Authors launch book on Somalia

The book cover

Somalia has since 1994 been considered as the problem child of Africa because the country has never known peace since the exit of Siad Barre from power, an eventuality that plunged the horn of Africa nation into lawlessness that persists to date.
However, in recent months, the discourse on Somalia has changed dramatically, with positive news coming from the land that has achieved notoriety on account of its pirates who wangled billions of dollars from shipping lines and governments in ransoms for captured ships and crew.
Only a few weeks ago, world leaders met to discuss the fate of Somalia while Turkey in particular, has been keen to use soft diplomacy to lure the country back into the fold of the community of nations.
Somalis have not been left behind in this discourse and in recent months, they have produced films celebrating peace in Mogadishu while its painters have hosted exhibitions on peace and rejuvenation of their country even as AMISOM soldiers fight with al-Shabaab militias for control of the country.
Now, a new book of photographic images has been published to celebrate the landscape of a country that has been raped by war and wanton destruction of the environment in the pursuit of quick gains from charcoal export which has left the land bare as Somalia exports its black jewels to Arab countries. But more importantly, the book raises awareness about some of the good things that are happening in Somalia and which are yet to find space in the international media which is paying more attention to the pirates and terror groups that control swathes of the vast country and its ocean.
The book by Fatima Jibrell and James Lindsay was launched at the Goethe Institut in Nairobi on Tuesday evening to a packed hall and amid tight security following recent explosive attacks in the city that left at least one person dead and tens injured.
Peace and Milk, Scenes on Northern Somalia, was, according to James, who was at the launch, meant to create a positive image about Somalia to the rest of the world. But it also chronicled the days he and Fatima spent traversing northern Somalia, sometimes in searing heat. More importantly, it makes a case for cooking using solar energy which is both cheaper than wood and charcoal but could also turn out to be more economically viable on a large scale if, as James put it, Somalia can learn to trade the energy savings for carbon credits from the world's leading polluters.
The book, which is available in Nairobi at Bookstop, Yaya Centre, costs Sh1,500 (about $18) and has an accompanying DVD on the adverse effects of the multi-million shilling trade in charcoal on the fragile environment of the largely desert country.
The book has a sub-title derived from the way of greeting of the Somali people; Nabad Iyo Caano, which loosely means, peace and milk, apparently the commodities with the highest currency in Somalia, where many of the people keep livestock, including camel and goats. According to the authors, when Somalis meet, they ask each other: "Ma nabad baa?" (Is there peace) and the usual answer is likely to be "Nabad iyo Caano" (Peace and Milk)

One of the authors at the book signing at Goethe Institut, Nairobi, on Tuesday.