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Somalia: Who is the TG waiting for to release the Chandlers?

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The ongoing captivity of the Chandlers, two elderly British couples in Somalia, flies in the face of the presence of any authority let alone a government in the capital. How long should it take for the Transitional Government to show leadership and see to the release of the Chandlers from their captors? Who is the TG waiting for to act?

On 23 October 2009, Paul and Rachel Chandler, who hail from Kent in England, were cruising on a small yacht on the Indian Ocean off the coast of Seychelles when they were taken hostage by Somali pirates. The two captives who are in poor health remain in the hands of their captors in Haradheere, a small coastal town in Somalia less than 250 miles from the capital.

Some may argue why the TG should intervene since it did not take the Chandlers captive. No-one is suggesting the TG had anything to do with the hostage taking of the Chandlers. A responsible government would always feel the burden of responsibility towards hostage taking (captives) held in its country on its watch.

Hostage taking and piracy are some of the undergrowth of the statelessness of Somalia. However, an effective government would take anything under its watch seriously let alone two elderly and infirm British couples held for months without end in a town not far from capital.

Since the taking of the two Britons hostage both the TG President and the Prime Minister have paid high level visits to the UK. Needless to say, the British Government has been good to the TG. In Britain it was perceived that the TG leaders would act and help the release of the hostages after their visit to the UK.

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The young men who hold the Chandlers forage to the sea and involve themselves in piracy because they have little else to do with their lives. They are the product of generations of the civil war in Somalia. The Chandlers’ captors were in the beginning asking for hefty ransom to the tune of millions of US dollars. But they have since moderated their demands.

The UK is home to over 150,000 Somalis who are all concerned about the safety and wellbeing of the Chandlers who were in captivity now for seven months. A number of Somali Diaspora meetings held in London have sent repeated appeals to the elders of Haradheere community living in the capital asking them to intervene on behalf of the Chandlers to release them on humanitarian ground.

The Somali Diaspora could only do so much to see the release of the Chandlers. Unfortunately, the TG is busy with matters unrelated to governing. A purposeful government would have known from the outset what to do and what the situation demands. For instance, it would have sought the intervention of the elders from Haradheere to help set the Chandlers free. The prolonged captivity of the Chandlers exposes one thing: the impotence of the Transitional Government. Nevertheless, the TG should know better. It would be ultimately responsible if the two innocent elderly British couples die in the hands of their captors. The question is: Where is leadership from those who sought to lead Somalia? Somalia deserves a lot better!

Written by:
Abdullahi Dool
Hornheritage@aol.com

Encinitas resident’s Somali background figures into new novel

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ENCINITAS — In 2005, Yasmeen Maxamuud left Washington, D.C., to begin a new life in Encinitas with her new husband, Abdel Hassan, a fellow Somali-American she met at a conference in Minneapolis. Hassan has worked for Ecke Ranch for several years and is currently operations manager.

“Coming from an ethnically diverse place such as Washington, it was quite a culture shock,” Maxamuud said of her arrival in the beach community. “At first I wouldn’t go anywhere without my husband. After three months I thought, wow, everyone’s normal.”

Maxamuud said she fell in love with the coast right away.

“It was so natural for me,” she said. “It is very mellow, very healthy for my creativity.”

Maxamuud had an idea for a book that sprang from her experience on Sept. 11 when she had to walk for six hours from her office in the heart of D.C. to her home in Silver Spring, M.D., when public transportation came to a halt.

“I was just as scared as any other American,” she said.

After moving to Encinitas she began work on a fictionalized account of the American experience from the perspective of women who immigrated to the United States during Somali’s 1991 civil war.

That book, titled “Nomad Diaries,” was recently released. It is a novel about Nadifo, the former wife of a Somali minister of foreign affairs who loses her wealth during the war. After arriving in Minneapolis in 1993, she finds work under horrific conditions in a chicken factory.
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Nadifo is a composite of several women Maxamuud interviewed.

“She is a woman who faced challenges and tragedy, but who transcended her environment and is moving forward,” Maxamuud said. “She is happy to be alive and know that her kids have the opportunity for an education. She is also happy to be able to send money back to Somalia and support her extended family.”

Maxamuud does not categorize herself in the immigrant group she writes about.

“My father earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in the United States in the 1970s,” she said. “It was because of him that we knew we were going to live in America. We were middle-class and not part of the refugees fleeing because of the civil war.”

Maxamuud left Somalia as a child in the 1980s. Her father’s work in the oil business took the family to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Cyprus before settling in Silver Spring, Md., when she was 17. She became a American citizen and a college graduate.

Maxamuud earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in African development of public policy from Howard University. Her sisters were also college educated.

“My mother was a huge part of creating strong young women who were given choices,” she said. “We are very modern, very well-educated and very well-read. I love to watch ‘Seinfeld,’ ‘Friends’ and ‘Two and a Half Men.’ We are your typical Americans except we are Muslims.”

Since moving to Encinitas, Maxamuud has enjoyed the opportunity of participating in a tolerance program at The Grauer School.

“I let children touch my scarf and my hair,” she said. “They see the scarf as oppressive. I see it as an accessory and want to demystify it.”

