I relate to you so much. I’m also Somali but I consider myself more American because i was born and grew up here. I got shamed so much for not being able to speak Somali and not hanging around with other Somali kids. That has also made me hate the people and the culture. Don’t get me wrong I still don’t think fondly of the Somali community but it’s still apart of me and the feeling of being connected to my culture makes it worth it. You don’t gotta get married or follow any expectations or even learn the language. Trust yourself with learning about your identity, don’t let anyone tell you how to do that. I don’t really like Somalia, they got problems to fix, but that’s just my opinion.
Ofc I’m still connected to it cuz it’s something I was exposed to since I was young. I’m slowly getting back into it but every time something happens I just go back to hating our community. Honestly it’s a like-hate situation. It doesn’t help that my mom forces me to go to functions and I hate socializing in the first place. Idk maybe it’s not meant to be. I’ll probably change my mindset in the future but it’s nice to meet a fellow Somali who understands
yea ofc!
I was born and grew up here in America so I consider myself more of an American than Somali. I lost touch in my culture and language and I used to get teased a lot because of it. I was never in a group with Somalis. Our likes and dislikes were a lot. I just sat with the people who share the same vibes as me. We always used to watch anime, kpop, rock, and even manga. I felt so comfortable there. And then one day the Somalis that I stopped hanging out with started a rumor that I was saying the boy in the friend group I was in and that made me feel very alone. The boy was in a relationship with someone else so I sat away from them to make the rumors stop. The time was really dark for me as I can’t deal with loneliness at all. Fast forward to now I found Somali friends who share the same interests as me and who are just like me in general. My main problem is how I have to speak Somali with the aunties and uncles that come over to my house and my parents cuz they always make fun of me saying how am I gon get married if I can’t speak Somali. All this bullying made me drop any interest of learning the culture or anything on my own. I even began to hate the country and I hope I never go there.