A series of Somali success stories in the diaspora.

[AussieHustler]

The mayor who wears a hijab
This is Cllr Rakhia Ismail. She's the UK's first Somali-born female mayor and is thought to be the first mayor to wear a hijab.

Cllr Ismail was chosen as the new mayor for Islington, north London - a mostly ceremonial role - on 16 May.

Produced and filmed by Fahima Abdulrahman


Islington Mayor ‘a role model for women’




http://islingtontribune.com/article/mayor-a-role-model-for-somali-women

 

[AussieHustler]

Britain’s coolest mayor is now Europe’s coolest MEP

Magid Magid has won a seat in the European Parliament for the Green Party (Picture: AFP/Getty)



The mayor who branded Donald Trump a ‘wasteman’ and banned him from his city has won a seat in the European Parliament. Magid Magid went viral last year after posing on top of a staircase banister for his official mayoral photo. The 29-year-old, who moved to Sheffield from Somalia when he was five, was both the youngest Lord Mayor the city has ever seen and the first Green Party councillor to take on the role. He hung up his mayoral boots earlier this month and announced he would be running in the European elections. After winning his seat tonight, he tweeted: ‘We did it. Today is about a Green Wave cascading through Europe & landing on the shores of Yorkshire for the first time. We’re just getting started.


‘This’ll be more than a fleeting midsummer night’s dream in Brussels. We’re going to turn the tide of history!’

The pro-EU politician was one of six MEPs elected in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Magid told Metro.co.uk last year that he wanted to bring attention to how ‘awful and disrespectful’ Trump is to the ‘lovely people of Sheffield’.

He said: ‘Not that I think he will come to Sheffield, but it’s about sending a message to everybody else.

‘It’s time to show solidarity with the people of Mexico. I’ve spoken to quite a few of the Mexican community in Sheffield, and they said they were fully supportive of it.’

He is the first Lord Mayor to have a degree in marine biology and was once a contestant on Channel 4’s reality show The Hunted.

Magid also became the first Lord Mayor to swear during his inaugural speech, when he thanked his mother ‘for putting up with all the shit’ he’d caused her over the years.


https://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2019/...oolest_mayor_is_now_europe_s_coolest_mep.aspx

 

[Wiil_Facaye]

Mashallah this is the post I’ve seen in Somalispot

 

[Wiil_Facaye]

this is the BEST post I’ve seen on spot ****

 

[AussieHustler]

Somali refugee turned lawyer reflects on life growing up in Australia.

Yusuf Mohamud, a 28-year old lawyer and Somali-Australian discusses life in Australia, his contribution to society and the challenges his community faces settling into their new home.

Born in Somalia, Yusuf is the youngest of five children and came to Australia at just nine months of age.

His family decided to leave Mogadishu just before civil war broke out in 1990 with Yusuf’s mother telling him years later that their flight was one of the last flights out of Mogadishu before the city descended into chaos.

His family settled in Melbourne’s northern suburb of Heidelberg where he started his schooling.

He remembers Heidelberg as a low socioeconomic area with a lot of drug use and violence in the early days.

His family was among the first cohort of refugees from Somalia who came to Australia and he remembers it as tough time.

“My older brothers used to get into fights due to racism, it was quite tough,” he says.

A few years later that would all change when other families from Somalia arrived in the area and Yusuf felt more at home.

Village life to reconnect to his roots

At the age of nine Yusuf's parents decided it was time for him to learn some culture, language and religion. His father took him on a whirlwind trip across the Middle East and Africa, through Egypt, Jordan to UAE and finally Mogadishu at the height of Somali civil war.

Yusuf Mohamud Image Source: Provided

Mogadishu was a war-torn city divided and controlled by warlords and clan militias.

“I remember seeing 14-year-old with AK 47, it was crazy,” he says. “I would pass time playing soccer, going to Madrasa.”

Concerned by Mogadishu’s insecurity, his father took him where it all started, a little desolate village with no electricity, and no running water on the border between Somalia and Ethiopia. It was where his father grew up.