Maxamuud founded a mentoring organization for Somali youth called the Center for Bridging Communities in City Heights. She volunteers throughout the week, promoting education and health awareness particularly as it relates to the adverse affect of the fast food diet on Somali children.

Since so many Somali youth excel at rap and poetry slams, Maxamuud recruited elders to teach traditional proverbs, poetry, songs and folklore to the younger generation.

“They need to understand why they are so poetic,” she said. “Before we were known as the pirate community, we were known as the poetic community.”

To schedule a presentation for a school or group call (610) 881-7331. To purchase a book, visit nomaddiaries.com or amazon.com.

Parents are the primary educators

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Primary and secondary school education in the United Kingdom are mandatory and both are free for all students. All students between the ages of four and sixteen are by law obliged to attend both of these at different stages in their lives depending on their age. Educational success is theoretically determined by nothing other than a student’s age and ability to learn.
Before the Education Act 1944 education for those without status and title was limited to the learning of the basic skills they required to carry out their pre determined roles in society. Most of the education was delivered by religious and third sector groups with very little national co-ordination. However, the 1944 Education Act went some way towards creating a more formal and structured education for all students within the system. The Education Act 1944 made secondary school free and obligatory until the age of 15 and this was later raised to 16 in 1972. The Act had two major aims at its core and they were to improve the country’s economic efficiency by developing the skills of the future work force and to create a more equal society by providing all young people with the opportunity to be educated and where possible and desired, to progress into higher education or into an occupation. The Education Act 1944 was revolutionary in that it leads to a shift from an education determined by an accident of birth to one based on age, aptitude and individual student ability. In theory, this arguably was the birth of Meritocracy, the idea that everyone has equal opportunity to achieve in education regardless of their background.

The role of education in society is of great importance as through the education process young people are socialised into the norms and values of society. Education, universally, is the key to tackling poverty, ignorance and social exclusion. As a result it can be described as a vehicle for change and social prosperity.
The prominent Functionalist sociologist Emile Durkheim famously argued that education promotes social solidarity through learning the social rules of behaviour of a society from one generation to the next. Education also develops all those specialist and most essential skills needed for the progress of individuals and society such as literacy and the ability to reason. It also provides those engaged in it, a suitable role within society that matches their individual unique talents.

The importance of education is not lost on Somali parents as they like any other group of parents would like to see their children succeed academically and professionally. During many community meetings around the UK, Somali parents have expressed their desire to see themselves and their children succeed in the UK through the attainment of educational qualifications and professional employment. They also made it clear that they want to integrate into wider society in order to provide their children with the best possible opportunities that this country has to offer. However, most of the Somali parents feel that some in school and wider social factors are hampering their children from succeeding academically.

In school factors are factors that are directly related to the schools and which takes place within the schools themselves. Among the most complained of in school issues are a lack of leadership, poor teaching standards, lack of permanent teachers, low teacher expectations and in some extreme cases, institutional racism. One parent argued that what makes the situation worst is that most parents know their children are been failed by a combination of in school factors and this is compounded by other societal ills such as poverty and poor housing which makes learning at home even more difficult and unlikely. One parent went further by suggesting that most schools attended by Somali students in Bristol are failure factories aimed at only teaching students the most minimal in order to maintain the racial and class status quo in this country. This parent described the schools as a production line which was producing illiterate and unmotivated children who possess all the wrong priorities in life. What added insult to injury for one parent from Bristol was the fact that some schools employ token Somali support staff who they feel are unrepresentative and unqualified to be working with their children. “They think by sending me a young Somali person who is no older than my own children they can tick the parental engagement box. They can’t because I do not want to speak to this young token Somali school worker because they know nothing about my child’s education. I want to meet the teachers and not these buffers in between,” one parent said to the amusement of others.

Parents have conveyed their worries of institutional racism within predominantly Somali schools many times over the years and despite assurances they are not convinced that their children are getting a fair education. Many point to poor career and year 9 subject options advice which appear to steer Somali students towards the more vocational courses and professions than the academic ones. They also point to the lack of Somali and ethnic teachers in schools especially at senior management levels despite the majority of students been of these backgrounds.
What makes the education process most unfair for parents is that they believe large class sizes, poor student behaviour and a box ticking approach to learning and teaching has made their children’s future less bright and with planned government spending cuts in education most fear things will only get worst.

Of course, with education spending cuts things will only get more difficult as public policy will be more directed towards reducing the national deficit than tackling poverty or the other causes of educational inequalities. In addition, Continuous Professional Development budgets for school teachers and leaders is likely to be savagely decreased along with funding for key support workers within some of the most challenging schools in the city of Bristol which most Somali parents children attend. Furthermore, adult education and life long learning has already been earmarked for substantial cuts so much so that ESOL classes that were once free and easily available to most parents will now become more like an application for a place on a sponsored PhD at Oxford or Cambridge University.

However, despite all of the mentioned issues above, parents need to understand one thing and one thing only. This very important thing is that ultimately their children’s educational success lies with them and not just with the schools. Parents openly and regularly complain about in school factors such as low and discriminatory teacher expectations, institutional racism, poor teaching, and too many supply teachers but whilst they have no control over some of these issues, they can easily address the others through active parental involvement in their children’s schools and home lives.

