Import me a wife! Getting hitched to "American" Somalis. - Part One

Shrouded in deception; the real stories behind arranged marriages between Somali men living in the United States and very young desperate Somali girls in Africa. In these marriages which can only be termed as sham; buying and selling of brides is ‘normal’- depicting a modern day slavery. 

        The glamorous weddings in five star hotels, the expensive gold chains and the opportunity to set foot in the first world is drawing thousands of oblivious young Somali girls into strange arranged marriages without much protest. The illusion to get hitched to ‘husbands’ living abroad, is becoming more of an accepted lifestyle among Somali families. So much so that girls who land such opportunity are even considered ‘lucky’ among their peers. 

       Once a man has repatriated to the United States/Europe - whether legally or illegally - even the lamest of them all, becomes the world’s most eligible bachelor in the eyes of Somali girls who are still living in Africa. It doesn’t matter if the guy is working wherever he is, or is sitting on his behind waiting on the American social welfare system to take care of his bills. As long as he can afford the wedding (mostly through family contributions), and is willing to file paperwork in regards to his wife joining him, then it is a done deal. So popular is this kind of marriages that men use pick up lines with the exact words “am on a flight list” to pick up girls in social gatherings in Eastleigh - a suburb in Nairobi Kenya largely populated by Somalis. Loosely translated from the Somali language the phrase means, that his papers are in order and he is just awaiting a confirmation date of travel.

      

       Girls dress to kill whenever there is a ‘wedding’ ceremony (mostly of similar arrangements) whose video recording is likely to land in a Somali home somewhere in America. This they say, will increase the chance of being spotted by a ‘suitor in America’. The real story of these import/export marriages however, is one shrouded in deception and misrepresentation. I researched and found out the depth of deception in these sham marriages that purposely exploit the victim’s illusion of better life in the first world. I came across crashed dreams and unfulfilled promises set off by half-truths and and deception.

            Somalia disintegrated into a civil war more than two decades ago and since then, the world refugee program has helped millions of Somalis settle in America and several other first world countries. In America the program allows those who have stabilized to apply for an affidavit or relationship for his/her core family left behind, whether in Somalia or a third safe country - Kenya. This is commonly known among refugee agencies as ‘AoR’. 

       In the context of this article, an AoR will enable single men in America the opportunity to 'import' his 'wife' but many hardly do. This will make more sense as we get deeper into the story. But just to explain; once a man finds a suitable bride to marry, he hopes on a plane with everything else prearranged and attends a wedding. He then hopes back on the next flight and files an AoR. This also happens to be thriving business running into hundreds of thousands of Dollars. In the next post I will share the testimonies of several Somalis I spoke to in Eastleigh who narrated to me the complex business deals that involves buying and selling of young Somali girls to men abroad.