Islamic Madrasa was the only education on offer, where ink made of charcoal and water was used to write on wood

For a nine-year-old from Melbourne, this was far away from home, no Mall to hang out at, no corner shop to buy a chocolate bar or ice cream.

“I remember not having potato for a while," he says. "For some reason I needed potato and one day someone told me there was truck with potato and watermelon in the village, I chased the truck and bought potatoes, came back to my aunt’s house, gave her the potatoes and asked her to put this in the pasta that day.

“It was probably one of the best days in the village," he says, looking back at an event that gave him a perspective on life in Australia.

“I think that gave me a lot of things to be thankful for to live in Australia, but it also gave me a real sense of identity,” he says.

No straight pathway to education
After finishing high school, it wasn’t easy for Yusuf to find his feet and studying law was not his first choice, trying engineering and doing a variety of jobs he didn’t find “mentally stimulating”. In the end the biggest motivation to be a lawyer was to help his community.

“I did it because there were no other lawyers and it surprised me that there was no one else doing it,” he says.

As a lawyer Yusuf commands respect within the Somail-Australian community. Generally, lawyers are not portrayed in a positive light but in this community, he is held in high regard. It is enough to say, 'the lawyer' in his community without mentioning his name and people know who you're talking about.

Yusuf began working for West Heidelberg legal service where he started to volunteer after his studies.

“When I first applied to volunteer, they knocked me back and I had to explain to them my connection to the suburb and community,” he says.

Now he divides his working time between West Heidelberg Legal Service and legal firm Starnet Legal.

Founder and principal of Starnet Legal, Kimani Boden describes Yusuf as “motivated, self-disciplined and hardworking young lawyer”.

“He has been able to use common sense and undertake legal research in order to identify legal solutions to unfamiliar factual scenarios,” Boden says.

First experience in court
Within three months of officially becoming a lawyer, Yusuf represented pro-bono a Somali refugee family who bought a car on a hire purchase agreement against the car dealership.

The newly arrived Somali refugee family with limited English skills and little money didn’t know what to do when the family's father got into an accident and the dealer with whom the car was insured with refused to pay up. Instead the dealer repossessed the car claiming payment arrears.

Supreme Court of Victoria

“I spent the whole weekend preparing and learning the intricate national credit code and consumer law,” he says.

Facing a company represented by lawyers and barristers, the 28-year-old novice lawyer in his first appearance convinced The Federal Circuit Court to have the car returned to the family, his first victory in what felt like a David versus Goliath style court battle.

“It was a huge win, a huge experience,” he says.

Yusuf helps the community with legal issues, sitting once a week at The Mall, a small shopping centre with a large number of Somali community-owned businesses including restaurants, cafés, tailors and travel agencies.

https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage...r-reflects-life-growing-australia?language=so

 

[AussieHustler]

Edmonton app developer wins grant to help improve health-care access in Somalia

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-app-measles-somalia-1.5200670

Khalid Hashi

An Edmonton app developer has received a $10,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve infant vaccination coverage in Somalia.

The grant was announced this week, a year after Khalid Hashi began designing OGOW EMR, an app that stores health-care records electronically.

The electronic medical record system will allow hospitals and caregivers to track information digitally in a country where doctors typically work without electronic documentation.

According a 2015 World Health Organization report, health indicators in Somalia are among the lowest in the world and the immunization rate for measles is only 46 per cent. (Globally, 85 per cent of infants get the first dose of measles vaccine, still short of the 95 per cent needed to prevent outbreaks.)

"We knew right off the bat that it had to be accessible in Somali and we knew it had to be very user-friendly," Hashi told CBC's Radio Active.

Hospitals in the country often lack the resources to consistently track sensitive medical information, Hashi said.

The electronic medical record system was designed to be used either online or offline on a tablet. It is for both doctors and at-home caregivers, since family members play a large role in health-care delivery, particularly with vaccines.

The app is currently in a pilot phase. The grant money will provide an opportunity to expand access, track vaccination schedules and monitor which areas of the country have lower vaccination rates.