In an ideal world educational success would be based on the principals of meritocracy and all students in every school in the country would be provided with an equal opportunity to succeed and pursue their dreams. However, we do not live in an ideal world and it is about to become less ideal and equal as the effects of the recession is going to be felt more sharply as more key public sector workers will start to lose their jobs in the coming few months. Educational bias is rife and they are brought on by many different things such as sex, race and class but it is important to realise that this bias which leads to great inequality and differential educational attainment among students will exist for the foreseeable future. Many pledges and attempts have been made to make the system more meritocratic but the problems at the heart of the issue such as poverty are not getting any easier to solve as the gap between the rich and poor in society widens further and more rapidly.

The honest fact is that Somali parent’s need to start becoming the changes they want to see in their children. Somali adults and parents are statistically among the most economically inactive in the UK and they are the most represented in all the social benefit registers from Housing benefits to Jobseekers allowance which in turn forces their children onto free school meals offered to those children whose parents are economically inactive for whatever reason or are not earning enough to be able to meet the school meal costs of their children. Various research findings have linked poor educational attainment with free school meals and the latest figures from the Poverty Site, the UK site for statistics on poverty and social exclusion, indicate that 11-year-old pupils eligible for free school meals are around twice as likely not to achieve basic standards in literacy and numeracy as other 11-year-old pupils. In addition to this, most Somali parents struggle with the basic English language and this continues to cause friction between themselves and their children’s schools. Furthermore, research by London Metropolitan University has found that the lack of understanding between parents and their children has caused a huge generation gap which has lead to the construction of a communication barrier between Somali parents and their children. The sad fact is that Somali parents are now regularly relying on the schools to inform them of what is going on in their own children’s lives as a result of them not been able to understand them themselves.
Somali students are very bright by all standards as most of them speak a minimum of two languages. However, their learning within schools is disrupted by their own poor behaviour. Many parents blame the schools for this but the question is how do parents expect schools to discipline their own children? Surely this is the parent’s job at home?
Yes, it is but again this is made difficult as Somali families now are more likely to be lead by a single parent mother as a result of family breakdown. Whilst it is true that some racism may exist within schools, it is not as rife as it once might have been as a breed of younger teachers are now delivering the education and more and more schools are providing cultural training for their teachers. However, if one was to attribute Somali student underachievement to the schools rather than the parents the logical question would then be if this is the case, why is it that other ethnic groups who are equally as likely to suffer from racial bias within the schooling system achieve so consistently? The simple answer to this is parental awareness of the education system and its great value to their children’s lives. This is also complimented by the parent’s economic activities as well as their individual ability to assist their children in achieving within the system which is made possible by their higher levels of personal education.

If Somali parents want better educational attainment for their children they must understand that teacher expectations are based on many things but among the most important are students behaviour and parental support as those student who are poorly behaved and whose parents show no interest in their education are those most likely to suffer from teacher prejudice. Where this might have been race related in the past, it is more likely to be the student’s behaviour and their parent’s attitude towards education that forces teachers to ignore some students over others today.

With some students, it is actually their own parents who put them off the education process entirely. This is because most Somali parents, like all parents, have high aspirations for their children and as a result they try to direct them to the careers which will best place them in an increasingly competitive world. However, what is clear is that Somali parents do not value vocational skills and qualifications as much as academic ability and this has been made clear to many of the children who feel that if they cannot go to university than they have failed. This could not be further from the truth as the most successful people in the world have never set foot in a university let alone attend it for three or four years as students. What Somali parents need to do is to recognise that their children are individuals and have their own goals in life and that they ought to be supported as a university degree is no guarantee of anything. Not everyone wants to be a doctor, teacher or a lawyer even if they have the ability to be. Parents cannot live their lost professional dreams through their children as children will only succeed in education or training when they are doing something they are passionate about and something that gives their individual lives meaning. In direct contrast, there are those parents who feel that their children should seek employment straight after compulsory education at the age of 16. This is because many Somali families, despite the relative poverty most of them live in, support absent members of their family who still reside in Somalia or other neighbouring African countries and the income that the young family member brings home would be vital to the extended families survival. These parents would rather concentrate on the present rather than the future and as a result it becomes difficult for a young member of the family to pursue further education and work at the same time without sacrificing one for the other. However, having said this, there may be some exceptional students who do both or can do both but the likelihood of them succeeding is very low.
Furthermore, Somali people have always been and still continue to be very nomadic and this has had a horrible impact on their children’s lives as the lack of permanent settlement forces them to move from place to place and exchange culture for culture.
Inevitably this leads to students underachieving in schools because they never are settled in one place long enough to build up the confidence and relationships required to be able to aspire to achieve anything of any value.

The impact of educational underachievement is horrendous and it can leave behind lasting effects on students. No student regardless of race wants to fail as most would like the nicer things in life that they are bombarded with by the media and most know that unless they are gifted in other ways, education will be their only route to achieving these dreams. This goes for Somali children too and the only way this can happen is if this damaging cycle of educational underachievement is permanently severed by parents through assisting their children’s schools to teach their children better. Educational underachievement should be taken personally by all parents as it is a reflection on their parenting and their children’s values as much as on the bias that exists within the schooling system. Parents are the primary educators and it is through them that children learn the values of society and what is right from wrong. These vital values that they learn within the home will be the values they take outside to the real world and as a result of this parenting cannot be outsourced to schools or other agencies.

