Preview

Khat: Ethiopia and Somali Youth

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
428 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Khat: Ethiopia and Somali Youth
Khat is a green-leaved plant grown predominantly in the Horn of Africa, and consumed in the diaspora by emigrants from the region – Ethiopians, Kenyans, Yemenis and most notably Somalis – who report a mild, amphetamine-like high. Khat is legal in the UK, as are mafrishes, but spirited campaigns to outlaw it on health and social grounds have been galvanised in the past year by claims that terror cells are operating wherever khat is chewed, and that al-Shabaab is focusing its recruitment efforts on disenfranchised Somali youth with khat-addled minds. CNN said that reporters have been attacked while trying to enter mafrishes; the Huffington Post said that it had been advised not even to attempt access. A reporter with Vice magazine said he tried khat, washed it down with beer, and "got all hyper and threw a chair".

My sources were less certain of the dangers. "The most radical thing I've ever seen at a mafrish is a group of old men watching porn on the telly," said one anthropologist. And apprehension dissipates rapidly in Peckham, despite a finger jabbed into my chest on the street outside, accompanied by the question: "What are you?" Hastily abandoning a flimsy cover story, I admit that I am a reporter with this magazine. My interlocutor appears baffled. "But what football team are you?" he says.

I tell him, he rolls his eyes, grabs me by the forearm and hauls me inside. During the next month visiting mafrishes in south London, I will be scorned often for being a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. Issues of my nationality (British), ethnicity (white) and profession (journalist) pass without comment. No one attempts to recruit me to al-Shabaab.

According to most recent figures, there are close to 110,000 Somalis in the UK, around 35 per cent of whom admit to consuming khat on a regular basis. Although some women indulge in the home or with female friends, khat chewing is most commonly regarded as a male pastime, particularly in the mafrishes, which are frequently

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    |You are an investigative reporter on a celebrity magazine. You have been asked to discover all that you can about the development |…

    • 866 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ju Hoansi Research Paper

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Ju/’hoansi from Southern Africa, subsist as the most documented community by means of where and how they obtain a variation of subsistences (Golden 103). Furthermore, the Ju/’hoansi hunt and gather near their campsites, which reside next to a watering hole (Golden 104). The Ju/’hoansi women can recognize about more than one hundred edible plants for the reason that they operate the gathering. In fact, the Ju/’hoansi women cannot hunt because other Ju/’hoansi natives would consider a women hunting as deviant. On the other hand, the Batek, have an egalitarian system where the women can freely choose to hunt or gather food (Endicott 76). Mongongo, a nut, that has a long shelf life and known as the most important part of Ju/’hoansi’s diet (Golden…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Helen Jewett Murder

    • 1582 Words
    • 7 Pages

    As the Jewett murder story gained greater popularity in the penny press, the more traditional papers found themselves struggling to equalize their sense of journalistic against the drama that had become the talk of the town. “The Evening Post of June 8, for example, called it ‘disgusting’ and ‘disagreeable,’ covering it only to satisfy a ‘public excitement.’ (Cohen 26)” This became outrageous when the collapse to discern involved a wanton disrespect for human life, which ended up leading to manslaughter. Killing is immoral. Some people are afraid to read about murder because they are afraid of blood and guts, but others think it was interesting and uncommon like to discuss about in the…

    • 1582 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diversity refers to the state of fact of being diverse, different, or unlike. In a way that means that everyone is extraordinary, unique, and different. That all of us have talents, gifts, abilities, and experiences that offers us with our own important messages to share. Diversity can also refer to a state in which different and often conflicting views, ideas, items, or objects are accommodated within one system. It is the acceptance and respect for the differecences that different people possesss. I feel that I am diverse just by how I feel and think about things. I noticed that I have different and, sometimes, conflicting points of view with other people, but I am okay with that. Being diverse isn't bad. I can also say I am diverse in how live my life. My way of living my life is different from many others and other's lives are different from everyone else as well. That is diversity it's culture, religion, and ways of thinking. There are many different kinds and they all should learn to coincide with each other.…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Island of Dr. Moreau

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During the Victorian age, the streets of London were clothed with fear. The people were cautious and hesitant to walk the streets at night. This was the time when the infamous Jack the Ripper was preying on helpless victims. Much like the small bunny in The Island of Dr. Moreau, a vulnerable woman could have been easily torn apart just seconds from her home. The people of this time lived double lives. They pretended to be of high-society and refrained from all degenerate things when people were watching, but when the lights went out they would secretly indulge in there “guilty pleasures” – whether they be homosexuality or ripping their neighbors and animals bodies apart for science. Like the creations in the book, the people of this time pretended to do what was expected of them and lead the lives everyone thought they did; however, once they tasted blood, they couldn’t stop.…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    concerns in 1950”, says the article. This association is assumed to be from the media presented to our…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Between the 7th and 10th cent., immigrant Muslim Arabs and Persians established trading posts along Somalia's Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean coasts; Mogadishu began its existence as a trading station. During the 15th and 16th cent., Somali warriors regularly joined the armies of the Muslim sultanates in their battles with Christian Ethiopia.…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Somalia Research Paper