Hashi's idea was one of five selected for funding in the Empowering Caregivers in Immunization Innovation Challenge.

Ogow means 'to know'

Hashi said he first thought of the concept for OGOW when he visited Somalia for the first time in 2017.

He travelled there to see his grandmother while she was in and out of hospitals for eye surgery and follow-up treatments.

He said he spent the majority of his time at the hospital and realized that doctors were communicating all of her medical information in conversation, without any paperwork documenting the procedures.

"I was born and raised in Canada so I just did not imagine that my grandmother's records were nowhere to be found," he said.

"When I was there, my mind was just racing. My grandmother didn't have her medical records and I knew many others didn't as well."

Back in Edmonton, Hashi started visiting hospitals to learn more about the Canadian model and started a fundraising campaign to develop the app.

OGOW, the Somali word for the verb "to know," grew from concept to reality within months as Hashi connected with doctors and government agencies in Somalia via social media.

Hashi, who works with the organization Habitat for Humanity, was familiar with the world of non-governmental organizations but had no previous background in medical care or tech development.

"It was a no-brainer that when I identified a need to fill this void, we would go ahead and at least attempt to do it," he said.

"I just really thought something could be done here, and to be honest I didn't know how to address it in the beginning, but that's when I started using my social media platform to put the call to action.

"Influential Somali artists, all sorts of professionals were reposting the story and it went viral."

 

[AussieHustler]

Somali Canadian Engineer helps bring much needed scholarship to a college in Canada



https://theworldnews.net/so-news/so...uch-needed-scholarship-to-a-college-in-canada

 

[AussieHustler]

I have featured Ms Jamila Gordon in a previous post. She is on a roll.

Lumachain lands $3.5 million for tech tackling modern slavery in food supply chains.


Lumachain founder and chief Jamila Gordon. Source: Supplied.


Aussie startup Lumachain has secured $3.5 million in funding for its blockchain technology tracking food supply chains, and tackling modern slavery at the same time.

The funding round was led by Main Sequence Ventures, the manager of CSIRO’s Innovation Fund.

Founded in April 2018, Lumachain provides a blockchain platform for tracking the origin, location and condition of items in the food supply chain in real-time, ensuring they’re coming from ethically responsible sources.

more on;

https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/news/lumachain-food-supply-chains/

 

[AussieHustler]

The Somali boy who fled a civil war who now wants to be a Cardiff MP

Mohamed Ali says he's seen what civil war can do - and says he isn't prepared for Brexit to cause one in Britain.

Mohamed Ali wants to be the Conservative MP for Cardiff North

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/somali-boy-who-fled-civil-16649202

 

[AussieHustler]

Thanks to @land owner who brought this to my attention by posting on another forum.

Top five scientists of Somali heritage who are helping advance humanity

Every day, scientists across the globe work tirelessly to solve problems, understand complex mysteries, save lives and make life a little bit easier.

Here, we take a look at five great Somali scientists whose work is changing our world, in one way or another.

Osman Aden Abdulle

Abdulle is a prominent Somali physician and geneticist.
The son of Somalia’s first president Aden Abdulle Daar, the young Abdulle and his colleagues jointly discovered a new Rh gene complex producing the rare Cx (Rh9) antigen in the Somali population.

Abdusalam Abubakar

Abubakar is a Somali-born Irish scientist from Dublin.

He was the winner of the 43rd Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2007 at the age of seventeen. He went on to be named EU Young Scientist of the Year in September 2007.

Warsame Ali

Ali is a Somali scientist and assistant professor at Prairie View A&M University.

He specializes in aerospace technology. He has previously worked for NASA.

Ali Said Faqi

He is a Somali scientist specializing in toxicology and a diplomat.

A leading researcher in his field, he has numerous scientific papers and also authored a book entitled A Comprehensive Guide to Toxicology in Preclinical Drug Development.

Dr. Faqi is a noted scientist in the fields of birth defects and reproduction.