The middle classes who have predominantly driven the agenda for social change in the UK and in particular, on the issues of equality and education, appear to no longer be interested in comprehensive education as they aspire to join the elites of society in the private schools or form niche comprehensive schools in affluent areas with difficult entry requirements which bar the poorer students from entering. The middle classes in the later part of the last century through lobbying and voting worked hard towards the creation of a fairer comprehensive education system for all students. However, as they have become more affluent, more and more middle class families prefer the branded and well marketed education of private schools such as Eton which they believe will provide their children with a better education and future prospects. Clearly, as the majority of Somali families cannot afford the private school fees, if Somali parents want change within the education system and for their concerns to be put on the local and national education agenda they must learn to scream loudly enough to be heard and employ the lobbying techniques used by the more affluent groups within society. Despite this, there are those parents within the Somali community who understand all of the mentioned things above and have themselves succeeded in education and as a result have been able to have a positive impact on their children’s lives. However, once again, these parents are the exception rather than the rule.

The Somali community needs support to overcome poverty and social exclusion, which contributes to their children’s poor educational achievements. This support is currently provided by those working within the schools themselves. Many schools now employ Somali speaking support staff and teachers and many more provide some services aimed at engaging the parents with the schools activities. However, this is not cost effective and sustainable in the long term as these in school support workers are not seen as independent individuals who are employed to safeguard the success of the parent’s children but school employees who represent the schools best interest at all times. Since many parents feel that some schools are not representing the best interests of their children, these employees become an extension of the system that is failing their children. In order to overcome this, it would be best and more legitimate in the eyes of the parents, to provide the funding for these in school activities to local third sector groups who are best equipped and have greater experience in delivering outside school support to both the students and their parents. The type of support needed such as mentoring, supplementary schooling, parenting and cultural awareness training is best offered in the community and in a setting free and independent of the school environment. Somali parents have reiterated in every community event organised to discuss issues related to their children that they feel let down by the local schools which their children attend. In order to address this Somali parents want to be an active partner in their children’s education. They no longer want to be passengers on their children’s educational journey. They want to be in the passenger seat working with the schools to ensure their children have a better education than what most of them have become accustomed to.

By funding third sector groups which parents approve of and have relationships with, parents would feel more in control of the agenda and the direction of the support offered to them. They are also more likely to feel part of the process and able to hold providers of outsourced services to account as there would be communal ownership of the services and its objectives.
This in turn would increase the trust between the schools and parents and it would lead to the creation of a new relationship based on co-operation and mutual obligation.

The politicisation of education is wrong but the most politicised issue after immigration and crime is education. In an ideal world education would be above petty Party politics but the fact is that it is not. A few weeks away from one of the most tightly contested political elections in modern British History, all the major political Parties are offering parent centred educational policies which they argue will allow schools to be guided and governed by parental direction. The current government, New Labour, in addition to this election pledge, has invested historical amounts in education with mixed outcomes and they have advocated for the extension of the services schools offer to their students and families to include parenting and family support, sports clubs and childcare. However, the Conservatives, want to localise education and free schools from local and central government control. They want to give Head teachers more freedom over the way they discipline their students and introduce tougher school tests because they feel that education has been dumbed down to meet New Labour targets.

All of the three main Political Parties do have equally valid manifesto pledges but for the low income or no income families within society the Conservative model works against them for it is aimed at middle class parents who feel they can run their children’s schools better than their local Councils. If this policy was to come to fruition the attainment gap the Conservative Party aims to narrow will only widen as some schools in middle class areas which already are too exclusive for the poorer students to access, will thrive whilst the poorer ones will be left behind.

Most of the Somali parents do not want to run their children’s schools as they know that they are not yet professionally ready for such level of responsibility. They do prefer on the other hand, the New Labour and Liberal Democrats education policies as they advocate for more in school support in the form of more funding and smaller class sizes. However, arguably this has lead in the past to some of the parents outsourcing their parental responsibilities to the schools and other support agencies.

From the local Somali education meetings in Bristol and around the UK, it is clear that some of the Somali community members are waking up to their children’s failures and understanding their role in assisting them to succeed. The fact is that educational inequality is real and it is primarily driven by outside school factors such as the home environment, parent’s attitudes towards education, peer pressure, poverty and parents own level of education. Having now woken up to this reality, the majority of the Somali community and their third sector support providers need to be ready to play their part in addressing the educational underachievement of young Somali students in the
UK.

The greatest gift a society can give a child is a good education and every child deserves this. However, the only way this can be achieved is through a collective endeavour by the schools, parents and policymakers to ensure that the needs of the children within the education system come before their egos and the petty politics that accompanies it.

Recommendation for tackling Somali student’s underachievement in Schools:

>Children do not learn by lectures, they learn by example. Somali parents should become the change they want to see in their children.

>Somali parents who need parenting support should seek it from local training providers. Parenting training is not shameful and it can help to bridge the gap of misunderstanding between themselves and their children.
Somali Parents should seek to learn the English language and formally educate themselves. This would allow them to advocate for their children’s right to a worthwhile education.
Parents must acknowledge and support their children’s professional aspirations and not burden them with their own professional dreams.

