Somalilandsun- Hargeisa , Somaliland – It is a family tradition that a child always returns to the motherland and visits his ancestors, but I can’t go too far to trace my forefathers.
I am African male born in Northern England at Liverpool’s Women’s Hospital in the late 1990’s; however I grew up in Southern England in the notorious city known as the capital London. Always from a young age, my father would remind me that one day you will become a man and return to your great grandfather’s land in East Africa (Somaliland). On my 18th birthday , I received a call from my father to prepare myself for the traditional visit back to the motherland.
My grandfather, my father and I were all born under the British crown, from Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Aden colony to Liverpool’s Women’s Hospital. I’d say that I don’t call any other place home apart from England; however I must respect my father’s wishes and take this journey with him.
On the 25th April 2015 , I met with my father at London Heathrow airport precisely at around 5pm. I was very nervous because this was my first time ever going on a plane but my father reassured me that it would be a moment to remember. As we were going through immigration security checks we were told to return all of our hand luggage that contained creams, shampoos and all liquids containers. Finally at 9pm we boarded the plane heading to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and I sat by the seat closest to the window getting a live and direct view of the plane taking off, I must admit I was a bit nervous when the plane started shaking but once again my father reassured me telling me that it’s just the plane taking off from the ground. I can’t explain the feeling I had inside once the plane went above the clouds, it was almost as if all the stress that had built up inside me for the past eighteen years had left my body and I was ready for the journey ahead.
We landed in Ethiopia at 6am and waited to board the next plane to Hargeisa at this point I was already extremely tired. Finally as we were going through boarding I was stopped by an employee at Ethiopia airlines who had already previously checked my passport, at this point I thought something had gone wrong but the member of staff was a big Liverpool fan and since he saw my place of birth on my passport we shared a few jokes and he changed our seats to first class which was a happy moment for me. During our journey from Addis Ababa to Hargeisa the airhostess brought me and my father 2 glasses of orange juice, unfortunately at that time we had encountered quite a bit of turbulence which in my case was the worst scenario as all the juice had spilt all over me. Luckily for me my father still had one of his suit cases with him which had a spare shirt in, lastly with my father’s baggy shirt on we had arrived in Hargeisa greeted by the sun and the hot air my journey had finally begun.
Khalid Koreye
