Ilaaheey ha u naxariisto eheladii iyo qaraabadii eey ka tageena samir iyo iimaan allaha ka siiyo. sababta loo dilay wiilashaas yar yar sida warka igu soo gaaray waa naceeyb loo qabo soomaalidda oo ka imaanaaya xagga kuwo aan sidaa u caqli badneeyn oo midab iyo jinsi nala wadaaga. soomaalidda waxaa ku dhacay nasiib daro- dhaqankeenii fiicnaa ee islaamka ahaa ka tagnay kuwii aan koodana ku daysaneeynayna hadeey kor cadaan ah iyo kor madoow leeyihiinba waa na neceb yihiin oo ma na arki karaan. wiilka wax xasuuqay waxuu ka yimid carribean-ka waxuuna sida la sheegay raadsanayay soomaali hadda ka hor wax ka bi'isay. hadda ka hor ayaa saaxiibkeey sidaas oo kale loo dilay isagoo qabaar daar ah. Looyaan -ilaaheey ha u naxariisto ma aheeyn dhalinyaradda aaddo club-yadda saaxiibadiis oo vancouver iyo virginia uga yimid aroos dartiis ayuu rabay inuu waqti fiican siiyo soona tuso magaaladda - nasiib daro dab munaafaq shiday muumin aa ku gubto aa qabsatay. calaa kuli xaal - naf kasta waa dhiman oo geeridu waa xaq - ma dhinte waa ilaah- samir iyo iimaan ilaah ha inaga siiyo labadaas wiil ee dhalnyaradda ah, danbigooda iyo keenana allaha dhaafo, janadii fardoosa iyo naxariistee eebe allaha ha ka waraabsho- aamiin. Casharka laga qaadan karo meeshaan waa dadkaaga, dhaqankaaga iyo diintaada ku ekoow. Amar ilaaheeyna lama celi karo -

this is what I call Maxishoodayaal on a character defamation campaign! This unrelenting affront will definitely backfire and exacerbate the somali conflict. People with forsight and human decency don't espouse such soiled slur on a real Somali hero. I must take my hat off to the Honorabe Speaker of the parliament for not heeding off to this asinine smear and character assasination campaign and for doing the noble thing for being the better man. Sharif Hassan ( pay attention to the name - He is Shareef - an honored dignified man ) has never resorted to any discourteous tone....what an excellent distinctive approach! His stance ( thus, to the eyes of Yeey cheerleaders, his crime) is only that an armed intervention is not the favoured solution to Somalia's predicament. History is once again failing some clowns to digest its lessons. A sinister sense of Déjà -Vu seems to be descending upon us once more when ambitious clannish folks suddenly embark on a destructive enterprise of vanity and callousness. waxaa ka heshiin waxba ha naga siinina!! or should we qoute that deep somali adage " Cagtii Joogsan Weeysaa Mar Beey Ceeb La Kulantaa "

I have recently received a private message from some ignorant poster- I wouldn’t name him here- requesting me to stop my criticism of Yeey. some other clown tried to bully me, saying he will track me down and get rid off my sorry -somali-wannabeeass for good while another imposter threatened to ban me from this forum? I am not only surprised by these kind of pathetic pleas at all. It is what I expect from ignorant clannish dummies. but i am kind confused about what is with them and why would they resort to this dumb tactic? Somehow, Yeey’s cheerleaders have come to view my criticism from an adversarial clannish angle. They have wrongly aligned me with certain group and clan. There is one thing that all these Yeey supporters have in common. I noticed that most of them are from the same clan and have the same mentality. they see themselves as divine rulers who must tell their subjects what to do. the kind of condescending attitude characterizes obsessesed backward folks and is only possible from uneducated clannish clowns. Here is a message to these clowns. I will regularly use this space to spotlight the reckless clannish policies of the warlord criminal, Yeey. If you see him as your president, He is not my president and I do recognize him as a warlord. To me, he is always a warlord selected by bunch of other criminals of the same league. I will not tire of to counter the clannish reactionary cheerleading from you clowns. So, please quit your deplorable double games of bullying and cajoling. For many times, I pointed out that the root causes of our quagmire stemmed fromthe clannish temperament of our nomadic people. I will not tire of condemning this clannish culture and the clannish men who plunged Somalia into its current predicament. I always believed that such imbeciles who engineered and still perpetuate the suffering of innocent Somalis should not be allowed to govern the country. I believe these ruthless criminals should be tried for crimes against humanity. I still hold these same beliefs notwithstanding the unfortunate deliberations of Somalis that had rewarded the war criminals to positions of leadership for the sake of peace. Unfortunately Somalis are letting the ruthless perpetrators off with impunity.I won’t. I will continue to expose these criminals forever until they are brought to justice.

Child poverty in Africa: The facts 200,000 child slaves are sold every year in Africa. There are an estimated 8,000 girl-slaves in West Africa alone. (sources: BBC 5 October, 2001 & Anti-Slavery Society) About 120,000 African children are participating in armed conflicts. Some are as young as 7 years old. (source: Africa Children’s Charter) Children account for half of all civilian casualties in wars in Africa. (source: Africa 2015) One in six African children dies before the age of five. Most of these deaths could be prevented. (source: Africa 2015) Nearly one third of children in Sub-Saharan Africa are underweight. (source: UNICEF) In sub-Saharan Africa, measles takes the life of a child nearly every minute of every day. An effective measles vaccine costs as little as $1 per child. (source: UNICEF) Between 12 and 14 million African children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. (source: World Bank/UNICEF) Nearly 2 million children under 14 years old are HIV positive. (source: UNICEF) 43% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have safe, accessible drinking water. (source: UNICEF) 64% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have adequate sanitation. (source: UNICEF) Only 57% of African children are enrolled in primary education, and one in three of those does not complete school. (source: Africa 2015) For every 100 boys there are only 83 girls enrolled at primary school. (source: World Bank) http://www.standupforafrica.org.uk/whatwedo/facts.php

