August 11, 2008

British Childhood Memories of Somaliland – Part IV and last By Hugh Milne

Trip to Burao, Sheikh Pass and Berbera: Because my Father’s work made it necessary for him to visit all parts of the country, we often had the opportunity to go with him.

I remember one trip to Barao I got hold of a mule and rode off into the bush until it occurred to me that the mule and I would be a tasty meal for a pride of lions. We both hastened home. Our best trip was to Berbera.The trip down the incredible road that wound its way down the Sheik Pass is etched into my memory. This narrow dusty road clung to the steep escarpment side defying gravity in places, as it wound back and forth down to the hot dry plains below. These desolate plains only supported the occasional Somali nomad and his herd of camels. The road followed a pipeline in places. This pipe provided water to Berbera. You can imagine how hot the water was when it got there!

This part of the Somali coast had an interesting history. Arab slave traders used to buy slaves here. Quite often they would pay for them with glass beads made in Venice in the 16th Century. These beads were handed down from mother to daughter over the generations and my Father bought some and gave them to my Mother. She wore them well into her nineties. We also came across Arab Pearl Traders and bought several pearls including one large baroque specimen my Mother kept in her trinket box for many years. In my twenties I became enamoured with a girl and had ambitions of marriage, so Mother gave the pearl which I had made into a ring and presented it to my bride to be. The relationship did not work out, but Kirsten still has the ring to this day.

Milne’s father Horace Milne holding a fish he caught in the North Nile District of Uganda around 1940.

Berbera, how we loved that place. The Government Residency was a large two storey building made of stone. A large veranda ran along the front supported by huge stone columns which went on to support the flat castellated roof. It looked like fort out of the Arabian Nights. It was situated along the foreshore and had a beautiful view of the sea. The official bathroom was worthy of note. It sported a huge concrete bath. We used to fill it up overnight and allow the water to cool after its long trip across the coastal plains. The daytime temperature was hot to extreme so we would pop in and out of the bath all day. We shared the Residency with a family of Baboons who were only just able to tolerate our presence. They were very well behaved and lived on the veranda and left the rest of the house to us.

The highlight of our stay was our many visits to the Arab Dhows which were pulled up on the beach opposite the Residency for repair. While at school in Kenya, our Christmas holidays were often spent on the coast around Mombasa. Arab Dhows would pass to and fro close to shore on their trading trips. At Berbera, we got to see these graceful vessels close up. The crews seem to be happy to welcome two little white kids aboard and generously offered us a puff on the Hookah.

Milne’s mother, Marjorie, who ran Ruth Hospital & Radio Hargeisa.

I don’t remember if we tried it but we were fascinated by the hubble bubble noises that came out of it . It seemed to be on the go all the time and was available to each of the crew for a puff as they passed. We were fascinated by the toilet facilities which consisted of a plank off the stern with a hole cut in it. A certain amount of balance and concentration would be needed in a heavy sea!!!

Inland from Berbera was a small experimental crop farm overseen by the Agricultural Department. All crops were irrigated and the place was a little green spot in the middle of a barren landscape. However it did demonstrate that given the right conditions, the land could be productive. Generally speaking the Somalis at that time were not farmers, preferring a nomadic existence.

It is very difficult for me to visualise Hargeisa today. What I get from the Search Engines, describes a place that did not exist in the time of my boyhood.

I did love my time in your country and hope your people have at least some happy memories of White Occupation. I think there was a genuine wish to help the people even though we may have been a bit clumsy about it. If you have some websites you can put me onto I would like to further delve into modern Somaliland history.

Hugh Milne in the verenda of his house Claybasket at Mooloolaba, Australia with an unidentified woman, 2007.