As a toxicologist, his scientific contributions mainly focused on saving lives and supporting people’s health worldwide.

Ahmed Mumin Warfa

Warfa is a Somali scientist specialising in botany, who with his colleague Mats Thulin discovered Cyclamen somalense, a flower species.

Warfa is also actively involved in the affairs of Somalia and the Somali diaspora, whether as a reconciliator working for the UN and the Somali government or as an activist raising funds for projects such as Hiiraan University.

https://www.biladd.com/2019/02/25/8...ritage-who-are-helping-advance-humanity/life/

 

[AussieHustler]

Against all odds.

Southall girl whose mum died when she was a week old achieves uni dream

Hamdaa Ali worked to support herself and sister while studying a levels at Villiers High School.

A Southall student from Somalia who had to work in a call centre to fund her A-level studies has said she’s ecstatic to have achieved her dream of going to university.

Hamdaa Ali, 19, moved to Hayes when she was just nine from her home in East Africa, having grown up in the region.

Her mother died about a week after she was born, and her father has not moved to the UK, leaving Hamdaa and her 35-year-old sister to support themselves.

She’s worked at a call centre for the last two years, which she needed to do to support her and her sister, but admits it made school difficult

But today (August 15) she received an A* in sociology, a B in psychology and an A in business studies after studying at Villiers School in Southall .

The results were enough to gain her a place at City, University of London, where she will study sociology and media.

She said: “When I first came to the UK it was a big adjustment. It’s just made me want to make it.

“All the issues I’ve had trying to get my Passport and stuff, this just makes it all worth it.”

She added: “I’m honestly so shocked. I really didn’t expect any of those grades. I’ve had such a rough year and had to repeat it because I felt so pressured. The School put up with a lot from me to be honest, the head of sixth form especially.

She added: “Last year there was a time when it felt like it [her job] was getting in the way of my studies. But I needed the money for my lunch and stuff. It’s just being able to balance it all.

“My sister’s supported me a lot and put her life on hold for me. We’ve had to give as much as she can just to pay for me being here.

Head of sixth form, Patrick Cootes, paid tribute to journey at the school.

He said: “Today is actually the first time we’ve received the full story is with her.

“We know that she was supporting herself and these days it’s alarmingly often that you get cases dealing with real life challenges.

“I feel really privileged to play a small part in the lives of these people. I’m really proud of her.”

https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/southall-schools-parents-levels-results-16760992

 

[Formning1]

Why caddaanka mentioning somalis attending univerisities? Isn’t that normal? Somalis have been studying western universities since the begining of time.

 

[AliUK]

Why caddaanka mentioning somalis attending univerisities? Isn’t that normal? Somalis have been studying western universities since the begining of time.

Yh but she went through some struggle to achieve it.

Plus we need good publicity like this rather than the constant bad publicity we receive as a community.

 

[AussieHustler]

Hussein Suleiman: How Daily Paper blends African and Dutch cultures in Amsterdam.



Hussein Suleiman moved to the Netherlands as a Somali refugee when he was just two years old.

Now, Hussein and his business partners are aiming to blend their African and Dutch cultures through their clothing brand, Daily Paper.

However, this sentiment isn't present throughout the Netherlands, with the Dutch parliament voting to ban the full Islamic veil this year.

 

[AussieHustler]

Somali peace activist Ilwad Elman tipped for 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.

Ilwad Elman, who moved from Canada to Somalia in 2010 to step into the shoes of her late father and champion of peace in Somalia to fight for former child soldiers and female victims of sexual abuse could be this year’s winner of a Nobel Peace Prize, a Norwegian research organisation know for its predictions has said.

The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) which announces its shortlist of possible winners of the coveted prize mentioned Elman as a possible winner of the prize under the Youth Peace Activism category.

PRIO director Henrik Urdal who sits in the Nobel Committee but waives his right to nominate has singled out Elman for the prize alongside Libyan activist Hajer Sharief and Hong Kong’s youngest legislator Nathan Law Kwun-chung.

