Walking Garowe: Discovering the Life of the City

By Ali Mohamed

My journey to Garowe began on 19 September 2026, when I travelled to the capital of Puntland State of Somalia to participate in the Puntland Development and Research Center (PDRC) Annual Peace Conference 2026. I had been invited to present my research paper titled: “Security Transition, Institutional Fragility and the Path to Somali-Led Stabilization: Navigating the AUSSOM Drawdown and Financing Transition.” at the conference that brought together researchers, academics, practitioners, policymakers and peacebuilding actors from Somalia and beyond.

I arrived with the clear purpose of presenting my research and engaging in discussions on peace, governance and security. Yet, as the days unfolded, I discovered that the most memorable part of my visit would extend far beyond the conference programme.

My experience of Garowe became an opportunity not only to participate in an important academic gathering, but also to observe, walk through and experience the everyday social life of a city I was visiting for the first time.

My first encounter with Garowe began at Gen. Abshir Airport, where we received a warm and generous welcome from the PDRC team.

For a first-time visitor, such hospitality creates an immediate sense of belonging and comfort. From the airport, I travelled towards my accommodation with Mukhtar Hersi, a member of PDRC, who shared with me stories and observations about Garowe, its development, its people and some of the places we passed along the way.

As we travelled through the city, he explained different landmarks and features of Garowe, including the bridge we passed on our way to the hotel. His explanations gave me an initial understanding of the city, but they also made me more curious.

I quickly realized that I did not want to experience Garowe only through the window of a vehicle. I wanted to see it at street level, to walk through its public spaces, observe its social life and understand the city beyond the formal programme that had brought me there.

That curiosity became the beginning of an unexpected part of my journey. On my first evening, I spoke with my friend Abdirahman Guure and told him that I wanted to walk around the city.

I wanted to see how people spent their evenings, how businesses operated, where people gathered and how the city changed after sunset. We parked the car and began walking without a strict itinerary.

What followed was several hours of conversation, laughter, observation and exploration. From approximately 6:30 in the evening until 11:00 at night, we moved through different parts of Garowe, sharing stories and enjoying the atmosphere of the city.

One of our stops was Xalwo Kismayo, where I had the opportunity to taste Xalwo Kismayo. It was a simple experience, but one that became part of the memory of my first night in Garowe.

We continued our walk towards Barxada Garowe, a public space where people came together to take photographs, meet friends, socialize and enjoy the evening. Standing there and observing the movement of people gave me a perspective that no conference presentation could provide.

I was seeing the city not as a place described through policy documents or research reports, but as a living social environment shaped by ordinary interactions. Young people were spending time together, families and friends were moving through the area, businesses were serving customers, and public spaces were functioning as places of social connection.

It reminded me that understanding a society requires attention not only to its institutions and policies, but also to the everyday spaces in which people create relationships and experience their communities. After several hours of walking, we were tired enough to take a bajaj and return to our destination, bringing our first exploration of Garowe to an end.

The following evening, 20 September, PDRC hosted a welcoming event ahead of the conference, alongside the launch of the Shuke Institute for Mediation and Training. The event brought together guests and participants from different parts of Somalia and beyond, creating an opportunity for introductions, professional conversations and exchanges around peacebuilding and mediation.

Being part of such a gathering was particularly meaningful because it brought together people working across different areas of Somalia’s peace and governance landscape. Yet, when the formal welcoming programme concluded at around 9:30 p.m., my curiosity about Garowe remained.

Once again, I contacted my friend and suggested that we go out and explore the city. That second evening of walking became another memorable experience.

We moved through Wadada Wasaaradaha, passed areas around the state house and continued observing the streets and neighbourhoods.

This time, I was more conscious of the details around me. I paid attention to how businesses operated in the evening, how people moved around the city, how public spaces were used and how different parts of Garowe connected with one another.

We continued walking until approximately midnight. What initially appeared to be a simple evening walk had gradually become an informal exercise in observation.