---- "Changing the Mind of a Nation: Elements in a Process for Creating Prosperity,†in Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress. Edited by Samuel Huntington and Lawrence Harrison. Basic Books, 2000. ---- Changing the Mind of a Nation:Elements in a Process for Creating Prosperity MICHAEL FAIRBANKS INTRODUCTION: BLAME THE COW FOR NO PROSPERITY The Monitor Company worked for the government and private sector leaders of Colombia to study and provide recommendations on how the leather producers in that Andean nation could become more prosperous by exporting to the United States. We began in New York City to find the buyers of leather handbags from around the world, and we interviewed the representatives of 2,000 retail establishments across the United States. The data were complex but boiled down to one clear message: The prices of Colombian handbags were too high and the quality was too low. We returned to Colombia to ask the manufacturers what lowered their quality and forced them to charge high prices. They told us, "No es nuestra culpa." It is not our fault. They said it was the fault of the local tanneries that supplied them with the hides. The tanneries had a 15 percent tariff protection from the Colombian government, which made the price of competing hides from Argentina too expensive. We traveled to the rural areas to find the tannery owners. The tanneries pollute the nearby ground and water with harsh chemicals. The owners answered our questions happily. "It is not our fault," they explained, "It is the fault of the mataderos, the slaughterhouses. They provide a low-quality hide to the tanneries because they can sell the meat from the cow for more money with less effort. They have little concern for damaging the hides." We went into the campo and found slaughterhouses with cowhands, butchers, and managers wielding stopwatches. We asked them the same questions and they explained that it was not their fault; it was the ranchers' fault. "You see," they said, "the ranchers overbrand their cows in an effort to keep the guerrillas, some of whom protect the drug lords, from stealing them." The large number of brands destroys the hides. We finally reached the ranches, far away from the regional capital. We had reached the end of our search because there was no one left to interview. The ranchers spoke in a rapid local accent. They told us that the problems were not their fault. "No es nuestra culpa," they told us. "Es la culpa de la vaca." It's the cow's fault. The cows are D.U.M.B , they explained. They rub their hides against the barbed wire to scratch themselves and to deflect the biting flies of the region. We had come a long way, banging our laptop computers over washboard surfaced roads and exposing our shoes to destruction from the chemicals in the tanneries and mud. We had learned that Colombian handbag makers cannot compete for the attractive U.S. market because their cows are dumb. Many Interpretations of the Problem There are many different ways to consider the issues faced by our friends in Colombia. Imagine a macroeconomist's interpretation of the "blame the cow" story: He might remove the tariff and "let the market find a new equilibrium." The nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) might work to upgrade the barbed wire fence, and a business strategist might study and segment the consumer market. A sociologist might say that "the level of interpersonal trust" in the community is too low. An anthropologist might say that they are simply at "a different stage in their economic development" and should be left alone to progress naturally. The different interpretations of our experience in Colombia shed light on the different interpretations of the impediments to creating prosperity. Prosperity, after all, is hard to define. just as many people would view the cow story in a different light, there are many different views on what prosperity is and how to create it. To examine this further, I will break prosperity down into its broad constituents, explain why prosperity is important, and offer elements in a change process for creating prosperity. What Is Prosperity? Prosperity is the ability of an individual, group, or nation to provide shelter, nutrition, and other material goods that enable people to live a good life,' according to their own definition. Prosperity helps create space in people's hearts and minds so that they may develop a healthy emotional and spiritual life, according to their preferences, unfettered by the everyday concern of the material goods they require to survive. We can think of prosperity as both a flow and a stock. Many economists view it as a flow of income: the ability of a person to purchase a set of goods, or capture value created by someone else. We use an upgraded notion of income called "purchasing power."2 For example, the per capita income of Romania is about $1,350, but the purchasing power is almost $3,500 because the cost of many things is lower than the world market. Prosperity is also the enabling environment that improves productivity. We can therefore look at prosperity as a set of stocks. 3 I list here seven kinds of stock, or capital, the last four of which constitute social capital: 1. Natural endowments such as location, subsoil assets, forests, beaches, and climate 2. Financial resources of a nation, such as savings and international reserves 3. Humanly made capital, such as buildings, bridges, roads, and telecommunications assets 4. Institutional capital, such as legal protections of tangible and intangible property, efficient government departments, and firms that maximize value to shareholders and compensate and train workers 5. Knowledge resources, such as international patents, and university and think tank capacities 6. Human capital, which represents skills, insights, capabilities 7. Culture capital, which means not only the explicit articulations of culture like music, language, and ritualistic tradition but also attitudes and values that are linked to innovation Moving away from a conceptualization of prosperity as simply a flow of per capita income enables us to consider a broader system and the decisions for investment in an enriched and enabling "high-productive" environment.4 Nobel laureate Amartya Sen suggests that "the advantage of a stock view would be to give us a better idea of a nation's ability to produce things in the future."5 Why Does Prosperity Matter? We know that individuals around the world have vastly different purchasing power, and countries possess stocks of wealth in different proportions. According to Thomas Sowell, "We need to confront the most blatant fact that has persisted across centuries of social history-vast differences in productivity among peoples, and the economic and other consequences of such differences."6 Recent reports by the World Bank indicate that the standard of living in many regions in Africa, Latin America, and Asia is threatened by declining productivity. There are intimate connections between poverty and malnutrition: muscle wastage, stunting of growth, increased susceptibility to infections, and the destruction of cognitive capacity in children. Eighty-four percent of all the children in the world live in poverty, measured as less than two dollars a day in income per capita. The vast majority of all the babies in the world are born into poverty. Life expectancy, literacy, potable water, and infant mortality are correlated with the productivity and prosperity of a nation. In low-income countries, 607 women out of 100,000 died in childbirth in 1990 whereas in advanced economies only 11 out of 100,000 died.7 But poverty is more insidious than statistics indicate. Poverty destroys aspirations, hope, and happiness. This is the poverty you can't measure but can feel. There is a rich literature on correlation between higher incomes and productive attitudes toward authority, tolerance of others and support of civil liberties, openness toward foreigners, positive relationships with subordinates, self-esteem, sense of personal competence, the disposition to participate in community and national affairs, interpersonal trust, and satisfaction with one's own life. As an example, symposium participant Ronald Inglehart writes that higher rates of self-reporting of both objective and subjective well-being correlate with higher levels of national prosperity. 8 How Should We Speak About Beliefs and Prosperity? There are segments of each society that hold different beliefs about what prosperity is and how it is created. Acknowledging and understanding this is the basis for creating change. In Plowing the Sea-Nurturing the Hidden Sources of Growth in the Developing World, Stace Lindsay and I developed several principles related to mental models: 9 - A mental model consists of beliefs, inferences, and goals that are first-person, concrete, and specific. It is a mental map of how thee world works. 10 - There are sets of beliefs and attitudes that are either pro-innovation and create the conditions for prosperity, or anti-Innovation.11 These beliefs form a mental model. - A mental model can be defined, informed, and tested around a specific, well-defined objective. Nobel laureate Douglass North writes that human beings use "both ... mental models ... and institutions" to "shape the performance of economies."12 - Finally, mental models can be changed. Although culture involves the transmission of meaning from one generation to another,13 it is unlikely that it is a genetic process.14 Alex Inkeles suggests that across the world there is a general convergence of actions and beliefs. He states that "there is evidence of a strong tendency for all nations to move toward increasing utilization of modes of production based on inanimate power, resting in turn on modern technology and applied science." He suggests that these "new productive arrangements" create new institutional patterns and new roles for the individual and also "induce ... new attitudes and values.15 Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist for the World Bank, writes that "development represents a transformation of society, a movement from traditional relations, traditional ways of thinking, traditional ways of dealing with health and education, traditional methods of productions, to modern ways.†16 If such prominent people are making the case, why is the action agenda of governments and international institutions so bereft of mental models research? Why are there so few formal national or regional change processes in place to change mind-sets? What positions do the world's foremost development institutions take on this? Are they constrained by lack of awareness, underdeveloped tools, poor internal consensus, political correctness with shareholders and the press, governance issues, or their own mind-set? Even Paul Krugman, one of the most influential economists in the world today, acknowledges that "economics is marked by a startling crudeness in the way it thinks about individuals and their motivations. . . . Economists are notoriously uninterested in how people actually think or feel.†17 After five decades of, in most cases, frustratingly slow development, mental models may offer the best way to understand and attack the problem of poverty. Symposium organizer Lawrence Harrison suggests that this type of change will be hard "because it requires the capacity for objective introspection and attribution to internal factors that touch on the most sensitive questions of self-image and respect." 18 Inkeles agrees that introspection is important: "It is the mark of a modern nation that it stresses a continuous process of self-analysis.... [A modern nation] is self-correcting.†19 We as practitioners constantly speculate whether prospective client nations-nations that ask for help in improving their economies-can develop a greater capacity to be self-correcting. To respond to them, we must make the first of many steps in a change process and ask, What is the nation's model for creating prosperity? ELEMENTS OF A CHANGE PROCESS Change is a sloppy process and will never occur in an easily described sequence. Despite this, people who want to construct their own change will have to have a schema that is shared and some sense of the components that are necessary to promote change, as well as a broad scope of skills and insights across many domains. Leaders of nations from both private and public sectors invite us to help them improve their economies, specifically their export competitiveness. We have learned over the last decade that macroeconomic prescriptions designed in the political and intellectual capitals of North America and Europe are insufficient. Although the methodologies are complex and draw inspiration across a variety of intellectual domains, I will reduce them to ten critical elements and use illustrations from our work in several countries. I will focus more in this chapter on the first five steps, since they create the conditions for understanding steps six through ten.20 Decode the Current Strategy for Prosperity Most nations that are not creating wealth at a high rate share much in common. Our evidence suggests that they are over-reliant on natural resources, including cheap labor, and that they believe in the simple advantages of climate, location, and government favor." 21 Because of this, they often do not build the capacity to produce differentiated goods and services that create greater value for demanding consumers who are willing to pay more money for these goods. By focusing on these easily imitated advantages, on these lower forms of capital, they compete solely on the basis of price, which tends to suppress wages. Keeping wages low is competing to see which country can stay the poorest the longest. These are exports based on poverty, not on wealth creation. A nation's ability to create both price and non-price value for consumers inside and outside the country is what determines its productivity, and therefore its prosperity." 22 Countries that are thought to be rich in natural resources are often really not rich. Venezuela is a country the size of Texas with vast forests, oil reserves, beautiful beaches, and a mix of indigenous groups and peoples from Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Middle East. Many people believe Venezuela to be potentially the richest nation in Latin America. However, the purchasing power of its average citizens has declined since the early 1970s. If you take the 1997 oil-based profits of $14 billion and divide them by its population of 21 million people, you will find that the oil income represents less than two dollars a day in income per citizen. Moreover, these profits are never distributed equitably: Venezuela possesses the highest rate of poverty increase on the continent. More than 90 percent of the country's exports consist of unprocessed natural resources. Our research suggests that the more a nation exports in natural resources, the less prosperity it creates for its average citizens. A look at the seven forms of capital mentioned above points to the fact that Venezuela is rich in natural endowments, and when commodity prices are high, the country is temporarily cash rich. However, the country has decaying transportation and communications infrastructures that peaked in quality in the late 1970s, government institutions that are inefficient and corrupt, and university-private sector relationships that do not create knowledge capital. With respect to human capital, Venezuela suffers from some of the lowest standards for primary and secondary education on the continent. Finally, some Venezuelan values and attitudes are anti-innovation and progress resistant. For example, trust and respect for national leaders is the lowest that we have ever tested. Venezuela has been victimized by its spurious success, its overabundance of natural resources, and its failure to learn how to make tough choices and innovate. Create a Sense of Urgency Some nations are ready for change and others are not. What would create enormous urgency for some people does not create enough urgency for others. A sense of urgency is created when there is a gap between expectation and reality. The expectation is informed and placed in perspective by knowledge of outside events and a sense of purpose. One African country I know is less open to change than it should be. This nation is one of the highest per capita debtors in the world. It has been given or has borrowed $8 billion since 1991, and the per capita standard of living has declined 4 percent a year over the same time span. Three out of every ten people test positive for the HIV virus. The traditional export industry lies in ruins, a victim of under-investment, declining consumer demand, and