Africa is the Land of Wide Empty Spaces

Written in English by Asmaa Jama

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After Binyavanga Wainaina

the sand has never been red where i am from

noone has glanced at rii and been reminded of the dayax

crescent or hide    bore holes aren’t called bore holes     they are just ceelal       we are creating

worlds when we make tawaf waxaan abuurayna aduunyo markaan dawaafno

people lose their religiosity the same way they lose teeth    with some pain but they’re glad to be over with it

we don’t pray on top of corpses   corpses aren’t corpses    bodies – sure , but we do not make them in (elegant) , we don’t make death masks

ma qaylino (waan qayliyaa)

we don’t obsess over death , we don’t wail (i wail) our burials are (mostly silent)

they just are:

My grandfather well the sand swallowed him , it was shockingly not-red

awoowgay ciida lagu aasay

which was a shock to noone , i hoped it would flip orientalist

ciida ma guduudanin, dartiisa ma isku dhaawac’in

momentarily , that the sand would also wound itself for him , to mark his passing ciida ma guduudanin, dartiisa ma isku dhaawac’in

dhibic roob ma da’in roobo oo nimco ah

it didn’t even rain , rain as blessings

how i longed to be there to bury him in nimco , a plastic water bottle on , his gravesite   not grave , just land that , for a moment , was a site and then wasn’t

(portion not for the white gaze)

plastic is sacred too, in a place where things are not meant to last it was like you weren’t there at all

ugu yaraan caag aan kugu aaso

let me bury you at least with plastic , to be made treasure

to be stolen , to be placed in a museum

oo dalkeeno ku celino
later for some descendant to come across it , and take it back home , plastic and mechanisms of colonization as wayfinding

as path making , as conversation or fluke creating

as your eyes a whole swallowed star
sida indhahaaga xiddig dhan oo la laqay

white as canvas before i destroy it white as white as

dhuuxee dhasha geela (this is the sight the elders sob to) , there are no oldworlds to return to , only new ones we swallow

Published December 4, 2020
© Asmaa Jama, 2020

Afrika waa dhulka fidsan oo banaan

Written in English by Asmaa Jama


Translated into Somali by by Asmaa Jama and Faduma Farah

Kadib Binyavanga Wainaina

camudda weligeed ma casaan meeshaan ka imid

qofna ma eegin ri oo ka xasuusiye dayax

dashay   godadkay dhaheen waa godad

waa uun ceelal waxaan abuurayna aduunyo markaan dawaafno

dadkanu waxay lumiyaan wadaadnimada sida ilka ka dhacay , waa dhawac oo mar uun ka dhammanayo

kama barakaysano meydkeena , meydkana meyd ma ahan , waa dadkeenii tagay oo uma baroorano (waan baroortaa)

aaskeenu waa: (aamusnaan)
waa uun

awoowgay, ciidaa liqday mana u guduudanin dartiisna isku ma dhaawcin mana dakhramin

dhibic roob ma da’in roobo oo nimco ah haa iloobin

ma ka soo harin calaamad inuu cirka feyday , sidaan u rabay inaa joogo aaskaagi , nimco kugu aaso

caag biyihii barakaysnaa aan qabrigaaga saaro

qabri , aan qabur ahayn , kaliya dhul

mar goob ahaa ka dibna ahayn

(qaybta qurbaha)

balaastiguna waa muqadis, meel waxba baaqi ahayn haday waxba kaa harin, maba joogteen?

ugu yaraan caag aan kugu aaso ha noqoto hantidaada , oo la xado, , madxafka la meeleeyo

hadhow, warasadaadu garato , oo dalkeena ku celiso , blaastik iyo farsamooyinkii gumaysiga noqday marin helin

iyo waddo helid , iyo wada hadal iyo biti abuure , iyo indhahaaga xiddig dhan oo la laqay

cadaanti shiraac intaan burburin cadaanti

dhuuxa dhasha geela (aragtidaan duqiyaashi ka qaransiiya) ma jiraan aduunyidii hore oo lagu soo noqdo  keliya kuwa cusub ee aanu laqno

