Reflections and Recollections of a Time Long Past
About the Book
The Land of Milk & Honey
This is Steve Tunnicliffe’s first book and recounts his childhood in Somalia. It is a book of reflections and recollections of a Somalia under the rule of the dictator President Mohammed Siad Barre and describes a period ten years prior to the Civil War and the thirty years of carnage that followed.
Steve reflects on a happy time where Somalia was at peace with itself and still practiced many ancient traditions. The traditions he witnessed now maybe consigned to history, such as Istunka the traditional stick fight at Afgooye that marks the start of a new Solar year and a key event on the pastoralist calendar.
Steve recalls a time when weekends were spent exploring Somalia’s amazing coastline that rivals any in the Indian Ocean for beauty and marine life. Whilst 40 years have passed since Steve left Somalia he provides a very clear visual description of a land that has seen so much hardship from droughts and floods to terrorism. A land where the camel continues to be prized above all else.
This book is a counterweight to all the negative imagery of Somalia and is written with honesty and love for a place that was once his home.
About the Author
Steve Tunnicliffe
Steve Tunnicliffe has spent much of his life living and working in the Middle East and Africa. His first spoken language was not English but Amharic having spent his early childhood in Ethiopia prior to the Ethiopian Revolution. Steve subsequently lived for two years with his family in Somalia in the early 1980s and travelled extensively in the country - his father, David, was at the time Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy. Somalia became ingrained in his psyche. In addition to living in Somalia and Ethiopia Steve also spent his time living and studying in Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
In the early 1990s, Steve studied for his BA(Hons) degree in Arabic with Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Durham University. He was inspired to do so having spent a considerable period of his childhood in the Middle East. Steve has completed dissertations on specialised translation (Arabic to English) as Rihla travel literature. After a few years in business, Steve subsequently completed his MBA at Durham University Business School and specialised in new product introduction and product marketing.
Steve started his career thirty years ago in television where he subsequently ran the Marketing department for a leading Middle Eastern broadcaster, MBC Group. This is where he met his wife, Joanne. Since leaving MBC 23 years ago, Steve has been working in the satellite communications industry focused on providing connectivity to the Middle East and Africa region. Steve also holds a Diploma in Corporate Governance from the Corporate Governance Institute and is a Member of the Institute of Directors.
Steve currently resides in the United Kingdom with his wife, Joanne, and remains passionate about the Middle East and Africa and of course, Somalia in particular.
Outlet
The Land of Camel Milk and Honey can be purchased from a number of outlets in paperback:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/book/1144319750?ean=9781916964808
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Somalia-by-Tunnicliffe-Steve/9781916964808
https://amzn.eu/d/8WspzoZ
The book can also be purchased as an eBook from Kindle.
All proceeds from the sale of this book are made to Unicef's East Africa Crisis appeal. More information on this appeal can be found here: www.unicef.org.uk/donate/east-africa-crisis
Steve can be contacted here:
All of the photographs are copyright © David R. Tunnicliffe. All rights reserved.
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