And among soaking up the 35degree sun and trying to find somewhere to watch the Everton game, I befriended our Somalian tour guide Anwar.

Despite a predictable admission that he supports Liverpool, we hit it off and had a good laugh as he showed our group around a dynamic city of luxury hotels and sky-scrapers.

And in a typically Scouse six-degrees-of-separation moment, he’d heard the sad news about his 17-year-old countryman Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim being battered to death in Sefton Park.

That story, which broke just before I set off, brought into focus the city’s close-knit, and ever-growing, Somalian community in Toxteth and Granby.

My mum grew up in L8, so it’s an area I’m familiar with. And I’ve long been curious about this community-within-a-community which sometimes seems forgotten.

There were no Somali kids at my secondary school but some of my mates went to south end high schools which were full of pupils hailing from the East African republic.

Over the last 20 years, thousands of Somalian refugees have fled their civil war torn homeland for refuge in British cities like London, Cardiff, and of course Liverpool.

But despite two decades worth of bedding in, it seems that there is an ongoing problem with integration into the wider city.

Many Somalis even feel it is hard to integrate into the Granby community and tensions have risen between Granby-based Somali refugees and mixed-race Scousers.

There is a feeling that young Somalis have no appropriate youth facilities in L8 and so drift towards congregating in gangs around the two local parks.

Unfortunately things, as we’ve seen, can get out of hand as these disenchanted and bored gangs end up acting however they want.

I’ve heard bleak accounts from Somali lads about feeling abandoned in our secondary school system; one lad left me aghast with his memory of a teacher advising him not to bother with GCSEs, because ... “What’s the point?”

Equally, one of the lads I spoke to said older Somalis who sought asylum in the UK later in life can find it harder, and are maybe be less inclined, to break down the barriers of insularity.

Liverpool proudly calls itself the ‘World On One city. For hundreds of years, different communities have played a part in our history.

We have provided refuge for thousands of people escaping danger in their country, like the Somalians, and we are said to have the oldest Chinese community in Europe.

We have also hosted a Black community since 1750, not to mention the Irish, thousands of whom came into the city after the potato famine of the 1840s.

Various volunteer groups as well as the council’s Emtas (Ethnic Minority And Traveller Achievement Service) do their best to encourage integration.

It just seems a shame that a community like that of the Somalis – which is bursting with vibrancy, heritage and cultural difference – can often seem so peripheral and lost, even when it is on our door-step.

SOURCE:  Liverpool Echo, March 19, 2008

fiqicigaal @ 3/19/2008 4:59 PM EST  Gaafoow geesi, i like your innocence or may i say your naivity when you call somalis honest loving human beings who will not hurt a fly . Get real and look what has been happening in our country and how we have been seneslessly killing each other for donkey years .Isn't it Ethiopia who rules somalia because of our sheer stupidity and clan mentality . Brother gaaboow , we are witnessing what evil act can a typical somali does to his own folks , not to mention those brain dead somalis who invited our enemy invade somali soil , kill our women and children and displace thousands of innocent people and that is the somali true colour if you can dig it

gaafoow geesi @ 3/19/2008 1:23 PM EST  nargale wax badan ayaan arkay somali badan oo gaalada ka dhiiba wexeey ama maqaayadaha ka cunaan ama markeey safarka yihiim cunaan,waana sababta kii shiidaahuba u aadi jiray somaliya waayoo wexeey ogaayeen ineey somalidu tahay dad aad u dhaqaaleeya ajnabiga,tan dadka yar yar waa runtaa oo inta magac oo aad sheegtay waa loogu yeeri jiray waana layasi jiray lakiin waxaan ka hadlay waa gaaldii kaliya,xitaa carabtu kuma jirin,hal tusaale hadaan ku siiyo maalin ayaa waxaa dhacday in nin gaal ah baabuur meel dhigtay ciyal ayaa u yimid kuna yiri gaalkii aan kuu waardiyeeyno baabuurka,galkii wuxuuw yiri ani askar ayan tababaraa hadii babuurkeeyga wax la gaarsiiyo waan idiin wada xir xirayaa gaalkiina waa iska tegay.ciyaalkii xaar ayeey baabuurkii gaalka ku malooqeen weeyna ka tageen.gaalki ayaa baabuurkiisii u yimid sanka ayuuw qabsaday wuuwna ka tegay isagoo saldhiga booliska aaday,wuxuuw soo watay dhowr nin oo boolis ah,meeshii baabuurkii yiilay mooyee meel kale ayeey iigu yimaadeen wexeey igu dheheen kalay baabuurkaan dhaq,ani waxaan ku dhahay madhaqayo,waa leey garaacay waana leey xiray galkiina wuxuuw dhahay amar la,aanteeyda lama sii deeyn karo.ani ninkaas dembi kama galine maxaa leegu xiray nabgalow?soow in gaalka laga heeybeeysan jiray kuuma cada?

nargale @ 3/19/2008 12:51 PM EST  Gaafow!!i am not after you personaly,believe me,you got soo many things that iam looking for!!!Since when did Somalis have been loving humanbeing/charity/honesty/very calm people/and nice toward none somalis?Dont you forget!the most common word of somalis-Adoon,Eeley yahow,sankadhuudi,aricarbeed,tima sawaaxili,diifow,abo yohow!xabashigan,caqligu lix saad ayuu kusoo degaa!!etc etc etc-Now lets go to the positive ones Anagaa ugu qurux badan,dumarka somaaliyeed ayaa aduunka ugu qurxoon,anagaa ugu nadiifsa oo dadkale oo dhan wey urayaan,angaa ugu caqli badan oo umada kale waa damiino,anagaa ugu geesisan oo dadka kale waa fulayo etc etc etc---------walaal masoo koobi karo,laakiin waxaad halkaas kasheegtey,aad ayaan usgu sheekeynaa,laakiin waxba kama jiraan!!!dadka ugu beenta badana,waa soomaali,that they even believe now its true,beenta hadaad sheegtid oo aad badsatid,marka dambe adey run kula noqon oo ey meel xun kugu hogaamin!!!!!!!

gaafoow geesi @ 3/19/2008 12:22 PM EST  In old days somalia was an example of all loving humanbeing/charity loving people/honest/very calm people towards the none somalis in somalia/people with great hospitality/.they thought if the give us assylum we would change their society and make it like somalia,but that didnot happen.i am sure they are disapointed for what they have gotten back from us.i remember when i was a car washer in mugdishu,when gaal says bad things about the poor kids like me.we have been beaten/arrested by the police by not asking us what we know or wheather it is true or not,becouse gaal said it,also when a rich gaal goes in a restourant all somalis would compit to pay his bills.that is what they expected of us,but i thank those who didnot go through that,gaalo have only one joice and that is change the attitude about the somali nation and try to make it stable then we will all go back,but if you kep having contracts with few leader to do your way in somalia,our boys will do same here in your backyard