Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/index.php:52) in /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1794 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/index.php:52) in /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1794 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/index.php:52) in /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1794 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/index.php:52) in /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1794 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/index.php:52) in /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1794 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/index.php:52) in /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1794 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/index.php:52) in /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1794 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/index.php:52) in /customers/a/c/1/hadalsame.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1794 {"id":42692,"date":"2020-04-03T11:14:15","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T10:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/?p=42692"},"modified":"2020-04-03T11:14:15","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T10:14:15","slug":"wives-rejoice-and-traders-despair-as-coronavirus-halts-khat-supply-to-somalia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/2020\/04\/03\/wives-rejoice-and-traders-despair-as-coronavirus-halts-khat-supply-to-somalia\/","title":{"rendered":"Wives rejoice and traders despair as coronavirus halts khat supply to Somalia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Hadalsame) 03 April 2020<\/strong><\/span> – Before the coronavirus hit, Muna Nur Farah had started to hate her husband. He\u2019d slink into their home in the Somali capital Mogadishu at 3:00am with empty pockets, his money squandered on the narcotic leaf khat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That changed a little over a week ago, as the pandemic spread through East Africa. To curb the disease, the government banned international flights\u2014including those importing khat from Kenya\u2014depriving men like Farah\u2019s husband of the addictive drug.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis week every day, he brings home money, vegetables, mangoes, meat, food,\u201d she said happily. \u201cI love him now. Life is superb.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Some Somalis, especially women and children, say coronavirus handed them an unexpected boon through the ban on khat flights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWomen say a man who chews khat has another wife\u2014called khat,\u201d Farah\u2019s husband, Abdullahi Ahmed said. \u201cIt is true.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More than 10 million people globally use khat, according to the Kenya Medical Research Institute. In Somalia, men gather in groups to chat and chew the leaf, a mild stimulant, into the early hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kenya exports about 50 tonnes of khat to Somalia daily, said Kimathi Munjuri, the chairman of Kenya\u2019s largest khat trade association. Khat is sold to Somalia\u2014which is mostly too hot and dry to grow the water-intensive crop\u2014at $5 a kilo, making Kenyan growers around $250,000 a day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cNow we\u2019re not able to ship anything,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are looking at a total devastation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Importers sell to dealers in the \u2018khat garden\u2019 – Mogadishu\u2019s typically busy khat market. Now it\u2019s deserted apart from boys playing football and soldiers comparing guns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Bunow Hussein Aden, 60, is the market\u2019s chief cleaner, but now there\u2019s no one to pay him his daily fee of $15 so he is just lying on a polythene sack as litter blows past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI have not received a coin since khat was banned,\u201d he complained. \u201cI just see people I know, ask them for few dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Khat is highly perishable. It\u2019s usually driven from airfield to market at breakneck speed. Some khat sellers like Sabir Mohamed Shiqalow have started shipping the leaf in, but prices have shot up: a kilo worth $20 before coronavirus now fetches $200 to $300.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Shiqalow, an enterprising 21-year-old, has been selling khat half his life. Now he and other sellers go to the beach nightly with two dozen well-armed private guards to collect their slightly withered haul. One night last week, the guards repelled a group of soldiers trying to steal their shipment. Shiqalow hopes things will settle down soon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cKhat is my only source of income,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In Farah\u2019s household, the women pray the ban stays.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cNow we get meat, food and money. Thank you, coronavirus!\u201d said Sumeya Nur Farah, Muna\u2019s 9-year-old sister.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cBut do not kill us please,\u201d she said, addressing the virus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Even Farah\u2019s father Mohamed Nur Farah has stopped chewing, after 20 years. He\u2019s spending time with his family instead\u2014to general astonishment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI am helping my wife in cooking,\u201d he said proudly. \u201cI never helped her in household chores before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: Reuters<\/p>\n

\"REUTERS\"<\/p>\n

Hadalsame Media<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Hadalsame) 03 April 2020 – Before the coronavirus hit, Muna Nur Farah had started to hate her husband. He\u2019d slink into their home in the Somali capital Mogadishu at 3:00am with empty pockets, his money squandered on the narcotic leaf khat. That changed a little over a week ago, as the pandemic spread through East […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/b-17.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Xl2P-b6A","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42692"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42694,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42692\/revisions\/42694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}