Mother Tongue - Aisha Handule

“I remember as a child, as young as 10, my dad would have me sit next to him and send emails to his brothers back home. He would have me sit there at the computer desk, (mainly because I was better at technology than him considering I was obsessed with computers) but that aside, I truly think the main reason behind it was to actually get me to learn the Somali language. He would say the message he would want to send out loud and he would have me type it in Somali, standing behind me and constantly correcting me whenever I made a mistake. The first few months, it took at least half an hour to write a paragraph with my constant errors, but he was there, patiently correcting my mistakes till I could differentiate between my long and short vowels. I am so grateful for that, because this has helped me so much now, especially contacting my relatives that I haven’t met in overseas and others who added me on Facebook, making it so much easier for me to actually communicate and have a mutual understanding. They are usually so impressed, saying how it’s amazing someone who has been taken to a western country at the age of two can be so aware and know how to speak and write Somali so well; little do they know the constant nagging and pressuring it took me to actually understand the Somali language from my father as child. Eight years later, and my dad still makes me write long text messages or emails he wants to send to relatives overseas, and we both joke about him just being lazy about it now by making me do it, since he doesn’t need to teach me it anymore. But it’s the least I could do for him for being so patient with me. I’m nowhere near where I want to be, as I tend to have tender and sudden realizations that I cannot sometimes speak my mother tongue. It’s kind of sad that you can forget how to say a simple word in Somali, but say it so easily in English. We betray our mother tongues, for the languages of nations who will never fully accept us. “Naa Somali ku hadal” will forever be the most used phrase in my household, but man I will be forever grateful for that! “- Aisha Handule