According to PRIO, its directors, based on their professional assessments, ‘have made it a tradition to offer their personal shortlists for the Peace Prize’.

Reacting to the news, Elman told HOL from Canada the nomination alone meant a lot for Elman Peace, the organisation she runs in Mogadishu. “I am excited the world is recognizing the many years of hard work at Elman Peace. We work under difficult conditions but I am glad we have not only changed lives but the world is also paying attention.”



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Urdal’s prediction last year came true when Congolese doctor Dr Denis Mukwege and Yazidi activist Nadia Murad were awarded the Peace Prize for ‘their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.” The two had earlier appeared in Urdal’s nomination list.


PEACE CHAMPION

Elman moved to Somalia from Canada in 2010 to join her mother in continuing the legacy of her father in champion for peace in Somalia through support of vulnerable groups affected by the over two decades period of civil war in Somalia.

Ilwad Elman and her mother, Fartuun Adan, accept an Oxfam Right the Wrong award. “We believe everyone’s life is important,” says Adan. Photo Credit: Keith Lane/ Oxfam America.

Her father, Elman Ali Ahmed, christened the Father of Peace, was killed in 1996 in Mogadishu and her mother Fartuun Adan continued the peace mission before she was joined by Ilwad in 2010. Their rallying call, Drop the Gun, Pick the Pen saw many children return to school after many years of conflict. The organisation has now expanded to incorporate other project areas such as helping women who are victim of sexual abuse, skills and capacity development among others.



Elman Peace has been able to support young men and women through vocational skills training, integration and support of defectors from extremist groups and helping victims of sexual abuse and rape in Somalia.

Elman has previously served in various international organisation such as the Kofi Anan Foundation, One Young World Ambassador among others. She was also instrumental in co-authoring the Youth Action Agenda on Countering Violent Extremism which was cited in the historic UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on youth, peace and security.

She was named among the 100 most influential persons in Africa for 2019.

According to the Nobel Committee confidentiality rules, neither the names of nominators nor of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize may be divulged until the start of the year marking the 50th anniversary of the awarding of a particular prize

There are 301 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 out of which 223 are individuals and 78 are organization.

The winners will be unveiled next month.

https://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2019/..._ilwad_elman_tipped_for_2019_nobel_prize.aspx

 

[AussieHustler]

Canadian sisters on front lines of rebuilding Somalia .

The Elman sisters are bathed in the honey glow of Somalia’s late afternoon sun, the only sounds coming from an iPhone in a pink case that chirps continuously and the bursts of chatter from women upstairs. A sign in the corner of the office where they sit reads: “Real Men Don’t Rape.”

For those who know the Canadian sisters from Ottawa, it is rare to see them together, just talking, sitting still, not working on Somalia’s front lines.



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Iman has just come from work and is still dressed in her military fatigues, a black hijab discreetly tucked beneath the lieutenant’s cap. She turns heads on Mogadishu’s streets: it is rare, if not unheard of, to have a female commander, let alone one who is only 21.

When she joined the military two years ago, women were given two pairs of pants to sew together to make a skirt. Knowing it would be hard to fight in a skirt, Iman told them one pair of pants would do. Now she commands 90 men in her battalion.
“Being raised in Canada, I was taught you’re no different from any guy, you’re equal, you’re the same,” she says. “When I went into the military they said, ‘You can’t do that, it’s not your job.’ I wanted to break some of the stereotypes here.”

Ilwad, 23, is smashing stereotypes, too, speaking out about violence against women and promoting their rights at the Elman Peace Centre, which she runs with her mother, Fartuun Adan.

She left Ottawa in 2010, to visit her mom. But she couldn’t leave.

“A lot of people didn’t understand what compelled me to come back here, and even more so, what caused me to stay,” she says. “It’s hard not to be here. I’ve been back to Canada several times but every time I’m there I feel I’m just so much more of use around here. I feel guilty almost.

“Things are changing so rapidly in Somalia. It’s like we’re in the middle of a revolution and I feel like I’m a part of that.”

