Shukri Dualeh: “Shukri Unravelled”, Community Worker, Sister, Feminist, Spoken Word Artist, Book Lover

Shukri Dualeh: “Shukri Unravelled”, Community Worker, Sister, Feminist, Spoken Word Artist, Book Lover

My name is Shukri Dualeh. My name has like a cool story behind it. My mom named me Shukri which means ‘thank you’. I was born back home in Somalia. The doctors told my mother I would either be handicapped or stillborn because my mother was having a lot of trouble during her pregnancy. So she named me Shukri as a way of thanking God that I was born healthy. I also have a middle name of Farah which means joy, and this is because I smiled a lot, you know cheerful, full of joy, in a good mood…well most of the time anyway (laughs).

In the Somali culture, my full name, or the way I would present myself is Shukri Yussuf Hagi Dualeh Mohammed Ahmed. It is my name, my father’s name and his fathers’ name and so on….

It’s a way of people knowing your lineage and who you are. And also if you’re lost, it’s a way of finding family members. So that’s how it works back home, it’s sort of your status, your security guard, your SIN card in a way.

When and where were you born?

I was born November 9, 1988 in South Somalia by Dubba, in Baydabo. My family is originally from the North East part of Somalia. At the time when I was born, that was during the time when the conflict in Somalia was starting to happen.

My mother’s name is Amina Dualeh and my father’s name is Yussuf Hagi Abdi Dualeh.

Shukri at International Women’s Day in Lawrence Heights

One huge challenge growing up was how to keep your culture that your parents taught you but then also learn how to assimilate in this North American culture. What sucked was that it was really hard for my parents to understand the North American experience because they haven’t lived it. And it was difficult to understand their ideologies from back home because it doesn’t work here (laughs). So there was always a barrier, or a gap between me and my parents. As fluent as I am in Somali, it’s not as good as my English. I am able to express myself more thoroughly in English, even though my Somali is good enough to have meaningful conversations.

When I was born, my mother was in constant movement so we would stay in one town for a few months. It was hard on my family. We were all trying to get out of Somalia because of the conflict that was happening. It was a genocide- ethnic cleansing. The tribe that was being targeted was the tribe that I belong to, which is called the Isaac.

The first place we came to when we left Somalia was Ethiopia. Then in 1989 we came from Ethiopia to New York. We stayed there for one year. There was better opportunities for us in Canada so we came to Toronto in 1990. At that time, my older brother wasn’t with us, it was my 2 sisters and I and my cousin, who is a bit older than my brother, and my parents. My aunt’s uncles, and cousins stayed in Somalia and my brother who was staying in a different part of Somalia at the time with my Uncle. So they ended up coming at a later time, which was around 1993.

When we first came to Toronto in 1990, we used to live in Jane and Finch, in Eddystone and then in Shoreham. The first school I attended was Shoreham Public School.

Then we moved to Lawrence Heights in 1993. One experience that really sticks out was when we first moved into the Lawrence Heights community. I would have been in Kindergarten- I finished up my last two months in Kindergarten at Flemington Public School. I used to wear the hijab back then. So I remember walking back and forth to school and being called a paki, and that memory really sticks out for me. That was very painful as a child.

What do you remember about Lawrence Heights when you first came to live there?

One thing I used to really love about Lawrence Heights was the trees. I feel like a lot of them are gone now. I have a thing for nature. I think they cut a lot of the massive and big trees down because of safety issues for the cameras. I used to really like the open green space in Jungle. We didn’t need much, all we needed was a basketball. What I also loved was that when we were kids, we were oblivious to everything. And I really miss that. We didn’t know that we lived in Metro Housing- we didn’t understand what that meant. We just used to play like any other children. I also miss my other neighbours from the other side, like behind the gate, like where that Jewish Orthodox community lives. I used to have neighbours there- Curtis was his name. He had the biggest trampoline and swimming pool in his back yard. We used to go to his house a lot. I met him because of my brother Shakir- he had severe autism and he used to have a running problem. He ran into their back yard and jumped into their pool. So I chased after him one day and explained the situation to his mom. She said ‘it’s perfectly fine, you can come here anytime you want”. From there, our friendship formed and we used to go there all the time. The mother was very kind, she used to bring us sandwiches and cookies. It was a cool experience.

