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.
I cared deeply for my slain husband Ali and our daughter Amina, but Ali and I did not marry out of love. We were from two different clans that are culturally related to each other, so the Elders of his Clan arranged for Ali to marry me. Ali treated me with respect and kindness, but we didn't have a passionate marriage. In Somalia, marriages aren't about love and passion. It's the foundation for society. We marry for the continuation of our clans, our bloodlines, and our culture. The romanticism that Westerners attach to their relationships always irked me, until I met Stefano, a young Black man raised in Western society.
I was ecstatic, and that night, as I lay on my bed, I smelled the flowers, and dreamed of my sweet Stefano. My favorite Haitian stud was working overnight, and I seriously wished he were at home so I could thank him properly for the flowers. The following night, Stefano and I dined at Soleil Des Iles, a quaint little Haitian restaurant in the east end of Ottawa and afterwards, we watched the movie Annie, the cool remake with Jamie Foxx and that white lady from the movie Troy, and had ourselves a lot of fun.