Al Shabab Influence on Somali Youth Living in The West

It is a known fact that the number of Somali communities living in Europe, North America and Australia is rising as people are still pouring in. We have found that the average Somali household comprises seven children of whom 2-3 are adolescents and three are teenagers.  This shows the number of Somali children is comparatively larger than those of other nationalities.

We have also noticed that more than 90% of the parents are uneducated and it is difficult for them to adjust to the life in their host countries while they find raising children in such alien atmosphere as a daunting issue. Besides, most of the women who form the foundation of these families do not work and rely on social welfare for their living.

Children education

Quranic schools are the preferred schooling by most of these parents for their children. Children are taken to Quranic schools during the weekend, while others take daily Quran lessons after school hours. A closer look as to why parents prefer to send their children to Quranic schools shows that parents have a great fear of their children taking the culture of their host countries and they believe that by teaching them Quran they could protect them from adopting other cultures. Some parents also warn their child against interacting with the infidels (non-Muslims) due to their fear of the children adopting what they assume is a bad culture. Some parents with strong Islamic belief also repeatedly urge other parents who don’t send their children to Quranic schools to do so.

A number of parents we talked to who preferred not to tell their names said that they are not always successful in winning over the children particularly when they become teenagers. At that age they said children start to rebel and slowly distance themselves from the parents grip until all understanding and communication is lost between the children and parents.

Some parents even transport their children to Islamic countries such as Syria, Sudan and Egypt to give them an Islamic upbringing and away from the western cultures that they abhor. Others even send their children back to Somalia. But some parents confessed that sending their children to Syria and Egypt didn’t help, saying these countries have almost western cultures as well. All they got  is economic disaster and family separation.

Education

As most of the parents are uneducated they cannot follow up their children’s education and they cannot help them in their school assignments. Realizing this, the children, particularly as they grow older, develop a negative attitude and start being argumentative, accusing their parents of not being educated and not knowing the language.

The contradiction between the school syllabus and the traditional learning systems on which the Somalis force their children at home has also confused the children, making many of them to drop out from school and lose interest with the Quranic school as well. Unfortunately many parents are not even aware of their children’s problems as they try to cope with their own issues. Mostly unemployed, men are seen congregating in coffee shops or chewing Kat in Kat social gatherings, while women are usually seen at money transfer companies, glued to their mobile phones and competing with the each other on how much money they send o their relatives back home.

The only interaction the parents have with their kids is when they take them to the Quranic School and we have noticed that children like the Quranic schools when they are very young because it is the only place they can meet other children, particularly after school. This deprives the children of having any free time to do whatever they please. But the parents begin to realize their mistake only after the child becomes a teenager and starts to rebel and refuse to go to the Quranic School.  Worried about this new development, the parents try to force the kids to go to the Quranic school. When the mother gets fed up, she seeks the help of the father who for his turn adds insult to injury by shouting at the children.  The children, however, stick to their guns and refuse to listen to what they see as the parents’ nagging orders. Here starts a war between the children and parents. This tug of war leads the kids to fail in school and once they drop out of school they slip into the sub-culture of drugs and gangsters.  And most of the time this is a one way road and the children find it very difficult to get out of it.

It is also worth to mention that there are few parents who have succeeded in giving their children the best of both worlds; teaching them Quran on one side and at the same time giving them the necessary support and guidance to succeed in school.

Dangerous cultures

As we mentioned above that parents guard their children against integrating in the cultures of their host countries such as UK, U.S. Canada, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Australia, but the question is do they also protect their children from the influences of extremist organizations such as Al Qaeda and Al Shabab? The answer is no because most these parents do not have the education and the cultural awareness needed to guard their children against such dangerous ideologies. They assume that talking about the extremism in Islam is tantamount to blasphemy or confusing the children. So they start escaping from the children’s curious questions by telling them to stay away from indulging in such thoughts.

Likewise, government funded community organizations avoid to discuss these issues and they don’t make any efforts to educate the Somali youth. Also the governments are oblivious to the conditions of the Somali families and the situation of their children. Hence, finding themselves between a hammer and a hard place, the youth lose direction and embark on actions that are harmful to their life and to the security of the society as a whole.

Extremism

It is obvious that what is happening in Mogadishu has a great impact on the Somali communities in the west. People are divided between those who support the Islamist fighters in Southern Somalia and those who are against them. And this has a negative impact on the youth and made their thinking more muddled.

There have been reports about Somali youth who went to Mogadishu to take part in the war alongside the extremists and it goes without saying that many others will follow suit if measures are not taken to prevent such youth exodus to join extremist organizations. It is therefore important that all the sectors of the community (the educated people, parents, community organizations and the government) have to make a concerted effort to know the thinking of the youth and to educate them against taking such a dangerous turn.

Conclusion

The issue needs a lot of research to understand the root cause of the youth’s problems in order to find an informed solution that prevents the youth from heeding the false allures of the extremism.

Awdalpress, therefore, raises the alarm against this danger and urges the security authorities, community organizations and governments to watch closely the conditions of the Somali families and to give them necessary help to rescue their children from falling into the trap of extremism.

By Ahmedweli Goth -  UK

Email: shueebi@hotmail.com