competition. Seven out of ten people live on less than one dollar a day. When I discussed their under-funded AIDS prevention program with them and asked what they need to do about the spread of HIV, one cabinet member said, "We are telling the people to stop having sex." When I suggested that we look at some of the things that Uganda is accomplishing, they told me that they were not interested in Uganda for they, "not Uganda, had possessed the third highest standard of living in Africa" twenty-five years ago. They suggested that their cabinet had lawyers and accountants in it, and they did not have to "go back to school to learn" what other nations were doing. They criticize the World Bank and IMF in the press, blame their problems on outside events like legacy of apartheid in the region and the war in Angola. Their plan is to move into exporting maize, in which they "would have a natural advantage," and to continue borrowing from the World Bank. This year they have to use more than half their allotment of almost $400 million to repay old loans. One might attribute their behavior to fatalism, a reverence for the past when things were better, blind pride, and an accompanying lack of openness that stands in the way of learning and innovation. One thing is certain: This country is doomed to more failure until the human crisis grows and forces them to reflect on the deep-rooted impediments to their productivity. Understand the Range of Strategic Choices and Inform Them with Analyses Many of the choices available to firms and governments can be reduced to the following categories: Micro Choices. Business strategy is based on an integrated set of choices designed to achieve a specific set of objectives in an informed and timely manner. In developing nations we see few company strategies that are informed by good research, made explicit, and shared by corporate leaders. We have found seven patterns of uncompetitive behavior at the microeconomic level: over-dependence on natural resources and cheap labor; poor understanding of foreign customers' buying preferences; lack of knowledge of competitor activities; poor inter-firm cooperation; lack of forward integration into global markets; a paternalistic relationship between government and the private sector; and defensiveness in government, the private sector; the unions, and the media. These seven patterns are the norm for companies in countries where the average citizen does not have a high and rising standard of living. The results of these seven patterns are simple exports that compete on price-and low wages-in an increasingly demanding marketplace that provides fewer returns. To mitigate patterns of uncompetitive behavior requires a set of firm-level choices around structuring new learning and decisionmaking. Inside such patterns lies a hidden opportunity for creating prosperity. Macro Choices. The second choice is the extent to which government supports the private sector. Some say that government needs to do more for the private sector, and some say government needs to get out of the way. If we characterize government choices around the level of intervention in the economy, we find a broad range of choices between classic socialism and monetarism. in Cuba, the government has become over-responsible for the welfare of the average citizen, supplying housing, health care, education, jobs, food, and even entertainment and news. Ownership is by the state through collectives and is accompanied by centralized planning that uses quantitative targets and administrative prices. Income distribution tends to be even, and growth tends to be low. The monetarist approach is a sparse but rigid social contract between government and the private sector, which in effect says that government will create a stable macroeconomic environment, and the private sector entrepreneurs will create growth. This strategy emphasizes stabilizing markets, freeing wages and currency exchange rates, and allowing markets to develop. This strategy appears to create more poverty and greater gaps in income, especially in the near term. It fails to acknowledge that the government has a role in the innovation process. It is, we believe, an overreaction to the failed policies of government intervention (e.g., the import substitution that was so popular in Africa and Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s). Our view differs from both these national strategies. We believe that government needs to do everything it can to help the private sector succeed, except to impede competition. This means investing, or helping the private sector to invest, in the higher forms of capital. In poorer countries, government will have to do more than in richer countries. The relationship has to be specially designed, based on a nation's stage of growth and the capacities of each sector. Create a Compelling Vision A vision serves to create a sense of purpose that encourages people to change their actions. The following eight core elements of a good mental model emerged from our work with the leaders of Uganda. 1. A high and rising standard of living for all Ugandans. 2. An understanding that the world has changed dramatically: the costs of communications, transportation, and learning are declining rapidly. 3. An acknowledgment that Uganda is over-dependent on the basic, highly imitatable advantages of subsoil assets, climate, government favors, and cheap labor. 4. An understanding that wealth is based on insight, sophisticated human capital, and attitudes focused on competition as a force that spurs innovation and fosters human initiative, learning, interpersonal trust, and cooperation. 5. An understanding that Uganda's strategies are not a choice between economic growth and social equity, but that economic growth facilitates social equity and vice versa. The more we invest in people the better the chances for growth for a company and the nation. 6. An understanding that productivity is not just competing on the things with which Uganda is naturally endowed. Competitiveness is productivity, and productivity involves what product segments we want to compete in, where we choose to compete, and how we choose to compete. 7. An acknowledgment that the government of Uganda must do everything it can to assist the private sector, except to impede competition. It must invest in people, specialized infrastructure, learning organizations, and a non-defensive dialogue with the private sector, political opposition, unions, and other nations. 8. An understanding that the private sector in Uganda needs to invest more in learning about customer preferences, knowledge of competitor activities, new distribution channels, and investing in the improvement of its people and products. These core elements of a vision need to be embraced by developing nations as they seek to upgrade their economies and create more prosperity for more people. Create New Networks of Relationships After twelve years of civil war, Salvadorans are boldly dedicating themselves to building new networks as part of a national change process between the producers and foreign consumers within the country, and between themselves and their emigrant cousins in the United States. Ornamental-plant producers have traveled to Florida and the Netherlands to meet with and learn about their distribution channels. Honey producers have undertaken surveys to learn about their German customers. Even some of the coffee growers, the oldest exporters and those most entrenched in the old ways of doing things, show signs of trying new things. They are beginning to work in eco-friendly coffee and, with other Salvadoran industries, are testing the market for such innovative products as coffee tourism. The government has institutionalized the National Competitiveness Program and has trained facilitators to teach small and medium-sized exporters to develop business strategies. The government is investing in education networks, building an Internet program in rural areas, and providing some of their best university students with software training in India. The government and private sector are reaching out with conferences and through the Internet to the prosperous emigrant community network in the United States, inviting them to be business partners who will bring access to markets, knowledge, technology, and capital. The leaders of El Salvador understand that communication-between rural areas and the capital, between their companies and foreign consumers, and between the nation and the emigrant community-creates more rapid flows of insight and forms the basis of their competitiveness and prosperity. Communicate the Vision Nations have to use all available means to change minds: electronic and print media, billboards, speeches by leaders, conferences, workshops, databases, and Web sites. The diffusion and adoption of new ways of thinking will take a predictable course. We are mindful that the innovators are often not the principal agents of change. In fact, the early adopters often serve as role models for most of the rest of the nation. In our work, we look to champions who are highly receptive to doing things in new ways and can articulate and embody the new ideas of competitiveness, productivity, and prosperity We have found that the people who are most effective in this part of the diffusion process are not the typical leaders with high status, but those who have internalized the ideas of competitiveness and innovation and can transmit them to domestic networks. We met and trained a coffee grower in El Salvador, who spoke to the entrenched elites in that sector. We found an imaginative taxi driver in Bermuda to work within the highly fragmented taxi community to create a new taxi-touring product. Their main objective was to demonstrate "innovativeness." Build Productive Coalitions Many social scientists believe that practicing change stimulates the development of a new mental model. We therefore have promoted weekly meetings to stimulate strategic thinking within clusters of related industries. We worked with the group that "blamed the cow" in workshops designed to improve interpersonal trust and seek a common strategic vision. By practicing "productive reasoning" techniques, we have created some of the conditions for group problem solving when difficult and contentious issues arose." 23 We have encouraged hotel managers and unionized employees In a hotel industry to focus on new segments of customers to serve. We have encouraged the purchasers of state-owned enterprises and small vendors to streamline and share the former's strategy plan. And we have worked with government ministries and agricultural producers who had fought aggressively over the nation's macroeconomic agenda. These experiments in productive reasoning have led to pilot programs with specific objectives and well-thought-out metrics of success. Develop and Communicate Short-Term Wins People are more likely to change their attitudes and behavior when they see demonstrations of success. Politicians understand this well and are particularly attracted to this part of the process. In any change effort, we need to find examples in which good things happened because of the new vision. Some examples of success might include a new product development, a large overseas sale to new Customers, or an agreement between union and management for new investment in training or improvement in working conditions. Although short-term wins do not need to be large, they need to be communicated in the context of a new way of doing things. Institutionalize the Changes Douglass North writes that institutions are norms.24 Change needs create new norms of behavior. We look not to creating new institutions but to upgrading existing institutions that have reached their functional limits due to globalization, changes in how prosperity is created, and worldwide shifts in values and attitudes. This means everything from improving the rule of law and building democracy to upgrading schools, private firms, and civic organizations. For example, we helped an industry association change itself from a lobbying group that fights the government to an organization that does management education, fosters research and development, informs small enterprises, and supports market studies of foreign customers. Evaluate and Affirm the Changes Finally, we need to create the space for nations to be introspective and to self-correct. We need to create national summits and other venues with leaders of the public, private, civic, and academic sectors. These venues could allow leaders to discuss the economic and social results that the nation is experiencing, as well as the strategies, institutional mechanisms, and mental models that caused these results. Specific questions could include, What quantitative metrics can we use? What are our non-quantifiable objectives? What tools can we improve to evaluate ourselves? What kind of change can happen soon, and which kinds will be intergenerational? Our strategy for change and creating prosperity in nations should meet the tests of actionable strategy: It should balance the past with the future, be explicit and shared, be informed with analyses, be based on an integrated set of choices, and help the people become who they want to be. CONCLUSION Most people believe that prosperity is a good thing. They also know that it is hard to achieve. Only a handful of the world's two hundred nations have discovered how to do it for the majority of their citizens. Even if the messages on how to create prosperity were simple and clear, it would not be for any outsider to tell nations and peoples to change. Questions of the competence, moral authority, and intentions of outsiders can justly be raised.25 However, those of us who are interested and informed on these issues have an obligation to demonstrate to the leaders of nations that "prosperity is a choice"26 and to clarify what those choices and trade-offs might be. After a half century of focus on economic development, now is the time to move away from simple normative frameworks, top-down recommendations, a narrow conceptualization of prosperity, and metrics of performance almost solely on national quantitative aggregates. Now is the time for concerted national and regional initiatives that change mental models. Now is the time to focus on the microeconomics foundations of Prosperity and to diffuse "innovativeness." Howard Gardner makes a distinction in his writing between the direct leaders of organizations and people and the indirect leaders who create learning and shape opinion.27 In the Cultural Values and Human Progress Symposium we had a board member and a country director from the World Bank and the deputy administrator of USAID. These are leaders who allocate major resources to the problem of development. We also have among us some of the most eminent thinkers from the domains of economics, anthropology, political science, and public policy, who have opined on such diverse and relevant topics as trust, firm-level competitiveness, gender equality, and early childhood development. We see poverty in the endless stream of social and economic indicators and other abstractions that come across our desks and pop onto our computer screens every day. Then there is the poverty that moves you when you meet a bright Indian boy from a low caste who will not attend school. There is the poverty that physically threatens you with a machete against your throat on the streets of Nairobi. And there is the poverty that sickens you when you meet an adolescent living on the streets of Bogota who lost her fingers and toes to hungry rats when she was abandoned as an infant in the ancient dank system of sewers. Haunted by these images and inspired by the contributors to this volume, we wonder if some of the social and political problems in the Great Lakes region of East and Central Africa, or the Balkans, are linked to issues of prosperity. Instead, we must consider how the current political and military solutions in those regions can be supplemented, or even substituted, with a holistic change process. Although every contributor shares a commitment to make lives better around the world, most of us are commenting from a point of view that is strongly guided by our professional specialty and our job description, as well as our own mental model. Our challenge is not unlike that of the experts who would attempt to fix the "blame the cow story": How to merge one set of insights with another, to begin to create a locally owned process for change in developing nations that is so thoughtfully integrated, well guided, and productively discussed that it begins to put nations and peoples on the path to high and rising prosperity. So far, the world has not seen anything like it.

