Huna Jambo?

I used to dream about what Africa would look like the first time I saw it. I expected to see giraffe heads sticking out of the rainforest canopy, monkeys swinging on vines. It wasn't anything like that. It was disappointing. It was dark. The runway wasn't on level ground. All the airport ceiling tile were missing. It was hot.

Eleven Somalis arrived in 56572 fresh from Kenya last evening to join family. It was -7F (-22C) on West Mill early this morning when they woke up to see the light of a brisk December day in the middle of North America.

I wonder what they are thinking?

Tomorrow we might make it back above freezing.

Stay in survival mode for a while.

If you are with family in the Library (how about that Maasai Warrior Princess portrait up on the wall?) trying to warm up and get some online news from Mogadishu, Mombasa or Nairobi, read this. Today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. It's why our flags are halfway down today. Our local regional newspaper, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, took this article off the Associated Press newswire and printed in in today's issue:

Somali town orders prayer or beheadings

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an Islamic courts official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days. Public places such as shops and tea houses in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town’s Islamic court. Those who do not follow this edict “will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law,” Rage told The Associated Press by phone. “As Muslims, we should practice Islam fully, not in part, and that is what our religion enjoins us to do.”

Whether or not you want to pray is up to you from now on.
A warm welcome.
Wear something on your head.
Just to keep it warm.
Jambo.
Sijambo?