>Third sector, parent approved providers of outside school services such as play, supplementary schools and mentoring should be commissioned to do this as the schools cannot do everything effectively on their own.

>Third sector Somali groups should be encouraged and supported by local Councils to tender for outside school service provision contracts. This would be most beneficial for all concerned in areas like mentoring where a local Somali charity would be able to arrange for Somali mentors to work with the Somali youth in order to raise attainment. This would allow for the provision of role models and cultural education from those that know the students and their parent’s best.

>Local reading, debating and study clubs should be organised within the community for all to participate in.

>Set up a Somali national education forum to discuss the key issues such as school allocations, exclusion and integration and parental involvement. Every City should have a branch member to deliver locally and since the issues are similar nationally, a community solution based on national evidence can be formulated.

>Somali parents must work towards influencing the educational direction of their children’s school by joining the Board of Governors.

>Since a large number of Somali students in schools are either asylum seekers or refugees, both they and their parents should be supported by community groups to understand the education system and to generally integrate into wider society through education and employment.

The author would like to thank all those that have contributed their knowledge, expertise and time to this publication. Special thanks to Mr.Yusuf Salah and Mahmud Ahmed Matan who both have been instrumental in this publication.

Abaarso Tech Students Show Talent

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“What it takes to make a difference in Somaliland?”

The other night on 15 April’10, I had the opportunity to attend Abaarso Tech School’s first ever annual arts students presentation night. The evening included acting, singing and poetry in English and Somali too. Abaarso Tech is a secondary boarding school situated 20km west of Hargeisa.

The school is the brainchild of Dr Ahmed Hussien Isse, the distinguished intellectual – politician – human rights/democracy advocate and former foreign secretary of Kulmiye party.

Having known Ahmed Hussien through the media, and being an admirer of his political talks, and vision for a brighter Somaliland, I wanted to see his school. Ahmed is no longer active in the public political arena but instead has chosen to devote much of his energy to Abaarso Tech. Indeed, a worthy and admirable decision.

So, what made me go on a cold and wet Hargeisa night all the way to Abaarso was simply plain ‘curiosity’. I wanted to see Ahmed’s new world or his admirable self-exile from the murky world of Somaliland’s political limelight; if you can call it that! So, what better occasion than on a night of festivity.
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Size of the school impressed me the most. It’s locality was even more impressing, in the middle of nowhere! As one approach’s on the highway to Abaarso village first thing you see is a sea of city lights in the middle of nowhere in the thick darkness, resembling an airport terminal of some kind and an educational one for that matter inside Somaliland — this took me aback.

In my observations on the night, the kids performed well and did their best to entertain us. I was little disappointed though that the kids should have been taught or given ample time to polish off their acts to the bream. Also, lighting and arrangement of the stage area deserved a little more attention and planning.

This said, I was greatly moved by the dedication and morale support of the teachers. Many of them from the US, presumably post graduates. I watched them with delight as they egged, clapped, whistled and danced around giving all the moral support a kid could nurture, while fighting off in some, the nerve racking ‘stage fright’ syndromes. These kids have never held a mike before in their hands, so it was ‘a feat and a half’ for them to achieve indeed and probably never forget too.

What also struck me in these kids was their self-confidence, regardless, how out of sync, tune or note they were with the organist/music or text, yet, they stood proud and tall throughout their acts. Which sheds light, on the amount of dedication these kids get from their teachers and type of school Abaarso Tech will become in coming years.

Seeing these US middle class “twenty something or thirty something” teachers having so much fun with their students left a lump in my throat. I was most intrigued to find out so much about them and talk to them about their experience in Somaliland and ask them ‘what made them come to such a stateless (or failed state as some would say,) part of this world. I knew it wasn’t the occasion to thrust my curiosity on them on such a night of noise and grandeur and left them to be themselves with their students.

Edna Aden also, made me feel proud when I saw her sitting amongst the audience. Truly, the Edna we’ve always known. Saeed Abdiqadir Hashi, executive manager of Maansuur hotel made me feel proud too. I saw him helping out gearing up the PA system and preparing the break-time snacks and soft drinks. Maansuur Hotel were amongst the one or two sponsors of this ‘truly unforgettable night for the kids.’

The good Dr Ahmed Hussien too, he saw talking, mingling with students, teachers and parents. I wanted to congratulate him and give him my admiration and salutation. Again, my over-zealous feelings were dampened by something beyond me and couldn’t bring myself to ‘jump him’ with so many people around and waited for a quiet moment when he was alone.

Alas, this never happened and I left the night, disappointed and angry with myself for not at least saying to the good Dr and his teacher’s “hello”, or even “thank you for instilling the joys of a brighter future in us and our beautiful kids, parents and fellow country-folk alike.”

Burdened by this guilt, I sought to sooth myself by taking pen to paper.

Rashid Mustafa
Hargeisa
rashidnuur@yahoo.com

Somalilandpress, 19 April 2010

SOMALILAND: Edna Adan Ismail receives Legion d'Honneur from French President

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HARGEISA (Somalilandpress) — Mrs. Edna Adan Ismail, the Director of Edna Adan Maternity Hospital, has been awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur in the Somaliland capital, Hargeisa, by the French Embassy of Djibouti on Saturday, in recognition of her Humanitarian work.