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Somalia is a nation in eastern Africa. It is situated on the coast of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, along the projection land known as the Horn of Africa. The region was famed in ancient times for its frankincense and myrrh, fragrant substances derived from trees. Modern Somalia came into being in 1960, with the union of the former colonies of British and Italian Somaliland.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today’s society, it has become clear that the general public has become obsessed with obtaining every bit of information that becomes available, despite whether or not it is associated with yourself. A good means of obtaining information is through the public media, which in itself has several branches such as celebrity media, sports media and so on. One can argue that media serves an extremely important role by informing the public on a large scale, but in contrast, it is also easily argued that media can act as bacteria, infecting viewers with un-needed information which could be considered dangerous in some cases. Natural Born Killers is the most effective film at exposing the ironic relationship between media and it’s attentive viewers.…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Genocide In Somalia

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The precursor to the al-Shabaab was the Al-Ittihad Al-Islami, or “Unity of Islam.” This Salafi extremist group wanted to return to early Islam, and they took control of Somali in the 1990s. They even got some of their funds and guns from al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. Furthermore, the group started to become divided in 2003 after the old guard wanted to create a new political front, while the younger members longed for the creation of a “Greater Somalia.” This prompted the devoted ones to join forces with Sharia Courts, creating the Islamic Courts Union. They were the youth militia and they battled the al-Shabaab in 2006 for control of the capital, Mogadishu. The Christian nation, Ethiopia, was…

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Misfit - Analysis

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “This story from 1953 frighteningly tells the male frustration that has been exposed increasingly during the last decade in the US and Western Europe”. Being an outsider has always lead to violent behaviours, but not to the great extent that Western societies are experiencing at the moment. Today the media tells of a large amount of awful murders, and whether the motif we are informed of, in the slaughters we witness in the TV news, is revenge, money or some psychotic kick, we are left with the same question; why did it ever come this far? It is a rising problem in the western world, in the matter of people left out of society, and feeling themselves as misfits. This trouble has often led to these violent behaviours, regarding the misfits causing of harm to themselves or others. This is also the case in the text at hand.…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I was on a long road trip this summer. I was having a wonderful time listening to the amazing Will Hobbs’s "Downriver." It documents some juvenile delinquents going on a white water rafting trip down the most dangerous Colorado River. It was filled with stories of bravery and overcoming fears of extreme sports. I need a break for awhile from the voice speaking at me, I need the radio. I turned it on, and there it was: Yosemite Valley, Dean Potter, 43-year-old white man, fell to his death, trying wingsuit fly. This extremity, this danger has been going on for centuries. It could have been family. It could have been a friend. It could have been a classmate.…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Growing Up In Ethiopia

    • 575 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Growing up in Ethiopia, a third world country where opportunities come few and far between, medicine, law, and engineering are all at the forefront of these limited opportunities and overly frequented options for college students. At an early age, I uncovered my love for helping others, but to my parents’ surprise my passion was for helping my girlfriends put outfits together or helping them shop for clothes, not helping an ill person regain their health in a white coat. As I began to mature, so did my taste and understanding of the fashion industry. After relocating to America, I learned that the industry is much more than raveling in the season’s latest designs or playing dress up. The industry requires a keen understanding of the various aspects of business. From an in depth knowledge of marketing necessary to efficiently publish magazines to the attention to detail and micro management required to produce the runways shows, or the macro management experience that’s a must in order to oversee a styling company. I was astonished and even more so motivated by the business empires that are household names across the world, including the numerous fashion companies, and intrigued like never before by what takes place behind the scenes to build them from the ground up. I soon fell into the expansive world of business head first when I took an introduction class to business as a freshman in high school, in addition to a quantitative literature class to provide me with the bases for understanding the math involved, as well a college level Introduction to Business course during my senior year at a nearby community college.…

    • 575 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Burkeman, O. (2012). This column will change your life: Morbid curiosities. Retrieved November, 12, 2012, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/27/morbid-curiosity-change-life-burkeman…

    • 1936 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Criminal Justice System

    • 2002 Words
    • 9 Pages

    This allegation sent fear and anxiety throughout the Baulkham Hills region and police had encouraged all individuals to remain cautious and recommended for individuals to refrain from travelling alone at night. This example highlights the way in which the public responds to media reporting on crime and illustrates the possible fear and moral panic that can be caused amongst citizens who are at risk for repeated crime offences as victims. According to ABC News (2013), following a widespread investigation, the police have now established that the teenage girls statement was fictitious. As a result of this conclusion, the Commander of the Sex Crime Squad, Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec has been able to inform the public of his relief, where he says, “relieved for the fact I can tell many parents and young people in the Hills District that it is safe to walk around there” (ABC News, 2013). This specific example is pertinent to the anxious way in which the public responds to the media’s reporting on crime. It is important to note that the mass media plays a vital role in the construction of criminality and the criminal justice system and directly influences the behaviour of most individuals (Kidd-Hewitt,…

    • 2002 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays