"Amal, why couldn't you find a nice Somali gal, or even a white chick? Why did you have to bring home this Beth, this frigging Ethiopian hussy?" Abdullah Shire said, looking sternly at his only daughter Amal Shire. The two of them were at the dinner table. Normally, father and daughter talked about school, life, work, and all that jazz, but today's topic of discussion was provocative, to say the least.
Shortly before this line of conversation began, Amal's girlfriend Bethlehem "Beth" Tilahun departed the Shire household in Mississauga, heading to work in downtown Toronto. Sheesh, Amal thought. The young woman closed her eyes hard and rubbed her forehead, feeling the onset of a headache coming along. This is going to be a long night, Amal thought, before replying to her Aabo ( father ).
Amal Shire wasn't born in Somalia, indeed, she was born and raised in the City of Mississauga, Ontario, and had only left provincial Ontario once, to visit some distant relatives in the City of Calgary, Alberta. Still, what Somali person doesn't know of the conflicts between the Somali people and their Ethiopian neighbors? Many Somalis harbored ill feelings toward the Ethiopians, who've often intervened in Somali affairs, invaded the Somali heartland and generally speaking, caused strife wherever they went.
"Aabo, Beth isn't like that, sure, her family is Ethiopian but she doesn't even speak to them anymore, they kicked her out when they found out she's a lesbian," Amal countered, and Abdullah stroked his goateed chin, which was more salt than pepper these days, along with his formerly dark hair. Tall and gaunt but still solid, the dark-skinned, rugged Somali elder carried himself with an air of dignity and toughness that most men half his age couldn't match.
"Amal, you're my flesh and blood, my only daughter, I accept your life choices, some people in this world hate you for being a lesbian and I'll fight such people with my dying breath, but don't ask me to welcome an Ethiopian into our family, these fiends hate our people, and think they're above the rest of the African people, they're bigoted and evil," Abdullah said, his ire rising.
Amal Shire sighed deeply, and wondered how she could help her father come around, so to speak. Amal had always been proud of her father, and with good reason. Abdullah Shire had always been her rock, and that of the Somali community of Ontario as well. The man had a mind of his own, and wasn't easily misled. A lifetime of hardship and perseverance shaped the Somali elder into who and what he is. A good man who is somewhat set in his ways.
"Aabo, you used to tell me how people would stare at you and Mom back when you were dating because you are black and she is white, don't you see how it's basically the same way for Beth and I? I'm part Somali and she's Ethiopian, who cares?" Amal said vehemently, and Abdullah Shire's eyes blazed with anger barely kept in check. It's not the same thing at all, the older Somali-Canadian man thought sourly, wishing his daughter Amal would drop the subject.
"Amal, there are lots of beautiful young women at the University of Toronto, statistically, at least one out of every ten of these young ladies swings your way, find another," Abdullah Shire said softly, smiling at his daughter as though he were suggesting she choose apples instead of oranges for dessert. Amal shook her head, and bit back a sob. Stay cool, Amal reminded herself.
"Aabo, I can't believe you just said that," Amal cried out, and, as a stunned Abdullah looked on, his only daughter ran out of the house like Shaitan himself were after her. How did we get to this place? Abdullah Shire wondered. He'd always been a loving and supportive father to his only daughter Amal. When she came out as a lesbian, Abdullah supported her, even though most people in the Somali community thought of gays, bisexuals and lesbians as haram. In time she'll come around, Abdullah told himself.
When Abdullah Shire arrived in the City of Mississauga from his war-torn homeland of Somalia in the early 1990s, he had to adapt to a brand new world. As a Somali Muslim man in his early twenties with no education or skills, that hadn't been easy. Abdullah Shire patiently worked his way up and adapted to the strange, at times wonderful new world that was Canadian society. He went to Humber College, graduating with a degree in Criminal Justice in 1995.
While at Humber College, Abdullah Shire met the woman destined to change his life forever. Estella Andreotti, a tall, raven-haired, green-eyed and bronze-skinned beauty originally from the island of Sardinia, somewhere in Italy. The two of them fell in love, got married and had a daughter, Amal. In spite of their abundance of differences, Estella and Abdullah were determined to make their relationship work, for the sake of their daughter Amal.
Abdullah Shire wanted to become a police officer, but in those days, Canada wasn't quite open to hiring Muslim men to work in law enforcement. The excuse that the Ontario Police College gave is that Abdullah, who lacked certain key identity documents when he fled Somalia, didn't meet the requirements for becoming a cop. Abdullah, who had a wife and daughter to take care of, lamented the social restrictions preventing him from pursuing his dream job.
After that, Abdullah Shire enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces, quickly rising to the rank of Captain. Abdullah Shire served all over Canada, and his most recent posting was with the Canadian Forces stationed at the military base in the City of Trenton, Ontario. Amal grew up as a military brat, following her parents everywhere, from base to base, province to province. Unfortunately, the life of an Army wife wasn't for Estella Andreotti-Shire, and she filed for divorce from her hubby Abdullah Shire, a few months after he made Captain.
Like a lot of families torn by divorce, the Andreotti-Shire clan tried its best to move on. Abdullah Shire and Estella Andreotti tried co-parenting to take care of their daughter Amal. It wasn't easy, since the two of them had very different ideas about the world, and questions of religion and culture had been at the heart of their divorce. Estella wanted to raise Amal in Catholicism, and Abdullah Shire wanted to raise Amal as a Muslim. Amal grew up to hate organized religion and was a fervent atheist by the time she started her freshman year at the University of Toronto.