I used to really like that hill behind Flemington Public School. I used to go there tobogganing. They used to call it the big hill. I like the health centre, I used to frequent there a lot. I also used to go to a cooking program at Lawrence Heights Health Centre- I learned how to make patties from scratch (laughs)

Unfortunately, no. (Laughs) And then I’m really good at baking. My special dish is a pineapple cake, it’s like a cultural dish, I really like that.

What I like is the togetherness. In a sense, it’s like a larger family. I’ve been to different communities and they’re not as connected as people in Lawrence Heights are. The way we all come together as a community if there’s a tragedy, even if it’s been like two or three years has gone by. There’s a genuine sense of caring and compassion. It’s weird, only in Lawrence Heights would you see the most random groups that don’t hang out together regularly, but when we’re at a public function outside the community, it’s like we all come together. I love that sense of belonging.

I don’t like seeing lives pass away before their time. I did have someone who was dear to me lose his life on these grounds in Lawrence Heights. Abdi Kareem and yeah, his memory lives on in me. May he be in a better place.

I think the community did change over the years. One change is all this conflict with bordering neighbourhoods. That didn’t exist when we were growing up. Everybody just got along. Like this conflict with Neptune- that really annoys me. No one really knows how that started. And that’s what violence is- its ignorance, its nonsense, it’s just ideology that’s perpetrating itself.

I went to Flemington Public School, Lawrence Heights Middle School and to Sir Sanford Fleming for the first year, and then I transferred to Central Tech. I have bittersweet memories of school. It was good, I still have a lot of long-time friends that I met in school. That’s all I have to say about school - because I could get into it but don’t want to get too long winded and political (laughs).

My best subject was English, always. I guess I was around 16 or 18 when I really developed my love for reading. I used to read then but I used to hide my reading from people. (laughs) Back then people kind of teased you for that. I’m going to be honest - I used to skip a lot in high school. And we used to do silly foolish things. And then I got bored. I left Sir Sanford Fleming voluntarily- because of conflict. I thought it would be better to make a fresh start somewhere.

One memorable teacher I had was Miss Boutillier, she was my 10^th Grade English teacher at Central Tech. She was really cool, I really liked her a lot. She was the first person to really open up my eyes to African history. She introduced me to a few books that I still have to this day. Martin Luther King’s autobiography and then also Malcom X’s book. And we got to read this play called “Da Kink in My Hair” and she took a few students to go see the play. Some of the themes in the play- hair is a big issue for females, especially in the African and Caribbean communities. It was really good to hear that story and also to see females in strong roles. And to know that two strong females actually conducted such a successful play and later turn it into a mini-series on TV. It’s just inspirational as a woman to see a woman of colour reach such great heights. It just shows that anything’s possible when you put your best foot forward. I was sixteen at the time and it was very inspirational to see this. I also got to see a musical at that time, which was about French Canadian people, it was about Acadia.

I’m into musicals - I don’t really tell people that too often (laughs)

Musicals are embedded in our culture. When you see people perform on stage, in a skit or play, it always breaks into a song. What I like about music or people who sing or rappers is that it really hits your soul. You can feel it internally- the lyrics or the way they are singing it, or the subject matter- whether it be about love or something political. It’s a human thing.

I was always interested in alternative (laughs) I’ve always liked hip hop. I used to listen to a few bands- Our Lady Peace- Superman’s Dead- I used to really like that song. I liked the Back Street Boys I guess, just like everyone else (laughs) I was really into R & B in the 90’s too- Whitney Houston, Prince was awesome, SWV, Escape, just to name a few.

