, who were originally from Scotland and Ireland, used to live. Margaret’s father was born in Neepawa.

Margaret Laurence can be considered one of the greatest writers in Canadian history. Seventy-two years ago, Margaret Laurence, along with her husband Jack Laurence, went to Somaliland, which was ruled then by Great Britain. Jack Laurence was an engineer who won a contract from the British Empire to dig 40 dams for the people of Somaliland, who were mostly nomads. The plan was to have rain water fill the dams in the spring and rainy season so the people and their livestock could drink from it later. This became an opportunity for Margaret Laurence, who presented her talent in writing in Somaliland. She wrote her first book in Somaliland after seeing the gift that God gave to the people with words and poetry, which has a far-reaching meaning. There’s not many nations in the world that can claim that.

Margaret Laurence presented her first book “A Tree for Poverty”. The title is derived from is a passage from Abokor Awad Beelle’s poem, who had exchanged many poems with another poet from Hargaysa called Laf-ambe. In those poems, they exchanged different ideas. The book “A Tree for Poverty” was the first Laurence she published as Margaret Laurence. Tens of books followed, including short stories and novels, all of which she wrote after she returned to her home in Canada. In the end, she wrote her memories from Somaliland in another book she named “A Prophet’s Camel Bell” which she published in 1967.

On Wednesday, August 31, 2022, me, Mohamed Osman Robleh and Mohamed Mataan left in the early morning from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Both Mohameds and I agreed to leave Winnipeg at 7 a.m.

We have arrived Neepawa at 9:40 a.m., which was little bit earlier than the time that our hosts were expecting us at the house that Margaret was born in, which is a museum now.

We had coffee and tea at a coffee shop, not far from the Margaret Laurence House and spent a short time waiting for the appointment. After our drinks, we headed to Margaret Laurence’s house, where Mr. Blair Chapman, who is the chairman of the committee that manages the Margaret Laurence Museum, and Brenda Ferguson, who is one of the museum staff, were waiting for us.

After a short greeting, we went inside and went room-by-room into the Margaret Laurence house, where we saw many interesting things that we did not know about Margaret Laurence. Also, we took some memorable pictures.

We presented Blair and Brenda gifts we brought from Somaliland, which included Hangool, Gorof, Fandhaal, Kebed, Kabo Jaangadri and other tools that our ancestors used in their daily life, back in the time that when their life depended on something, they peeled it from a tree or harvested from their livestock.

The journey that took Margaret Laurence and her husband Jack Laurence to Somaliland was a long journey, from Canada to England to Cairo by flight. Then, there was no direct flight from Cairo to Hargeisa, or any other city in Somaliland. So, they had to take a ship from Cairo to Berbera. Margaret Laurence named it “The Innocent Journey” and said so in a chapter of her book Prophet’s Camel Bell.

So, the main question is ‘why did Margaret Laurence, and her husband came to Somaliland?’ That is an important question which deserves a correct and sufficient answer. The people of Somaliland who, were nomads, have lived for centuries without water and with water scarcity. It’s the biggest tragedy that has befallen those people for as long as history remembers. Water was always far away, scarce and previously transported by camels and now by tanker trucks (Booyado).

So, for Somalilanders today and 72 years ago, when Margaret and Jack arrived in our land, the major problem is water. There was some brief time in the mid-70s, that Siyad Barre with the help of the Chinese government made it possible for almost every house in Hargeisa to have water. Even that effort was limited to Hargeisa only. So, why is there no one who produces enough water for the rural and urban areas of Somaliland after that? Margaret Laurence attempted to answer that and said in her book Prophet’s Camel Bell that the main reason why the people of Somaliland and their livestock are thirsty is because their land is not productive. But Margaret Laurence did not know that the people they left 72 years ago are still dying of thirst, even those who live in the capital of Hargeisa. The capital they knew with a population of 50,000 people in 1972 is now 1.5 million. In my opinion, the answer is not as Margaret Laurence thought. The real reason that the people of Somaliland have been thirsty for 72 years is because of the stubborn minds of those who rule, those people who call themselves politicians. They are the real problem. They are the group who don’t have a solution for the problems that are facing the people and they are the ones who aren’t listening, even if somebody offers free advice.

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