buufi definition
buufi which means to blow into or inflate (see Horst 2006; Zorc & Osman 1993). For anthropologist Cindy Horst, who has done extensive work among Somalis living in the Dadaab refugee camps in Northeastern Kenya, the word literally refers to air, which in the Somali language can be used metaphorically refer to a longing or a desire for something specific (Horst 2006). There is some debate about whether buufis existed before the war, but it is now found all over the world. In a simple Google search for “buufis,” tens of thousands of links popped up including Somali-made videos about the dangers of buufis (and by extension, the abroad) and the humor of those suffering from buufis, aid documents and mental health journal articles discussing the presence of buufis and the need to learn how to treat those suffering from buufis, and casual jokes about and/or criticisms of Somali public figures in blogs and chatrooms who now exhibit signs of buufis (i.e. “Don’t listen to him, he clearly only has buufis.”).