The order, Legion d’Honneur, which was created by Emperor Napoleon in 1804, is France’s highest decoration and is usually awarded to French nationals who have delivered exceptional service to the Republic of France. However, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy has in person decided to award Mrs Edna for her humanity work in Somaliland, in particular for addressing women and children issues. She was to receive the award on the 16th of April along with the American fashion designer and business icon, Ralph Lauren, for his “his outstanding career and his philanthropic activities and interest in France” in Paris.

The French Ambassador, Mr. Dominique Decherf, who delivered the award on behave of the French leader, said, the French president wanted to award Mrs. Edna in person but Mrs Edna preferred her to be awarded in her own country. Mr. Decherf, along with a high-level French delegation delivered the award to her in her own community hospital.

Mrs. Edna, who runs her own maternity hospital also served as the Minister of Social Welfare in August, 2002, and then Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Somaliland in May, 2003, until late 2006.
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Mrs. Edna who was also the first lady when Somaliland received it’s independence from Britain in 1960 has received numerous awards and recognitions from various nations and organisations for her lifelong contribution to Humanitarian work.

In January of this year, Edna received the Chancellor’s Medal from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, for her “outstanding contribution to humanity”, and for helping the “under-privileged people of Somaliland to realize their right to health”.

In February, Mrs. Edna was invited to the Women in the World Summit at the United Nation by US Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton.

In October of 2009, Edna was invited to the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) by former US president, Mr. Bill Clinton.

In July of 2008, she received her Honorary Fellowship in Nursing from the prestigious Cardiff University in Wales. Prior to her Honorary Fellowship, Mrs. Edna obtained a Honorary Doctoral Degree from the Clark University in Massachusetts, United States.

In March of 2007, Mrs Edna’s name was added to the Medical Mission Hall of Fame, University of Toledo, Ohio, USA, making her the only African on the list.

Mrs. Edna found and funded the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital in Hargeisa in 2002, by March 2002 the first baby was born and has since delivered 9600 babies. Edna told Lynn Sherr of the Daily Beast, that the hospital has reduced the maternal mortality rate by one-fourth since it opened its doors, losing 39 babies, a number, Edna says its still too high. Edna says the causes are lack of education, provery and harmful traditional practices.

The hospital was built on former grave yard, where former Somali military massacred thousands of civilians. The hospital has served more than 96, 000 other patients of mainly women and children, performed more than 2000 various surgical operations. Edna Maternity Hospital provides diagnosis and treatment for Sexually Transmitted Diseases including testing for HIV/AIDS and it’s facilities are open for other clinics and hospitals for medical research, studies and consultations.

As well as treating the sick and delivering babies, the hospital also runs a Nursing school that has since graduated 106 general nurses, 42 post basic midwives, 21 community midwives, 56 lab technicians, and currently have a student population of 157. As well as the school dedicated to training nurses and midwives, the hospital has it’s own library, two operating theatres, Laboratory room, and computer centre.

In the 80s, Mrs. Edna also built a private hospital in Mogadishu but shortly after it was completed the civil war began and some warlord has since occupied her premises. She also worked as Regional Nursing Adviser (Djibouti) under the World Health Organisation in 1987, before taking up, Regional Technical Officer for Mother and Child Health for 22 countries in the region (East Africa, Middle East and Mediterranean). Mrs. Edna continues to be strong advocate against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and other traditional birth practices as well as creating awareness for children health in particular in maternal and infant mortality.

Mrs. Edna Adan is the first Somali to be decorated with the all prestige Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur, which only few foreign nationals have ever received. She was awared on Saturday, the 17th of April 2010, in Edna Adan Maternity Hospital, Hargeisa, Somaliland.

The French delegation consisted of Mr. Dominique Decherf, French Ambassador to Djibouti and Mr. Thierry Choinier, the first secretary of the French Embassy in Djibouti, Mr. Banos Robles Bernard and Mr. Jacques Sabrot, from the French Ministry of education and the Ministry of Culture respectively (see British and French diplomats arrive).

The guests to witness the occasion included Somaliland foreign minister, Mr. Abdullahi Mohamed Dualeh, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Abdirahman Osman Adan, members of parliament, doctors, nurses, students and other dignitaries.

Photo: Edna receives Legion d’Honneur from French Ambassador, Mr. Dominique Decherf (Geeska Afrika Newspaper/17 April 2010)
Somalilandpress, 18 April 2010

– end –

Below: Edna serving her people and on  the world stage, Congratulations Edna from Somalilandpress Team.

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To support her Humanitarian work and hospital, please visit, http://www.ednahospital.org/, you can click on the support button to donate.

THE HALO TRUST: PRESS RELEASE

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 PRESS RELEASE 17 April 2010

Hargeisa (Somalilandpress)-  At 1755 on 12 April 2010 a HALO Land Rover carrying four HALO staff returning from work at Dabogoroyaale minefield to their camp in Dabogoroyaale village initiated a PRBM-3 anti-tank mine. Two staff members – Driver Hussein Abdi Muhumed and Deminer Yousuf Xirsi Bashe – died as a result of injuries sustained during the blast. HALO deminer Hassan Dol Ali and section commander Abdirahman Ismail Aden sustained injuries.

