Said Awlaqi
The wilderness has never known anyone like Hamed Jameh Hussein, a lifelong friend, both old and new, and until his last sighs.. The walker, as they call him.. Walker, because he loved walking, and because walking was the most beloved quality to his heart: I will take you.. he would say to me.. And we will walk the streets of Crater, length and breadth, the day I was able to walk! From the Red Sea to Lane Al-Askar near Al-Eidaroos.. And he scared me once when he said: We will climb the cisterns.. And once: We will climb Mount Seera and its castle to see the oldest ports in history.. And he scared me more when he suggested that we visit the Mahalak Al-Fars at the outskirts of Crater.. So our friend Saleh Al-Azani saved us with a promise that we would ride in his Cressida, a promise that was not fulfilled.. How we breathed in the dust of Aden’s alleys and edges.. And inhaled its Adeni incense on Thursday nights.. And broke bottles in Al-Lail Street before the king’s Hamed death!
Hamed Jama Hussein (photo from the author’s archive)Hamed Jameh Hussein (Photo from the author’s archive)
Hamed Jama Omar is from the beautiful bohemianism and indifference.. Would anyone believe that this man does not carry keys to the doors of his house? His house was a guest house for any visitor from the closest and most distant friends.. And the door of his house was always open.. Literally open, not metaphorically.. He did not lock it behind him.. And he did not own anything in it that he would fear for.. And Hamed does not save money.. He does not carry it with him, as if he is hostile to it: If you bring me money, it makes me ask myself what I will do with it, and it embarrasses me in front of myself!
All the neighbors are his loved ones, and all people are his friends.. But Dr. Abdulrahman Abdullah Ibrahim was the first.. The first first.. And if I tried to list the names of the rest of his friends, the pages of a book would not suffice.
They beat you, Hamed?! They beat you really hard! They don’t have mercy? These people don’t understand dialogue.. Huh? They beat you?
Hamed was bedridden in the hospital.. His body is full
Dr. Abdullah Abdul Rahman Ibrahim (photo from the author’s page)
with bruises.. and some swelling.. and his breathing was cut off! He did not find an answer to the great professor Abdullah Abdul Razzaq Badhib, Secretary of the Salafi Marxist Youth Party, who was visiting Hamed in the hospital to check on his condition.. His companion Dr. Abdul Rahman was also harmed.. They were 3 men that women would not give birth to again.. This happened in the early seventies of the last century.
When Badhib took over the Ministry of Education, and during his time a massive student demonstration took place in protest against the conditions.. The demonstration was subjected to police suppression.. Even Minister Badhib was forced out of his Peugeot car by the police.. I think he was dismissed from the ministry if memory serves me right.. to wait for a period of time during which his party and the Baath Party led by Anis Hassan Yahya allied with the National Front, to form an unfair alliance what was called the Unified Political Organization of the National Front.. And Badhib returned to power to establish the first Ministry of Culture! The alliance came about after a dialogue that Salem Rabie Ali (Salemin) described as the longest dialogue in history in the smallest country!
But Hamed, as well as Dr. Abdul Rahman, preferred to distance themselves from power and its leaders. They resigned from the youth party. They saw themselves as belonging to the people, all the people, and not to any power, a Che Guevara-like tendency, it seems. Therefore, Hamed threw himself with all his strength into translating Fidel Castro’s book about the Cuban revolution’s experience, which built itself to the tunes of music.
Abdullah Badib (social media platforms)Abdullah Badib (Social Media)
Perhaps Hamed was a dreamer.. Indeed, he really is.. And he is more ascetic than all the monks of creation! He remembers the story of his Adeni neighbor who Hamed asked: Do you remember, my dear, the day the National Front occupied Crater? The neighbor replied: How can I forget that black day when they stole my sheep?!
Hamed Jama Hussein speaks English better than anyone except his brother Saeed Jama who excels at it.. Said Jama is a political opponent of the ruling regime in Somalia. He lives in a house in Bakhor Maksar like other leaders of the liberation movements. Before unification, the regime had exhausted its purpose with him.. And they asked him to vacate his house and hand it over.. Said is from Aden, he studied and graduated there.. But he complied and handed over his house, and lived with his large family in the same house with Hamed! When he asked for a passport and ID card, they denied him.. So he decided to leave.. He obtained a Somali passport, and was immediately granted one, along with a visa to Britain for his entire family. He holds a prestigious position in a respected research center, and his children are educated in the best schools.. He asked Hamed to join him there, but he replied: I am from Aden.. I was born there and I will die there! Never, never! Hamed could not bear to leave Aden.. Not even Crater.. He lived through all its wars inside it, and suffered its hardships with us and with its honorable people who loved him and whom he loved!
He laughs a lot when he remembers the description of an elderly Somali during the days of British colonialism, and says: What is this? Colonization? What is colonialism? If you saw an Amharic.. By God, a Frangi is a pilgrim! Meaning that the British colonization here was a blessing for you! By God, if you saw the Abyssinian Amhara colonization of part of Somaliland.. you would consider the Frangi a pious pilgrim!
Oh Hamed, oh dear walker, I wish people were like you, and like Dr. Abdulrahman, and like Abdullah Badib, for women are stingy with giving birth to people like you.
Source: Al-Nidaa Newspaper .