Mohamed Issa, a radio technician who emigrated from Mogadishu (Somalia) ten years ago has found refuge in Kenya. He works at a local FM radio station where he doubles up as a studio technician and a computer engineer. His biggest wish is to one day go back to his home country.

 
By Kassim Mohamed      
    
The 33-year-old father of 14 children is described by his workmates as hardworking and ever jovial. During broadcast Mohamed firmly locks the door behind him. He is in charge of the technical aspect of a three-hour mid-morning show.
 
“A few rules: you have to be silent all the time when the microphone is on because I will have to listen to what my presenter is saying so that I know what will come next. You can however ask me what you want to know when we get a commercial break,” clarifies Mohamed as he pushes up the microphone fader.
He carefully reads the copy of the script in front of him and keeps an eye on the female presenter in the opposite booth separated by a glass.
 
Giving back
“I wish this was a radio station in my country Somalia. And since we are talking to Somalis I wish it was in Mogadishu, my home city where I grew up as a young boy. I wish there could be peace so that we can practice whatever we learnt and give back to our society,” says Mohamed after the show.
 
Mohamed came to Kenya ten years ago and got married to his second wife in Garissa, the provincial headquarter of North Eastern Kenya which has a big Somali community. Mohamed says he vividly remembers how just before the civil war in 1991 he used to go to school and sing the Somali national anthem.
 
Singing in school
“I swear to God when I think about those songs we used to sing in school and the anthem, it feels like the past is coming alive again. In those moments, I feel like somebody who’s not living in the present, with all the difficulties we’re facing right now. It’s that dream and hope that keeps my spirits high.”
 
But then, Mohamed breaks down in tears. In a very emotional voice, he accuses the politicians whom he says are leading his country in the wrong direction.
 
“Sometimes when I go home, my kids tell me that a Somali man was looking for me, instead of saying that an uncle was looking for me. That means they don’t consider themselves as Somalis but Kenyans. I don’t want that to happen.”
 
One country, 5 nations
Mohamed believes the situation in his country will get back to normal in the next 50 years. Not as one state though, but as a country divided in 5 or 6 different nations each with their own flag.