This is really sad and disheartening report from Unicef about the State of the world's children. http://www.unicef.org/sowc05/english/sowc05.pdf In 2003, about half a million (516,000) children were born in Somalia . With an infant mortality rate of 13.3% approximately 68,600 died before they became one year old. Of the remaining 447,400 lucky enough to live through their first birthday, roughly 116,000 or one out of five died before reaching 5 years of age. Approximately 331,400 or one of three made it through the obstacles of the most critical period of childhood (age 1 to 5). By the time these tenacious kids were ready to start primary school only 36,454 or one out of nine were fortunate to enroll in first grade. These children lived in a society were only 29% had access to improved drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities were available to mere 25% of the population. With an annual gross income per capita of about $130 in 2003, these children are at risk to malnutrition and a host of diseases that kill in the aftermath of widespread malnutrition. Faced with these odds most of them are not expected to live beyond the age of 48. Children Under 5 years: • Somalia has the sixth highest mortality rate in the world. Children in only five other countries had higher death rates in 2003. They are Sierra Leone, Niger, Angola , Afghanistan and Liberia ranked 1 through 5 respectively. There is one thing that is common to all of these countries. They all fought or are still fighting long civil wars. It is not a coincidence that their children are dying at alarming rates. •Somalia also has by far the highest mortality rate in East Africa Region. According to the UNICEF about 516,000 children are born in Somalia in 2003. Of these 116,000 or one of the five dies before each reaching the age. That is more than 22%. •A Comparison of mortality rates between Somalia and other least developed nations clearly indicates that Somali children are dying at alarming rates even by the standards of the world's poorest countries. The death rate of Somali children under 5 years of age was 22.5% and that of the infants (<1 year) was 13.3% in 2003. The corresponding numbers for the least developed countries were 15.5 % and 9.8 %, respectively for children under 5 year old and infants in the least developed countries of the world. Infants (Under 1 year): The situation of the Somali infants was similarly disheartening in 2003. Somalia 's record included: •The 8 th highest mortality rate in the world. •The highest infant mortality rate in East Africa . •The death rate of Somali infants was 13.3% while that of African Sub Sahara region was 10.4. That is to say, Somali children die at a higher rate than even that of Africa 's average •Somalia has the lowest immunization coverage for children under age one. Only 40 % receive necessary immunizations recommended for the children in this age group. Compare that to the 68% coverage for children in the least developed countries. •Immunization against Tuberculosis (TB) is at 65%. That is about 14% points below the coverage reported for the least developed countries in the world. At 53% Sudan has the lowest TB immunization coverage. •Interestingly again, Rwanda which had seen a lot turmoil during the 90s (far worse than Somalia on some accounts) has an astonishingly 96% immunization coverage for children under one year of age. That is even higher than the 95% rate reported for the industrialized countries. -------------------------------------------------

