*Siyaasiyow……*

*Where are you leading us?*

*Somalia, Lament thy destination.*

Am I on auto-repeat? For I fear every other week or so I am forewarning of an impending doom or expressing a public outcry of some injustices done in the name of politics.

When will it change?

Our elected leaders, are you listening?

What’s worrying and downright scary is that when spoken to individually these people are reasonable and most importantly genuinely want to help rebuild and repair and develop the land for the betterment of society. However, I do wonder: Is it great acting or is there such a thing as group mania which. overpowers and diminishes individual thoughts and opinions when with colleagues? Perhaps it’s a bit of both.

Year in year out the same problems plague us.

The story stays the same, only the players may change.

Whatever happened to the love, loyalty and defense of our land?

Have all the patriots gone with the past? Or has decades of endless unrest and unease

dampened our spirits and extinguished our light?

When did everyone become so lackadaisical in their attitudes towards the greater interests of the land and its people?

The actions taken today will have repercussion tomorrow.

If we do not safeguard and treasure our land, someone else will. And we will lose our country.

Those of you reading this, shaking your heads in disagreement and think this is nothing but fearmongering speech, I say to you, “wake up”. Many of the world’s superpowers have their hands and puppets in our government. It doesn’t take a genius to guess the inner machinations at play. We’ve already seen evidence of backroom deals brought forward and prettied up to be forced down our throats in the name of collaboration and unity.

Please, do not doom us into an inescapable future.

Wake up, and see the bigger picture. Don’t think this is a problem for tomorrow or for the next generation. It’s happening now.

Whenever I bemoan on the current affairs of my beloved homeland, my daughter, after giving a thoroughly exasperated sigh says to me: “Why do you care so much? Aren’t you tired of constantly seeing and saying the same things? No one takes heed anyway, so just forget about it and leave them to their fate. Let them reap what they sow”.

Though deeply harrowing, I don’t think she’s alone in her sentiment. Many people feel this way; that they are powerless or that our land is doomed to its fate. So they give up because it’s easier. Less taxing.

The work we do here is not menat to be easy. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again for it bears reiterating, this is not for the faint of heart. You won’t see immediate results and there’s no instant gratification.

•But YOU ARE NOT doing this for a measly pat on the back.

•You are doing this for the love, loyalty and defense of your nation.

•You are doing this for future generations.

•You are doing this for the ones unable to do it themselves:

The POWERLESS,

The VOICELESS,

The DISENFRANCHISED,

The DESTITUTE.

And the ones lacking mental PERCEPTION.

•You are doing this for the misguided many who are blinded by greed and self-aggrandizement.

•You are doing this for you.

Regardless of your true reasons, you carry a heavy weight on your shoulders but I am here with you. Together we can lighten the load and In Shaa ALLAAH we will succeed.

We ask ALLAAH to keep us United on the Xaqq.

Amiin Yaa RABB.

Nuurun calaa Nuur.

A Patriot’s Lament by Yasmin Ahmed.