Manners

My first night was pretty hectic. After going inside, we all washed out hands, sat down, said a prayer in arabic, then ate a delicious meal of cambuulo. Cambuulo is a traditional, and very common, dish served at dinner consisting of azuki beans, sugar, and butter. The texture was smooth and rich, but very sweet. Along with the cambuulo, we had soor, which is just like cornbread, but softer and richer. Below is a picture of Cambuulo.

One very important thing I had to remember while eating was never to use my left hand. Of the 10 million people in Somalia, almost 100% are muslim. As such, the grand majority of people follow Islamic customs, and in Islam, the left hand is considered inferior to the right because the left is used for cleaning the body. Using the right hand for tasks such as eating and drinking, entering the mosque, saying salaam at the end of a prayer, putting on shoes, etc, all honor Allah . When doing the opposite or less noble activities like blowing one's nose, undressing, exiting the mosque, etc, one would honor Allah by using his left hand.

We also did not use silverware, which was pretty cool. Depending on which area one is in, people may not use silverware. Even though I was staying with a middle class family, we ate with out hands. It's not so much a class thing as much as preference. It is also not a matter of religion because there is no mention in the Quran about eating with or without silverware.