Skip to main content
search

And in the marketplace, when someone asks, “Who knows the true meaning of naam ?” the answer is always the same:

“This,” she said, tapping the notebook, “is my weapon against forgetting. Every time a language loses a word, it loses a way of seeing the world. If we forget dhayal , we forget that Somalis believe even animals have a soul’s sorrow.”

“Go home, Shabana,” he muttered. “And keep your words.”

“But in 1972,” Shabana said, dipping a pen into an inkpot to show her notebook, “we chose the Latin alphabet. Overnight, the spoken word learned to walk on paper. Our name— Afsomali —finally had a permanent shadow.”

UIPM Confederations

Shabana Afsomali - Naam

And in the marketplace, when someone asks, “Who knows the true meaning of naam ?” the answer is always the same:

“This,” she said, tapping the notebook, “is my weapon against forgetting. Every time a language loses a word, it loses a way of seeing the world. If we forget dhayal , we forget that Somalis believe even animals have a soul’s sorrow.” naam shabana afsomali

“Go home, Shabana,” he muttered. “And keep your words.” And in the marketplace, when someone asks, “Who

“But in 1972,” Shabana said, dipping a pen into an inkpot to show her notebook, “we chose the Latin alphabet. Overnight, the spoken word learned to walk on paper. Our name— Afsomali —finally had a permanent shadow.” And in the marketplace