Dini--A Somalian Taxi Driver

The taxi driver came in time. 5:35 in the morning. He signaled me to sit in the back, and as he drove away, he started to chat.

-- Where are you from? Where are you going? What work do you do?

I asked him the same questions.

-- Can you tell where I'm from? Somalia. I've been here 15 years. (1990? me too!) I was first in California. (Me too. Where?) Los Angeles. My first job was beef processing. Then I moved to Oregon. Then to Washington, Seattle. Then to Alaska. I worked in fishing, cannery there. In Alaska I made $80,000 cash in 3 years! That's big money. They give women easy jobs. Then I came to Ann Arbor. I like here the best. California is difficult to find a job. I live in Ypsilanti. When I look out, I don't want to see tall buildings. I am a citizen here. I have been a US citizen for 3 years. There are a lot of Somalians here in Dearborn. My family is all back home. I go home every year. It takes 18 hours, usually 3 flights to go home. First I fly to somewhere in Europe, then Middle East like Egypt, then Africa, then Somalia. My father is a business man. My mother is a house wife. MY sister just got married. They have been to many places, but they don't like America here. Here you don't have a life. You work very hard all day, then you pay bills--you pay rent, telephone, electricity... you have no money left. You make money and someone else take them. In Somalia we have good life. I am 35. I am in the middle of a project. I am building a hotel in Somalia. Three storeys, 350 rooms. For US $1000 you get 1 million money in our country. I want a China girl wife. I like China girls. They are nice and hard working. Do you know some nice China girl? I never had a China girlfriend. My brother married a China girl. There are a lot of Chinese in Somalia. And people from all over Asia. US has no relation with Somalia but China does. I want to leave here this June. For sure I don't want to live in the US. I want to live back home. We speak Somalian and Arabic. All Somalians are Arabic. We say hello the same way as in Arabic.

He said Hello, and pulled over to the airport drop off area. He continued to talk.

-- Why don't you marry an American to become a citizen? Your boyfriend is white? Does he take care of you? I take care of my girl. I don't smoke. I don't drink. I work hard. I slept 2 hours last night because I had to pick you up early today. My name is Dini.

He wrote down his name and phone number on the taxi receipt.

I walked into the terminal.