Before living in Red Sea House I lived in Loudon Square for about three years. Before that I lived for a long long time in Angelina Street in a seaman's boarding house. There were two or three men to one room, and nine or ten sharing a bathroom. We'd go back and forward to sea.
I worked with many of the men in Red Sea House on ships over the years. We often talk together about our lives. I've lived in Cardiff since 1958. I flew here from Somaliland via Aden. It was expensive then - my brother helped me.
In Somaliland I lived outside the town of Buro when I was young, to look after the animals. My family had a lot of animals - camels and sheep - but I wanted to leave to see another country. My uncle and my brother were living in the UK, in Cardiff. When they came back to visit Somaliland they were talking about it.
The first time I came here I stayed about a couple of weeks, but there was only shore work so I joined the Merchant Navy until I retired in 1985. I wanted to see the world.
First I worked on a coastal ship for a couple of years as a fire-man, stoking, before going on to deep-sea ships and tankers, where I worked on deck. It was hard work, cleaning, painting and other jobs. There was a lot of bad weather, some ships sank. But I never got tired of going to sea.
My last ship was the Canberra which had been in the Falkland Islands war. I've been to a lot of countries, some very nice like Australia, and New Zealand. America I didn't like because of people carrying guns. Sometimes when I went on shore I thought maybe they'd shoot me. North Virginia I didn't like. Some of the west African countries I didn't like because we are different. They thief you, maybe they kill you and take the money. Every country I went to, I went ashore for a couple of days or weeks while we still lived on board ship.
I was always going to sea, coming back and going to see my family in Somaliland. Now I go home every one and a half or two years for about two or three months. I stay with my brother. It's a very good country. It's a very nice life there - everything's cheap. People can live on very little. There's always good weather, you never have to wear a jacket only a shirt.
When the war came everybody tried to go somewhere. Everybody here was worried about family and animals there. Many people were killed and the houses smashed. I saw a lot of fighting and killing. Before the civil war not many from Somalia came here. There's no trouble now but there's no recognised government in Somaliland.
I brought my wife and two sons here during the troubles in Somaliland. But I'm separated now. My sons are both married now with children and I visit them. I have a wife and six children, four married and some camels back home.
This story was written as part of a
Taff Housing initiative which was funded by the
Arts Council of Wales.