Where is the Milk and Honey? A story of Somali Bantus who are struggling to cope with their new lives in America Yasmeen Maxamuud August 1, 2005 Somali Bantus going for resettlement to the US in Lokichoggio airport about 100 Km from Kakuma Camp, Kenya. Editors Note: This story was written in December 2004.The author prepared the story to be published in various DC metro area papers to advocate on behalf of the Baltimore Bantu immigrants. This story is representative of all Bantu immigrants scattered throughout the US . We hope it invokes thought and brings to light the dilemma faced by the Bantu population. America , are you still in the mood of giving? Since this is the season when Americans reach deep into their pockets to contribute to each other and others, I thought this would be a great opprtunty to expose poverty stricken families that are needier than most. Do not look afar, many reside in Baltimore metro area a close proximity to many of you, the only divide of course is their status as the newest immigrant community that America has genoursly extended its hand to migrate here. It is hard to believe that there are people in this great city of ours who live in such somber conditions. Children who do not wear winter jackets or socks to protect themselves from the severe cold weather because their parents cannot afford the items. The protection for their feet is limited to wearing mere flip flops in the dead of winter, and an infant that bleeds from the nose as a result of the lead paint poising caused by the high lead levels in the apartments homes they have been resettled in. If these conditions seem appalling for the morally concious, it is extremely baffling for Faadumo Xasan Mohamed, Isniino ( meaning one who is born on Monday), the mother of some of these children. Isniino came to plea for help from the members of the greater Somali community in the Maryland area. She details how she became informed of the severe paint poisoning that were causing acute bleeding for her infant daughter. She said a woman came to visits her house to inform her of the high levels of lead paint poisoning in her apartment. The women who was sent from the department of Social Services began to speak very fast in English, since Isniino does not understand English, she had asked the woman through mainly pointing gestures to leave a message in the answering machine for the Somali interpreter who would visit them later that day. It was the interpreter who broke the news to Isniino that her infant daughter was suffering from lead poisoning. Isniino spend the next month in the hospital with her infant daughter to treat the ailment. Meanwhile, the process to relocate Isniino and her family from the lead loaded apartment into a town house that costs much more than she and her husband can afford has been initiated by the case worker from IRC. Isniino was asked to sign an apartment application that neither she nor her husband could comprehend. When they realized the cost of the apartment, as well as the fact that the apartment had a very high stair case proving movement for her disabled father in law very difficult, they had asked their Somali case worker from IRC to rescind the application, since they did not understand the terms and never saw the apartment before the move in day, he refused. “He forced me to move into an apartment I never saw with high stairs†Isniino said. Isniino's children and the elderly gentleman Zakaria, her father in law keep having accidents with the stairs. Had she seen the apartment ahead of time, she would not have moved in. Now they are stuck with rent they can hardly scrape to pay and impractical home. People like Isniino are left to fetch for themselves by the organizations that have settled them after their assistance period comes to an end. They are given very little preparations to mainstream into their new lives. Her food stamp has been cut, her husband works and although he does not make enough to take care of the monthly expenses, they no longer qualify for benefits, even Zakariyah; the elderly gentleman gets no benefits. As the media recounted the horrible predicaments of the Bantus in Somalia , many would be Somali helpers already residing in the US were discouraged by the grave negative publicity depicting them as perpetrators of abuse and slavery. However, most came to the realization that no amount of negative publicity can kill the commonalities that exists between them as Somalis who share common language, religion, and culture in a foreign land. This was the beginning of the relationship that began as the greater Somali community in Maryland embraced their newly arrived counterparts. Neither allowed despair by the negative publicity that temporarily contributed to their polarization hinder their relationship. So what has come of the newest immigrants who have been scattered throughout the country? To say the least, their lives have not been honey and roses at all. Equipped with nothing more than their God given health and much enthusiasm and not comprehending much the luck that has won them a space to be resettled in this great country, the Bantus were settled in various communities throughout the nation. The grave misjudgment of resettling this group away from their Somali brethren whom they share common culture, language and religion to name a few, has contributed to their plight as language and cultural barrier have become a reality they were ill prepared for. The disappointing realities begun as they found themselves in the midst of their American lives, except things did not work out as wonderfully as they have been led to believe. While a perfect live of smooth sailing was not expected by many of these hard working new immigrants, and while many have thrown themselves into many situations to better their lives, the shock and disappointment in their eyes speaks volume of the failures and misjudgment of the resettlement organizations that have failed to mainstream these undereducated, mostly illiterate, unskilled immigrant farmers into their new lives. Today, it is not social services, or the resettlement organizations that are in the process of uplifting this community to make their very difficult transition as smooth as possible. It is however the larger Somali community in Maryland who support them through interpretations while explaining the different culture of their newly adopted country. The Bantus are glad to receive such assistance from their brethren, who understand their needs only too well as they have gone through it years earlier. The union has been initiated by the older Somali communities who understand the challenges of living in a new country too well. One particular community organization that has been involved in the transition process for the Bantus is the Somali American Community Association of Maryland (SACA). Started by community members as a vehicle to reach the larger Somali community in Maryland to solve community issues, this group of professional Somalis who have benefited from their many years of living in this country use the know how gained through years of education while solving problems through indigenous traditional Somali customs that have worked for many centuries. SACA has mobilized its community members to donate cloths, furniture, beddings, toys and household stuff and anything they can spare to donate to the new comers. They also hold meetings with the Bantu group to figure out their needs, call schools on their behalf, and accompany them on social service meetings while encouraging them to be optimistic and to persevere. It is humbling to know that SACA members have been doing this for the past year on a voluntary basis as the young organization still does not have funding to help the community needs. In Maryland , the Bantus have been resettled in the Baltimore area, a distance away from the older Somali community who mostly reside in Montgomery county and surrounding vicinity. The distance is nothing that dissuades SACA members from reaching the new comers. The generosity of the larger Somali community has been a saving grace for the Bantus. The newest Somali refugees are in dire need of all the assistance they can get. The hope is that the Somalis come together as people (Both Bantus and the larger community) to defy the negative media publicity and overcome the polarization created by ill informed American media outlets that see issues through a race and slavery lens that is uniquely American and which has contributed to the ugly race issues that exists in this country. Although the Bantu situation in Somalia was a grave one, to qualify it as slavery is counterproductive and narrow in vision. Somali community organizations throughout the country can be a positive conduit to transcend the gap and division that currently exists. Yasmeen Maxamuud E-Mail: yasmeen_maxmuud@yahoo.com

