Marrying across Somalia's caste lines

milesdavis · (#1 (**permalink**))

Sahal and Zamzam had been seeing each other secretly for five years but neither ever really believed their romantic dream would end in marriage.
"We were very different - in lifestyle, in thinking, in tastes," said Sahal, who runs a big electronics shop in Mogadishu's main Bakara Market and who comes from a prominent family of merchants.
In contrast, Zamzam's father has died and her mother sells the popular stimulant khat.
"Yet we fell in love, we expected the heavens to fall when my parents would come to know of our affair, we expected the worst and were prepared for the worst," Salal says.

After centuries of deep divisions, cross caste weddings like Sahal and Zamzam's are now becoming more common.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6168807.stm

defyfear · (#2 (**permalink**))

Is caste in this case different from tribal reasons that we read about?

Both seem to be about marginalization in community life.

LadyDay · (#3 (**permalink**))

i thought caste was an asian thing especially indian

East_African · (#4 (**permalink**))

Some minorities look no different to the ethnic somalia, but apparently their ancestors did something hundreds of years, "like eating a dead bird", and they where supposedly cursed till this day.Whilst other minorities have distinct features and history which seperated them from the main somali tribes.