The vehicle was driving on a track very well-used by HALO for hundreds of times and for which there was no information to suggest the presence of mines. Investigations by HALO, the police and the Somaliland Mine Action Centre are underway.

This is the first mine incident resulting in deaths, in HALO’s ten years of mineclearance in Somaliland.

While the police investigation continues into this case, no further public statements can be made.

General information about HALO’s Somaliland Programme can be found at www.halotrust.org

Contact details:

HALO Somaliland                                            HALO Scotland

Neil Ferrao                                                        Guy Willoughby

Programme Manager                                         Director

Mobile: +252 2 4427821                                   Mobile: +44 7768 843 843

mail@halosom.org                                           mail@halotrust.org                  

Contact details:

 

HALO Somaliland                                                                                                                     HALO Scotland

Neil Ferrao                                                                                                                                Guy Willoughby

Programme Manager                                                                                                                  Director

Mobile: +252 2 4427821                                                                                                     Mobile: +44 7768 843 843

 mail@halosom.org                                                                                                                mail@halotrust.org          

 

 

Source: Somalilandpress       

Somali Gunmen Attack Kenyan Border Town

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Liboi, 17 April 2010 (Somalilandpress) – Suspected members of Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militias have for the second time this month raided Kenya’s border town of Liboi.

The heavily armed gunmen barricaded and attacked several positions within the remote settlement, some 18km from Somalia’s porous-ragged border, witnesses told Saturday Nation.

Northeastern provincial commissioner James ole Serian could not be reached for comment. The gunmen stormed two local hotels and a number of business premises during a two-hour raid.

Several shots

According to residents, the gunmen were not confronted by the Kenyan forces who were reportedly manning the border at the time.

“It was shortly after 1am when the gunmen raided our town, they have attacked several places, including Ali-arif and Abdi-adoon hotels,” a witness told us on phone from Liboi Town.

“They have fired several shots; however, there were no casualties and there was destruction of property,” he added. The gunmen left behind a bomb and ammunition.

Early this month, Al-Shabaab fighters attacked a contingent of General Service Unit near the Kenya-Somalia border. Kenya has thousands of troops on the border.

Source: Daily Nation

SOMALILAND: HIV Education Goes To School

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HARGEISA, 17 April 2010 (Somalilandpress) – A new programme is targeting about 800 primary and junior high school students in northwestern Somalia’s self-declared republic of Somaliland with HIV/AIDS messages for the first time.

“The children’s ages range from seven to 19. Of course, most of them are not sexually active now – we targeted them for several reasons … every student comes from a family and he will pass the message to his family. Also, they are the next generation at high risk of HIV,” said Mohamoud Hassan Abdillahi, executive director of Somaliland Health and Social Care Organization (SOHASCO).

The messages, which SOHASCO hopes will eventually raise awareness in thousands of people, included information on how HIV is transmitted and how to prevent infection, as well as the extent of the epidemic in Somaliland; an estimated 1.4 percent of people are infected.

“I was only aware of sexual intercourse transmission of the disease, but now I know three ways that HIV/AIDS is transmitted – illegal sexual intercourse, giving blood to someone without checking, as well as using sharp elements such as the knives, used in traditional operations,” said Abdirasak Hussein Hashi, 19, of Sheikh Bashir primary/intermediate school.

HIV advocates have praised the campaign but many local people are less pleased that their children are being introduced to sexual matters at such a young age.

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“I don’t like students to be taught about HIV/AIDS; when they reach the mature age, they have to be instructed in Islam [so as] not to do the behaviours of high risk, such as adultery,” said Ali Jama Abdi, father of a child. “In our religion it is not allowed for children to be taught what is considered as shameful.”

According to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), policies to reduce the vulnerability of children and young people to HIV cannot be implemented without the full cooperation of the education sector.

Although some of SOHASCO’s messages could be perceived as stigmatising people living with HIV by their use of terms like “illegal sex”, “immorality” and “adultery” to describe how HIV is transmitted, this is the only acceptable way of passing on such information in conservative, Muslim Somaliland. Messages intended to reduce stigma were also included.

“Our slogans were carrying messages like, ‘Stop HIV/AIDS’, ‘HIV/AIDS is very dangerous to every human being, including whites, blacks and Muslims’, ‘Abstinence is the best way of avoiding HIV/AIDS’ and ‘Together we can stop HIV/AIDS’,” Abdillahi said.

SOHASCO said teachers also experienced difficulties. “The teachers know about HIV/AIDS, but their problem is that they do not have the materials, and the subject is not in the syllabus,” said Hassan Jama Abdillahi, principal of Gacma-Dheere School. “It [HIV education] is a crucial step that obliges us to protect our youth from the dangers of this disease.”

According to the Somaliland National AIDS Commission, an HIV education syllabus is being drafted and will be included in school curriculums by the end of 2010.

Source: IRIN

Kenya should back Somaliland's quest for recognition

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HARGEISA (Somalilandpress) — A Kenyan parliamentary delegation visited Somaliland last year and was led by Farah Maalim, the Deputy Speaker of the Kenya National assembly.