Their father, Elman Ali Ahmed, would be proud. Ahmed was a well-known peace activist in Mogadishu during the early 1990s, when Somalia’s government collapsed and sectarian warfare enveloped the country. With his wife, he cared for orphans and ran community programs, including one called “Lights for Peace,” which lit the city’s dark corridors, controlled by rival warlords.

On March 9, 1996, he was shot in the back by hooded gunmen in a crime that was never solved.
“Elman did not belong to any political faction and had been outspoken in criticizing all political leaders for the continuing violence,” read Amnesty International’s statement at the time. “He had actively promoted a culture of peace and reconciliation and, unlike many businessmen went about unarmed.”

Elman was 42 when he was killed and three years later, in 1999, his wife moved to Ottawa with their young daughters, Ilwad, Iman and their eldest sister Almas, who is with the Canadian military reserves.

“I look at these girls and I see a piece of him in each of them: the creativity, the energy; the courage and ideas,” says their uncle, Ahmed Abdisalam Adan.

“None of them knew their father but the genes are there.”

Fartuun Adan raised her girls in Canada but returned to Somalia for good in 2007 to continue her humanitarian work. This March, she received an International Women of Courage Award from the U.S. Department of State.

In 2010, when Ilwad and Iman returned to Mogadishu, Al Shabab controlled most of the city. While the Al Qaeda group still has a strong, covert presence and the ability to launch attacks — such as the assault on the Supreme Court last month — the capital is no longer a war zone.

“Now I can drive down the road by myself, I can walk, I can be out until 11 at night or even past that. When I first came the curfew was at 1 p.m.,” says Ilwan. “Flying bullets and stray bullets were the norm. Now when I hear one shot I flinch because I’m not used to it anymore.”

But there is still a long way to go before the Shabab is completely conquered, especially outside of Mogadishu, where Iman has fought or led security operations.

The work of the Elman sisters highlights many underlying tensions in the city: the role of the returning diaspora; women and the stigma of speaking out on gender violence; and the building of a military that can be trusted.

Those issues converge upstairs at the Peace Centre, where a 40-year-old woman is cuddling her 1-month-old daughter. To protect her identity we’ll call her Asha. Asha was abandoned by her husband’s family after a divorce and could only survive by trading sex with soldiers for food and a place to sleep. She says she was gang raped, eventually became pregnant, and left to give birth by herself before she was rescued in a town outside of Mogadishu in April.

After spending a few weeks at the Elmans’ safe house, she is now being reunited with her family.

In March, the New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a scathing report accusing Somalia’s security forces and militias of raping displaced Somalis who had fled to camps to escape the famine and conflict in the country’s south.

The report followed the story of 27-year-old Lul Ali Osman Barake. She said she was gang raped by uniformed men, but when she reported the crime to police and a local journalist, she and the reporter were put in jail. It took a month — and international outcry — before the government acknowledged the incident.

Rape and issues of gender violence, such as forced genital mutilation of young girls, are not topics easily discussed in Somalia. Keeping the issue at the forefront is a struggle.

“This has to be addressed and the focus now is on concealing it,” Ilwad says. “So will there be a push to change Somalia’s image by just covering it, or will there be an acknowledgement that it’s happening and actually do something about it?”

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/...ers_on_front_lines_of_rebuilding_somalia.html

 

[AussieHustler]

Reer Henni are doing very well.

HFX teenager helps Somalia make history in World Cup qualifiers.

Abd-El-Aziz Yousef played in both World Cup qualifiers for Somalia against Zimbabwe. (CPL)

HFX teenager helps Somalia make history in World Cup qualifiers

HALIFAX – A first call up for international duty recently resulted in a young HFX Wanderers FC player being a part of history.

On Sept. 5, winger Abd-El-Aziz Yousef played a full 90 minutes as Somalia earned a 1-0 decision over Zimbabwe, the nation’s first victory in a World Cup qualifier in its history.