http://66.49.226.17/danan/Galayr2SJ05.ram

Xuseen Ceydiid “U sheega Geeddi in aan siyaasadda Soomaaliya uga "Experience†badanahay oon Cali mahdi kala xaajoon jiray arrimaha siyaasadda, Geeddina uu ahaa markii aan qaadaynay GREEN LINE-KA MUQDISHO...."JUNIOR" siyaasad ahaan†Ku-xigeenka ra’isul wasaaha ahna wasiirka arrimaha gudaha Xuseen Max’ed Ceydiid & ra’isul wasaare Cali Max’ed Geeddi ayey wararku sheegayaan in uu soo kala dhex-galay khilaaf ku saabsan qaabka loo wajahayo nabadeynta magaalada Muqdisho, waxaana uu khilaafkoodu cirka isku sii shareeray markii Xuseen Ceydiid uu dhegaha ka fureystay in uu ku soo biiro xubnaha labada gole dowladda ee ku sugan Jowhar, isagoo sheegay in uu taageersan yahay dedaalada ay Muqdisho ka wadaan xubnaha labada gole dowladda ee halkaasi ku sugan, waxaana hadalka ka soo yeeray Xuseen Ceydiid oo ah wasiirka keliya ee dibad-joog ka noqday golaha wasiiradda uu si weyn uga careysiiyey ra’isul wasaare Cali Max’ed Geeddi oo wararku sheegayaan in uu qorsheynayey in uu xilka ku-xigeenka ra’isul wasaaraha ka qaadayo Xuseen. “Ra’isul wasaaruhu waa inuu fuliyaa heshiis-kii aanu wada-galnay aniga, isaga & madaxweynaha intii aanu u ambababixin Geneva, heshiiskaasoo dhigayey in aniga & Geeddi Xamar naloo diro, halkaasina ay dowladdu fadhiisaneyso si NG0-ga ay hadda dowladdu u muuqato looga gudbo†ayuu yiri Wasiirka arrimaha gudaha Xuseen Ceydiid oo sheegay in Golahii Qaranka ee qaabilsanaa nabadeynta caasimada ee uu isagu guddoomiyaha u ahaa in howlihii loo xilsaaray golahaasi in aysan wax wada shaqeyn ah ka helin dhinaca mas’uuliyiinta sarsare ee dowladda. “Shaqada na loo diray aniga iyo Geeddi ma ahan tegista Jowhar, Jowhar waa tuulo, anigu-ba tuulo la yiraa Gelinsoor baan dhisayaa haddey arintu NGO tahay, haddey arintu tahay dowlad Qaran Xamar waa caasimadii, Geeddi ha iska daayo meer-meerka ha na tago Muqdisho’ ayuu yiri Xuseen Ceydiid oo sheegay in isagu uu khibrad ku filan u leeyahay arrimaha dib u heshiisiinta Soomaaliya, si taa loo xaqiijinaya loo baahan yahay in la la yimaado biseyl siyaasadeed oo suurtagelin kara in cod jilicsan lagula hadlo bulshada, laguna xaliyo wadahadal khilaaf-ka ka dhex taagan xubnaha labada gole dowladda, wuxuuna ka digay in xilka Qaranka loo isticmaalo ujeedooyin siyaasadeed guracan. “Bal Aniga Geeddi ha i geeyo Jowhar, u sheega in aan siyaasadda Soomaaliya uga "experience†badanahay oon Cali mahdi kala xaajoon jiray arrimaha siyaasadda Geeddina uu ahaa markii aan qaadaynay GREEN LINEK-A Muqdisho "JUNIOR" siyaasadd ahaan†ayaa laga soo xigtay Wasiirka arrimaha gudaha Eng. Xuseen Max’ed Ceydiid oo muddadii uu soconayey shirka dib u heshiisiinta Soomaaliya noqday hogaamiyihii ugu tanaasulka badnaa, wuxuuna xaqiijiyey in khilaaf-ka ka dhexeeya isaga & ra’isul wasaaha aanu ku koobneyn qaabka loogu kala aragti duwan yahay nabadeynta caasimada ee xittaa ra’isul wasaaruhu uu soo fara-gashaday howlihii wasaaradiisu u xilsaarneyd, wuxuuna sheegay in uu magacaabay wareegtooyin uu sharacigu u baneynayo in lagala tashado, waxaana laga soo xigtay Xuseen Ceydiid in uu yiri. “Geeddi waa in "Job discribtionâ€-ka shaqadeyda uu faraha kala baxaa haddii kale wax wada shaqeyn ahi ma jirto, "Do your Job and let me do mine†ayuu yiri Xuseen Ceydiid oo sheegay in loo baahan yahay in loo hogaansamo axdiga la wada qortay. Xiisada ka dhexeysa ra’isul wasaaraha & ku-xigeenkiisa ayaa waxaa ku soo baxay waxgarad & siyaasiyiin ay isku beel ka soo jeedaan madaxweynaha oo uu ku jiro ninka lagu magacaabo Jaamac Buluu, waxaana lagu ku wargeliyey madaxweynaha in haddii aanu xal ka gaarin xiisada ka dhex taagan labadaasi mas’uul in ay sababi karto in uu sii dheeraado khilaafka ka dhex taagan dowladda. Nasrudiin Ceydiid Salaad. diinicadde@hotmail.com Qaranimo.com Muqdisho, Somalia