The aim of the delegation was to study the economic, political and humanitarian situation in Somaliland. They were to report their findings and recommendations to the Speaker of the National assembly who, if he approved their report, would transmit it to the House Business Committee for allocation of parliamentary time for the House to debate it and make a decision. The report is before Parliament awaiting debate and approval.

This was not the first Kenyan parliamentary delegation to visit Somaliland. Between December 19 and 26, 2006, Mr Paul Muite, led a Kenyan parliamentary delegation on a fact-finding mission to Somaliland, at the invitation of its leadership. The initiatives are a reflection of positive obsession by the people of Somaliland to achieve recognition by the international community as an independent and sovereign state among the international community of nations.

Lack of international recognition has negatively affected Somaliland. The Republic of Somaliland cannot do business with other governments and multi lateral organisations.

Nor does the government of Somaliland have access to the kind of bilateral and multilateral financial assistance that would assist in the reconstructions and the development of the country.

The absence of international banks has tied the hands of Somaliland private sector. Bedsides foreign investors are reluctant to do business in a country where the validity of their agreement with the government is legally questionable.

Uncertainty

Somaliland travel documents are not valid for international travel and this adversely affects businesspersons, students and scholars. Majority of Somalilanders in the Diaspora are reluctant to return home under conditions of such uncertainty.
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The Maalim delegation has made the recommendation that the Kenya government should develop a framework for limited engagement with Somaliland to promote trade and enhance security in the Horn of Africa. Kenya has provided this regional leadership in the creation of the Transitional Federal Government for Somalia and in the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that settled the Sudan conflict.

The indigenous homegrown strategies which have brought reconciliation, peace and stability in Somaliland can provide lessons from which Kenyan, Igad and AU can learn and adopt and apply to Somalia to end hostility and war.

The delegation acknowledged in their report to the Kenya Parliament the accomplishments of the government and the people of Somaliland. These include the consolidation of civil administration which now covers 90 per cent of the country’s disciplined arm, police force and a stable currency.

The government and the people of Somaliland have consolidated democracy through a multiparty electoral system and creation of viable and accountable democratic institutions. If Parliament approves the report of the parliamentary delegation, it will send appropriate signal to the government of Kenya to engage with Somaliland and to lead the campaign for the recognition of the Republic of Somaliland as a full member of Igad, AU and the United Nations.

Complex crisis

Kenya should lead the way in open and direct engagement with the Republic of Somaliland. The security of Kenya has been complicated by piracy in the Gulf of Eden and the Indian Ocean and this has direct bearing on international trade and peace in the region.

Kenya should use its immense influence in Igad and AU to put pressure on Somalia to renounce the notion of “a Greater Somalia” and Somali expansionism through the recognition of Somaliland.

This would offer a lasting solution to the complex crisis in Somalia and in the north-east region of Africa.

By Peter Aringo
—The writer is a former Alego Usonga MP.

Source: The Standard (Kenya), 17 April 2010

SOMALILAND: British and French diplomats arrive

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HARGEISA (Somalilandpress) — A high-level British and French diplomatic officials have arrived in Hargeisa for consultations over the holding of forthcoming general elections in the country and to strengthen ties, Somalilandpress has learned on Friday.

The British delegation was led by Mr. John Marshall, deputy ambassador at the UK embassy in Addis Ababa, held private discussions with the Speaker of lower house of parliament, Mr. Abdirahman Mohamed ‘Irro’, as well as the chairman of National Electoral Commission (NEC) and members from the three political parties.

Mr. Marshall, discussed a range of issues including security, forthcoming elections in Somaliland, and the role Somaliland’s 82-seat House of Representatives could play in the democratization process.

The British visit was preceded by a four-member delegation from the French embassy in Djibouti and was led by Mr. Dominique Decherf, French Ambassador to Djibouti and Mr. Thierry Choinier, the first secretary of the French Embassy in Djibouti. The other two members, Mr. Banos Robles Bernard and Mr. Jacques Sabrot were from the French Ministry of education and the Ministry of Culture respectively.

The French delegation has met with the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Abdirahman Osman Adan. The two sides discussed ways of working towards strengthening ties between Somaliland and France in the fields of security, development, education and culture. They have also discussed the forthcoming elections and the French delegation plans to meet with all political parties as well as the NEC. The delegation said they were also in the country for a fact-finding mission and were accompanied by Somaliland Representative to France, Mr. Ali Ismael Hassan.

French Diplomats

Somalilandpress has learned that, the French want Somaliland’s high-tertiary institutions to include French in their education curriculum as well as presenting French culture and identity through the support of their Maisons de Culture (culture centres), which Mr. Jacques Sabrot is leading. The French diplomats also insisted that they would help Somaliland build strong education capacity and infrastructure.

In recent times, Somaliland has been developing strong ties with France, it was three weeks ago when Somaliland Liaison office in Paris was invited to the all exclusive French-speaking, the International Organisation of La Francophonie for it’s 40th anniversary. In late 2009, Somaliland business communities as well as members of the government were also invited to Djibouti to meet with French companies.

The British and French delegation came just days after the NEC has announced the general election will be held in June and that all three parties have signed the agreed date.

Photo: British diplomats with Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Irro.

Somalilandpress, 17 April 2010

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