Alive or dead? (laughs)

Well, it’s hard to pick a favourite but I’ll give you my top 5. I really like DMX, Tupac, I like Gang Starr, NAS is really good too, his first few albums were really good. For new school I’d definitely say Kendrick Lamarr and Lupe Fiasco too.

Yes I did. I took a 2 year break after high school and then when I was 19 I went to Seneca College and I took social work.

Because I really like helping people and I’m very compassionate. I feel like God was able to bestow me with a great sense of knowledge and experiences. It’s a very cool thing when you are able to connect with people on a real level but then also see how their lives can be transformed with just some small changes, it doesn’t have to be drastic changes. I always felt like I was relevant, like understood both experiences. Especially in the Somali community- when a lot of youth say “my parents don’t understand me” but the truth is they are not doing much to understand their parents either. I always tell them it’s important to understand your culture because it helps you understand your parents and why they say certain things.

One of my other main motivators for going into Social Work was my brother Shakir. When he was 3 years old, he wasn’t speaking and he was diagnosed with severe autism. Growing up, I saw the indifference that people showed him and because of that I’ve always felt this need to want to help those who others consider to be in need or are disenfranchised. It was difficult to grow up with a brother with special needs, and how do you really explain that to other children. So it was him that really sparked my interest in the helping profession.

When did you start writing your own material?

I started writing when I was 16 but I kept that private until I started working in the Health Centre. Back when it used to be called the Lawrence Heights Health Centre now it’s called Unison Health Centre. My best friend in school was Amaris Cruz, in 9^th Grade. We’re still good friends to this day. I remember the parties we used to attend in Lawrence Heights. One thing I liked about 9^th Grade was that there was a party happening every weekend. We never really had to go outside the community because there was a party happening every weekend.

My first job was in the Lawrence Heights Health Centre. We were Health Facilitators and we taught other youth sexual health awareness and we focused on sexually transmitted infections. There was me, D’Jamar- Dirty, Helen and Najla Edwards. We went around to schools and gave workshops and we told information through using the arts- like spoken word. DJ was really good at it. We did that for about a year- during the time I was in high school. And then I did retail while I was in school.

Right now I’m still in social work but now I’m taking a break. I’m trying to work and save some money. I want to do a literacy program back home. My brother just came back from Somalia and he told me about the great need for people with North American education and experience to help support the people back home. So I really feel like that’s my calling now. Just taking it a day at a time to see where the world takes me.

If you could do anything that you wanted, what would you do?

Travel….and write of course!! If I had the means. My biggest challenge right now is patience!!

I guess human experiences. The things we go through on a daily basis. There’s gonna be days we feel very hopeful and then there are the days when you just don’t want to smile, even though you should. And that’s ok too. That’s would I write about- the contrasts between the positives and the negatives that we go through.

I just felt like I saw things differently than most of my peers. I do understand some of the frustrations they were feeling- I felt it too. But there comes a time when you have to look beyond your pain and really see how you fit into the greater things. You always have to look at the world from two views- a micro level and a macro level.

I remember reading a passage from Paulo Coelho’s book. A man was up in a mountain and he was looking down. And he saw all the people and they looked like ants. And he thought “look at those people, they look so tiny I could crush them with my fingers”. So how big are our problems that are down there from that point of view?

Whenever I go through trials or tribulations, I always member that passage - it always enters my mind. I just put my best foot forward and keep it moving.

My biggest challenge right now is patience!! Those who know me well, know that I don’t tolerate BS and I can be really blunt. I’m trying to learn to be more diplomatic. I’m trying to figure out when to strike and when to retreat. There’s a code I’m trying to live by - it says a bad warrior loses fights, a good warrior wins fights and a wise warrior doesn’t fight at all. I’m trying to live a peaceful life and be able to uplift others. Just trying to be a better person and take the higher road in everything I do.