Published December 4, 2020
© Asmaa Jama and Faduma Farah, 2020

Afrika ni Uwanda Mpana Usiokuwa na Kitu

Written in English by Asmaa Jama


Translated into Swahili by Kimani Njogu

Baada ya Binyavanga Wainaina

mchanga haujawahi kuwa mwekundu nilikotoka

hakuna aliyetazama mbuzi na akakumbuka mwezi 

halali au jifiche   visima haviitwi visima

vinaitwa visima tu   unaunda dunia tunapoandaa tawaf

watu hupoteza dini yao kama wapotezavyo meno yao   wanapata uchungu lakini wanafurahi kuachana nayo

hatuabudu juu ya maiti   maiti si maiti  miili – ndio

lakini hatuifanyi isi(pendeze),  hatutengenezi barakoa za kifo

hatupigi mayowe (ninapiga mayowe) 

hatuhangaishwi na kifo   hatupigi mayowe (napiga mayowe)   mazishi yetu ni

(zaidi ni ya kimya) 

wao ni tu: 

babu yangu mchanga ulimmeza   ilishangaza haukuwa mwekundu  

na haikumshangaza yeyote 

haikumshangaza yeyote   nilitamani ingegeuka matlai

mchanga haukugeuka kuwa mwekundu kwa ajili yake, haukujifunga kwa ajili yake 

kwa muda mfupi   kwamba mchanga ungejifunga kwa ajili yake 

kuashiria kupita kwake, mchanga haukupata wekundu kwa ajili yake  haukujifunga kwa ajili yake  haukujifunga kwa ajili yake

manyunyu ya mvua hayakuanguka   hakukunyesha   mvua kama baraka

nilitamani sana kuwa hapo kumzika katika nimco chupa ya maji ya plastiki   katika kaburi yake   si kaburi   ni ardhi ambayo

kwa muda   ilikuwa makao na halafu haikuwa  

(sehemu hii si ya Wazungu) 

plastiki pia ni takatifu  katika mahali vitu havitarajiwi kudumu   ni kama 

hukuwepo kamwe

acha nikuzike angalau na plastiki  ufanywe hazina

ya kuibwa   ya kuwekwa kwenye makumbusho

na baadaye vizazi vijavyo viione   na kuirudishwa nchini mwetu            

plastiki na michakato ya ukoloni kama utafutaji njia

kama utengenezaji njia   kama mazungumzo   au utengenezaji zumari

kama macho yako ni nyota iliyomezwa 

nyeupe kama turubai
kabla sijaiharibu  nyeupe kama nyeupe kama

uboho wa ngamia aliyejifungua   (huu ndio upeo unaowaliza wazee) 

hakuna ardhi ya awali ya kurejelea  ila ardhi mpya tunazozimeza

Published December 4, 2020
© Asmaa Jama, 2020
© Kimani Njogu, 2020


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Africa is the Land of Wide Empty Spaces is one of the five texts shortlisted for “To Speak Europe in Different Languages: Hybrid and Collective Writing Competition.” The prize, which was awarded during Babel Festival 2020 in Bellinzona, Switzerland, went to Desta Haile for her York to Teheran. (More on the prize and the winner.)
Africa is the Land of Wide Empty Spaces was written as part of a project called Camel Meat and Cassette Tapes, an intergenerational project with the Somali elders of Bristol. During this project, myself, Ayan Cilmi and Fozia Ismail, collaborated with the elders to learn more about the cassette tapes the diaspora used to use to keep in touch with family members back home.
As we co-created more with them, it became clear that the elders were of course themselves and human and fallible, but also represented whole archives of knowings that stretched beyond themselves.
This text I wrote in response to that, is about us, the Somali diaspora living in the UK, the orality of Somalis, and the gaps that we are faced with as we try and connect, with each, older generations, those back ‘home’ and the intangible sense of ‘homeland’. The theme of archives emerged after we worked within those colonial institutions.
It is written in both English and Somali. Some of the portions in Somali are quotes or words and phrases that stuck with me from interviews with the elders we worked with. It is also, in two different dialects of Somali, both those spoken in Somaliland, and the one spoken in Somalia. As translator in the project, watching the elders reach across dialects + languages was humbling. We made meaning and found ways to understand each other, utilising the internet or bringing in physical examples.
Thanks to Fozia Ismail, Ayan Cilmi and the Somali elders of Bristol. And special thanks to Arnolfini, where this project was commissioned for Camel Meat and Cassette Tapes.
– Asmaa Jama


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