As Salam Alaikum, people. Maimuna Jibril here. I am a 36-year-old Somali Muslim woman living in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. Recently, something amazing happened. A remarkable man came into my life, a beautiful young man from the island of Haiti, and I'm honestly falling in love with him. His name is Stefano Saint-Mathieu, and we met on the OC Transpo bus that I ride every morning from downtown Ottawa to the university campus where I work as a cleaner.
Stefano Saint-Mathieu and I come from different worlds, but we've actually fallen in love. No one was more surprised about this than yours truly, seriously. I never thought I'd love another human being after losing my husband Ali and my daughter Amina to the tribal warfare afflicting my homeland of Somalia. Stefano came into my life, quite unexpectedly, and he's been an injection of energy and passion into my otherwise dreary existence. I can't get enough of this marvelous young Haitian stud, that's for damn sure.
Stefano is tall, dark and handsome, and works as a security guard at an office in downtown Ottawa. He also studies at the university campus where I work as a cleaner. We were destined to meet one day, that's what I'm honestly starting to believe. Stefano makes me feel alive and cared for like no man before. Did you know that I've never actually received flowers in my entire life? The other day, Stefano had flowers delivered to me at my place in Vanier. How awesome is that?
You've got to understand that, as a woman born and raised in Somalia, an Islamic country, there are things which women in Judeo-Christian, democratic and Western-style nations take for granted which women like me can only dream about. In Somalia, marriages are arranged according to the wishes of the Elders of the Clan in which a young Somali, male or female, was born. You don't get to pick and choose. It's up to your clan elders, and the men of your family. That's the fate of women in places like Somalia, Djibouti, Somaliland and Puntland.