“First ever win, it was just an unbelievable feeling,” Yousef told CanPL.ca. “It was big and it kind of united all Somalia in one win. Hopefully we just keep going from here and take it to another level.”

It’s a result not many expected, especially considering you have to scroll to the bottom of the FIFA world rankings to find Somalia ranked 199 out of 211 nations, sandwiched between fellow minnows Timor-Leste and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and well behind Zimbabwe (No. 118).

“It was a very emotional feeling, just to be at an international level that is very high for me, for a 19-year-old,” Yousef said.

The Cinderella tale didn’t completely work out in the end with the Ocean Stars losing on aggregate after losing 3-0 in the second leg vs. Zimbabwe on Sept. 10, thus ending the nation’s run to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Yousef played the first 60 minutes in the return match, and he was substituted off while the game was still 0-0.

For the qualifiers, the Somali Football Federation took a different approach to building its roster by picking athletes who are playing outside the country. Including Yousef, 12 players were brought in from overseas.

“So, that made a big difference. We managed to just focus on the game and get a result for our country and we just made our country proud,” Yousef said.

While Yousef was born in Saudi Arabia and raised in Vancouver, his mother was born in Mogadishu, Somalia giving him eligibility for the Ocean Stars.

“She was very happy, and she just told me it’s your decision whether you want to play or not, but she said she would be very happy if I represent Somalia. She was just extremely happy when I went for it,” Yousef said.

HFX Wanderers FC coach Stephen Hart watched Yousef in action and pointed out how he impressed, but also where he needs to improve.

“It just showed us everything we know about him. He’s a young man that has talent when he gets the ball,” Hart explained.

“The game showed what, for me, is the element of his game that he really needs to work on which is football without the ball. You can’t only play when you get the ball. It means you’re only playing for three minutes. Once he works on that and keeps working on that, then his game will be in a situation where we can definitely get something out of him.”

While Yousef has yet to see CPL action this season, he has been available off the bench as a substitute in a number of matches.

“It will help me as a player and as a person,” Yousef said while reflecting on his experience. “My debut for my national team, it was just an unbelievable feeling. I’m just really blessed to be playing.”

As for what’s next with the national team, Yousef said Somalia is hoping to qualify for the 2021 African Cup of Nations when the tournament takes place in Cameroon.

https://canpl.ca/article/hfx-teenager-helps-somalia-make-history-in-world-cup-qualifiers

 

[AussieHustler]

Kiwi (New Zealander) Legend: the Somalian refugee who became a mental health hero.

Our new series produced by the New Zealand Red Cross profiles people from refugee backgrounds who now call New Zealand home. Our fourth Kiwi Legend: Sahra Ahmed, who fled Somalia at the age of nine to become a nurse and mental health advocate for her local community in Christchurch.

https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/25...lian-refugee-who-became-a-mental-health-hero/

 

[Amal44]

May Allah SWT give us the Somali people happiness and the ultimate success in this world and the next. Ameen

 

[AussieHustler]

Somali journalist Abdi Dahir appointed New York Times East Africa correspondent.

MOGADISHU (Hiiraan Online) - Somali journalist Abdi Latif Dahir has been appointed the New York Times East Africa correspondent, the U.S news company has said.

Dahir who has in the last three years been East Africa reporter for Quartz International will was unveiled Monday as the New York Times East Africa correspondent to be based in Nairobi.

“We are excited to announce our first new correspondent: Abdi Latif Dahir is joining The Times in Nairobi from Quartz Africa, where he has served for three years as East Africa reporter,” Times said in a statement.

New York Times International Assistant Managing Editor Michael Slackman described Dahir as ‘new talent and bringing in fresh insight’.



According to the Times, Dahir has covered China’s deepening reach into Africa, the political transitions in Ethiopia and Sudan, and the intersection of technology and geopolitics.

He has written about how companies and innovators are shaping industries, from agriculture to art. In between, he’s brought readers insightful stories about African culture, literature and food.

Abdi was born in Nairobi and grew up partly in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

https://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2019/...nted_new_york_times_africa_correspondent.aspx