I know that I will receive endless condemnations for writing this. Especially from my fellow Muslims in the Ontario region of Canada. However, I must tell my truth and live my life. My name is Siman Labaan. I was born in the town of Bur Salah in the Mudug Region of Somaliland. My father Muhammad Qadir was of Saudi Arabian descent and my mother Aziza Labaan was pure Somali. Sadly, they're no longer with us. They died during a particularly bloody conflict in Somaliland during the 1990s. I won't go into many details but Americans are partly to blame. Fortunately, I was adapted by my uncle Asad Labaan and brought to the City of Ottawa, Ontario, where I grew up. My uncle and I are no longer on speaking terms, and you will soon discover why. When a woman develops a mind of her own, it's seen as a bad thing by some in the Somalian Muslim community. Too bad.
The Somali people are among the most conservative on the Planet Earth. Some of the elders of my clan are almost as conservative as the Saudi people. Living in Canada hasn't changed us much. Many of us stick to the Old Ways, even when we live in places with names like Ottawa, Edmonton, Toronto, Calgary, Hamilton, Halifax, Montreal and Quebec City. For the most part we live in the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Nova Scotia. Yet we don't seem to fit in anywhere. Our Muslim faith and conservative views put us at odds with more liberal-minded Black immigrants from places like the Republic of Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, Congo and the Republic of South Africa. We try our best to blend in but we hang onto our faith and our culture. You'll see countless Somali women walking around with the hijab. Some even wear the niqab. I've chosen to wear neither. Not because I feel that they oppress women or because I'm ashamed of my culture but it's a personal choice.
I grew up in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, as I mentioned before. The Capital of Canada seems like a friendly, welcoming town until you start living there. The people of Ottawa are among the most bigoted that I've ever seen. They claim to welcome minorities but they constantly remind us that we don't belong. It doesn't matter if you're Black, Asian, Hispanic or Arabic. If you're not Caucasian and live in Ottawa, you will be made to feel like it's not your kind of town. They really don't like Black immigrants down there, and reserve a special brand of hatred for us Somali people. Sadly, the other immigrant groups, including some Afro-Caribbean folks and continental Africans, have joined forces with the more bigoted Caucasian folks of Ottawa against the Somali people. They call us troublemakers. They tell us that our Muslim faith and proud African heritage are incompatible with the conservative leadership of Ottawa, whose mantra is protectionism though they claim to embrace racial and cultural diversity. Oh, man. I've got to stop. I'm starting to feel like I'm writing a college research paper or something. Lord knows I've written enough about my views on Ottawa residents true faces while attending in school. I graduated with my bachelor's degree in Nursing from Carleton University in the summer of 2010. I was twenty five years old at the time. .