August 2, 2005 To: UN Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan Permanent Representatives of the UN Security Council Members We, the HWY Action Group (HAG) regard the proposed reconciliation plan of the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) seriously flawed. This plan proposes Jowhar as the seat of the Transitional Institution inconsistent of the Transitional Federal Charter of Somalia. The relocation of the Transitional Institution, the Introduction of foreign troops in Somalia and respecting the Transitional Charter are the three major obstacles in the Somalia Peace Process at this time. The UN will not be seen as an honest broker by recommending Mogadishu not being the seat of government. The UN can play a vital role in the Somalia peace process in strengthening the new Transitional Charter by advising the two camps to respect it and not weaken it by advocating ignoring parts of it. It negates the fact that the leaders of the Transitional Institution have the responsibility to seek legitimacy from the people of Somalia and not act as an occupying foreign force waiting for the right time to attack. The people of Somalia have lost trust of Abdullhi Yussuf and see him as an agent of Ethiopia. On July 28 troops loyal to this warlord crossed from the border of Ethiopia to Hiran region attacking local tribal militias. The people in Bay and Bakol regions are preparing for the worst as this warlord with the help of Ethiopia sends weapons and ammunition there to create a military base for his planned attack of the neighbouring regions and on to Mogadishu. The situation in these regions is tense now and violence may escalate. It is also noteworthy to mention that the city of Galkayo is calm after he left there for Jowhar ten days ago. There must be a trust building mechanism plan among the people and the leaders of Somalia. Only a broad based national reconciliation that has a timeline and benchmarks to build consensus among the Somali leaders will strengthen the legitimacy of the Transitional Institutions. We ask the UN to allocate the expertise and funds needed to make the Banadir Security Initiative successful. We believe this will encourage other cities and regions to do the same. We urge the people of Somalia to reject violence and reaffirm their commitment to peace and constitutional order. It is the responsibility of each and every Somali to preserve the Unity and the sovereignty of Somalia. Contact Liban Gabeyre Executive Director

Nin dhawaan ay qaar ka tirsan dadka ku dhaqan magaalada Beledweyne ay u magacaabeen guddoomiyaha gobolka Hiiraan ayaa xalay marti qaaday qaar ka tirsan maleeshiya ka soo jeedda Puntland oo taageeran madaxweyne Yuusuf kadibna bililiqeystay hubkii iyo gaarigii ay wateen. Ruunkinet 28/07/05 Nin lagu magacaabo Cali Cabdi Mahadalle oo ay dhawaan ku magacabaan guddoomiyaha gobolka Hiiraan qaar ka tirsan taageerayaashiisa ayaa la sheegay in uu ka furtay qoryo, saanad iyo gaari ay wateen maleeshiya taageersan madaxweyne Yuusuf oo ka soo jeeda gobollada Puntland. Mar aan dhawaan la xiriirnay wax garad reer Hiiraan ah oo jooga magaalada Beledweyne ayaa noo sheegeen in uu mudane Cali Cabdi martiqaad ugu fidiyay maleeshiyadan si ay u yimaadaan magaalada Beledweyne. Warka ayaa intaasi ku daraya in markii ay soo gaareen magaalada Beledweyne maleeshiyadan uu martiqaaday mudane Cali Cabdi oo ka mid ah 4ta guddoomiye ee sheegata in ay Hiiraan masúul ka yihiin kadibna geeyay meel aan ka fogeyn magaalada uuna ka qaatay gaarigii ay wateen iyo qoryahoodiiba. Weli lama xaqiijin in uu mudane Mahadalle xabsiga dhigay maleeshiyadan iyo in uu sii daayay. Warar kale oo aan dhowr daqiiqadood ka hor helnay ayaa sheegaya in tuulada Ceel Gaal maanta lagu dhacay gaari booyad ah iyo qori iyo bastoolad ay wateen maleeshiya ka timid Feerfeer oo halkaasi biyo u soo raadsatay. Warka ayaa intaasi ku daraya in gaarigii booyadda ahaa la soo celiyay balse ay weli maqan yihiin qorigi yo bastooladdi. ""Siyaasiyiinta reer Hiiraan oo si weyn u kala qeybsan dartoood ayaa sababtay in ay qowsaar u kale noqdaan siyaasiyiin kale", ayuu yiri oday joogay magaalada Beledweyne oo magaciisa codsaday in la qariyo mar aan maata wareysanna xaaladda ay ku sugan tahay Beledweyne. Cabdullahi Xuseen, Ruunkinet, London

Ciidamadii ka yimid Puntland ee joogay Feerfeer oo la filayo in ay aadaan Xudur kadib markii khilaaf soo kala dhex galay ayaga iyo maleeshiya reer Hiiraan ah. Ruunkinet 29/07/05 Maleeshiya taageersan madaxweyne Yuusuf oo ku sugan Feerfeer ayaa la sheegay in ay dhawaan aadi doonaa dhinaca magaalada Xudur ee gobolka Bakool. Maleeshiyadan oo tiradoodu lagu sheegay in ay dhan yihiin 1300 ruux oo ku hubeysan gawaarida gaashaaman iyo hub kale oo kala duwan ayaa lagu waday in ay yimaadaan magaalada Jowhar ee uu ka taliyo Maxamed Dheere. Ciidamadan ayaa la sheegay in uu qorshahoodu ahaa in ay yimaadaan magaalada Beledweyne si ay ugu sii gudbaan magaalada Jowhar oo uu haatan ku sugan yahay Co. Cabdullahi Yuusuf madaxweynaha Soomaaliya oo ay ilaaliyaan maleeshiya ay isku jufo yihiin Maxamed Dheere. Qaar ka tirsan maleeshiyada beesha Xawaadle ayaa la sheegay inay shalay isku dhaceen maleeshiyada ka timid Puntand oo biyo u soo doonatay Ceel Gaal in kastoo ay wararka qaar sheegayaan in ay sahan ahaayeen si ay u hubiyaan cududda ka hor imaan karta marka ay doonayaan in ay xoog ku maraan wadada u dhexeysa Beledweyne iyo Jowhar. Cabdullahi Xuseen, Ruunkinet, London

