| Amina Ismail Sherif
Things have changed a good deal during my lifetime. Most girls today spend the better part of the day, Monday through Friday, at school. I received a Muslim education and learned to recite the Qur'an as a child, but I did not spend as much time in school as my daughters. Many young women will tell you that they simply do not have time to make baskets and many of them are not learning how to make baskets. I taught my daughters how to make baskets and I am pleased that all five of them find the time to practice what they have learned. We Harer is still use these baskets and it is very important that a bride bring a certain number of baskets to her marriage. You can find baskets in the market here but they are made by Oromo women-they are different than our baskets and cannot serve the same purpose. Young women used to produce their own dowry baskets prior to marriage. But today, most of them do not and they must purchase them from people like me. The demand for our baskets is high and the baskets that we make are not inexpensive. This basket, a senasegari, that Munira is working on, will cost 250 birr [In June 1993, the official rate of exchange was 5 birr per U.S. dollar] You asked me if I had any baskets to sell and I told you no. The ones that I am showing you have been ordered by young women (or their mothers) for their marriages. If you like, I can make you some baskets-my daughters will help me-but you will have to wait 6 months. |
I was born here in Harer about 55 years ago. My mother's name was Qadija Muhammed Wobir and my father's was Ismail Sherif. My husband, Ahmed Adish, passed away several years ago, and I have had to finish raising my five daughters by myself-fortunately, two are already married, two are living abroad, and the fifth, Munira, pretty much takes care of herself. In fact, I am proud to say that she is able to pay her own school fees from the income she earns from her basket making.