As a researcher, I have always been interested in understanding communities and institutions, but experiencing the city directly reminded me that some forms of knowledge emerge through observation, conversation and participation in everyday life.

The conference officially began the following morning, bringing the focus back to research, policy and peacebuilding. The programme featured panels, presentations and discussions that examined important questions concerning Somalia’s peace, governance and security.

With approximately 300 participants attending, the conference provided a valuable platform for researchers, practitioners and other stakeholders to exchange ideas and reflect on Somalia’s contemporary challenges. I had the opportunity to present my own research and engage with other participants whose experiences and areas of expertise offered different perspectives on the issues under discussion.

The academic environment was stimulating, but my experience outside the conference hall continued to shape how I understood the place in which these discussions were taking place.

For me, this contrast between the conference room and the streets of Garowe became particularly significant. Inside the conference, we discussed institutions, governance, security, peacebuilding and policy.

Outside, those same concepts existed in much more practical and visible forms. Governance could be observed through public spaces and infrastructure, economic activity could be seen through businesses and markets, social cohesion could be observed through the ways people gathered and interacted; and the everyday experience of citizens provided a human dimension to the larger questions discussed by researchers and practitioners.

The experience reinforced for me that academic and policy discussions become more meaningful when they remain connected to the communities and social environments they seek to understand.

On the evening of 22 September, after another full day of conference activities, I once again suggested to my friend that we go for a walk. By then, exploring Garowe on foot had almost become part of our routine.

We travelled from our destination towards Barxada and continued through Wadada Soddonka and Wadada Shacabka. Along the way, we continued observing the city and discussing what we had experienced during the conference and throughout our stay.

Eventually, we sat at a restaurant and spent time simply enjoying the atmosphere, talking, laughing and observing the surrounding social life. After several days of formal discussions, it was refreshing to step away from the academic environment and spend time in an ordinary social setting.

Looking back, I realize that my visit to Garowe consisted of two interconnected experiences.

The first was professional and academic, attending the PDRC Annual Peace Conference 2026, presenting research, listening to panels, participating in discussions and meeting scholars and practitioners. The second was personal and observational, walking through the city, tasting local food, travelling by bajaj, visiting public spaces, observing businesses and talking with my friend about the people, places and everyday realities of Garowe.

These two experiences complemented each other. The conference helped me think about Somalia through research and policy, while the city itself allowed me to experience some of the social realities behind those broader discussions.

As a researcher, I found this particularly valuable. Research often requires us to move beyond abstract concepts and examine how institutions, policies and social processes are experienced in everyday life.

A city is more than its administrative structures, roads and buildings. It is also the people who occupy its public spaces, the businesses that sustain its economy, the friendships that shape social life and the informal interactions that create a sense of community.

My walks through Garowe offered a small but meaningful opportunity to observe these dimensions directly. My first visit to Garowe therefore became much more than a conference trip.

I arrived to present a paper, but I also found myself learning from the city itself. I came with questions about peace, governance and security, and I left with memories shaped by conversations, hospitality, long walks and everyday encounters.

The warmth of the PDRC team, the guidance of Mukhtar Hersi, Maryama Hamid, and Amina Abdulkadir the friendship that accompanied my evening explorations and the opportunity to observe Garowe beyond the conference programme all contributed to an experience that I will remember.

Perhaps the most important lesson from the journey is that understanding a place requires more than attending its formal events. Sometimes, understanding begins when you leave the conference hall, put aside the schedule and walk through the streets.

My experience in Garowe reminded me that behind every policy discussion are communities, streets, businesses, families, friendships and everyday human experiences. The conference gave me an academic platform, but Garowe gave me a different kind of classroom, the city itself.

I travelled to Garowe as a researcher invited to present a paper at one of Somalia’s important peace and policy gatherings. I returned with something broader a deeper appreciation of the value of experiencing communities directly and listening to the stories that exist beyond formal programmes.

My first visit to Garowe was therefore not simply about presenting research. It was about discovering a city, experiencing its social life and allowing the journey itself to become part of the researcher’s story.

Ali Mohamed

Email: [email protected]