http://www.midnimo.com/Julay/31_07_prof_geeddi_oo_ku_xigeenkiisa_oo_ku_kal_aragtid_duwan_dib_u_heshiinta.htm Ra’iisal Wasaare Geeddi iyo mid ka mid ah kuxigeennadiisa oo ku kala aragti duwanaanaday Qaabka loo marayo Dib u heshiisiinta. Prof. Cali Maxamed Geeddi iyo mid ka mid ah kuxigeennadiisa ayaa ku kala aragti duwanaaday arrimaha dib u heshiisiinta ee dalka Soomaaliya, iyadoo Labadaas nin si kala gooni gooni ah uga hadlay dib u heshiisiinta. Wasiirka Arrimaha Gudaha ee Dowladda Federaalka ahna kuxigeenka Prof. Cali Maxamed Geeddi ayaa sheegay in dib u heshiisiinta ay tahay mid ka mid ah qodabadii dhawaan ka soo baxay Golaha Ammaanka Qaramada Midoobay oo amray in dowladda ka shaqeyso dib u heshiisiin guud iyo mid gaar intaba. Ra’iisal Wasaare Prof. Cali Maxamed Geeddi ayaa sheegay in dib u heshiisiin dhamaatay haatana dowladiisu ku gudi jirto dhismaha iyo howlaha laga qabanayo, sida Maamulada Guud ee Degmooyinka dalka iyo dhismaha Ciidamo Qaran. Mr Caydiid oo dad badan ku yaqaanan isbebedel badan ayaa sheegay inuu taageersan yahay howsha nabadda ee labada gole ka wadaan magaalada Muqdisho,isagoo caddeeyay in isaga iyo Geeddi ay ku qoran yihiin inay ka shaqeeyan xaalada amaan ee magaalada Muqdisho. Prof Cali Maxamed Geeddi Ra’iisal Wasaaraha Soomaaliya ayaa ku celceliyay inuu ka soo horjeedo in beesha caalamka dib u heshiisiin ka dhex samayso Labada garab ee Dowladda Federaalka

http://www.midnimo.com/Julay/31_07_muran_ka_dhacay_samenta_ciidamada_qaran.htm Muran ka dhashay Sida loo qeybsanayo Ciidamada Qaranka Soomaaliya Wararka naga soo gaarayo Gobolka Bakool ayaa sheegaya in uu khilaaf kala soo dhex galay Madaxweynaha Dowladda Federaalka Soomaaliya Col.C/llaahi Yuusuf Axmed iyo Wasiirka Beeraha Dowladda Federaalka Soomaaliya Col. Xasan Maxamed Nuur Shaati Gaduud kadib markii lasheegay in Ciidamo Halkaa lagu aruurinayo. Labadani Mas’uul ayaa waxa keenay Khilaafkooda dhinaca Fikirka ah qaabka loo uruurinayo ciidamada qaranka dalka Soomaaliya oo haatan uruurintiisa ay ka soconeyso qeybo ka mid ah gobolka Bakool.

kuun kuun lamina lamina tabaaraka sette uno baaraka siyeeda lamuunika yakayaa we'elaa aa baxayaa... ---- Kuun kuun kumasaar alla labey laanshoow xabageey bilo bilo bilo jano aw baroow beerta dhowr dhowrimaa tan maahinee teeda kale ey ku timid eey ku taal talaabooy taraq dheh.... ----- kuun kuun cadeey bareey jeelo jeelo afaa mudeey ..... i can't remember the ending.... ----- dhakac dhakac dhumsulikoow deyaasee kadamdamee daashoow bax.. ---- kadimeey kadim = hide and seek ----- gariir waxaa badanaa dheelo gabdhaha, wiilasha waxeey dheelaan shab..... ---- imbili = afar furka oo coca colada ama faantada aa lagu dheeli jiray - godadka waxaa aheeyeen 7X7 or 5X5, 9X9 depending how you agree to set it up.... godadka waxaa jira la dhaho bandar, kan looga dalaco ...hadaad tirada dhaaftid waxaa la dhihi jiray "qatifoo qoryahaaga guro " ...warbac (4) , sette,(7) imbili (8) eber -- that is all i remeber of it.... Boojo (bocce )waxaa dheeli jiray odayaasha - it is an italian game.... ----- kabteey bilataa ha bilato barbarkeey rabto ha u dhaco - cad iyo madoow waxaa dheelo wiilasha oo waa is tun.. ---- yool yool aa sidoo kale jiray ---- nacash nacash gabdhahaa dheeli jiray ----- qunful qunful qunful naar darab masaakiin qum qum yaa abuu faas --- guessing game -------- Jar ka boodo iyo shaxna odayaasha dheeli jiray --- that is all i could remember about child plays and other passtimes games back in the days.... first Somali heroine = Abooto Xaawo then Araweelo the queen first Somali hero = Abkoow Aaden, ..oday biiqe Geedi baaboow, Bucur baciir, .... Somali Anthem Soomaaliyeey toosoo toosoo isku tiirsadeyee hadba kiina taag daranee taageera weligiinee...waxa aan u ooyaayoo ilmadu iiga qubaneeyso ikhtiyaar nin loo diidoo la adoonsadaan ahayee ....qabiilkaad ku tookhdeen baa qarankaagii kaa dumiyoo, tayo li'ida qoys qoyskaa idin baday tabaalahanee...soomaaliyeey....toosoo ------- Waqooyiga Soomaaliya : gobolladda : Awdal (boorama), Waqooyi Galbeed(hargeeysa), Sanaag(ceerigaabo), Sool(laascanood), Bari(boosaaso), Nugaal(garoowe), Goballada Dhexe: Mudug(Gaalkacyo), Galgaduuud(dhuusomareeb)Hiiraan(beledweeyne) Koonfur: Shabeeladda Dhaxe(jowhar) Banaadir (Xamar) Shabeeladda Hoose (Marka ) Jubadda Dhexe (Bu'aale) Bay (baydhabo) Bakool (Xudur) Gedo(garbahaareey) Jubadda hoose (kismaayo)

ALLAH recognizes the prophet in the quran as: " Wa-inaka lacalaa khuliqin cathiim" - And verily, you (O Muhammad (peace be upon him)) are on an exalted standard of character- And Verily, You (Muhammad (PBUH) you have been created with awsome character " so you want me to include him here? you have a twisted mind! Nomadic- I love my beloved Prophet Muhammed peace be upon him and It will be a blasphemy to compare anyone to our beloved prophet. No, I won't do that and I am talking about contemporary leaders and not prophets and meesangers of Allah. We have their example in our religious books and no one has ever managed to follow their foot-steps. It is impossible to compare divinely guided prophets with current world leaders. so can you think of anyone who could be a good somali leader?

These skinny and malnourished boys from Bari, dressed with arrtificial cheap uniforms and with phony arrogance, came to the city to harrass its beautiful girls and working business people. They came to rape "Beerlula" and to feast on the sweet juices of the "Baar". But what they didn't know was that Beerlula's strong and well-fed proud knights were there to defend their "Houris" and the "Baar" is an age-old cherished sustenance not to desecrate. They have been taught a good lesson indeed!! The skeletal boys should go back to their hell-hole before it is too late or otherwise get ready for a rollercoaster of humiliation, pain and defeat at the hands of the fearless warriors of the south. for Yeey being in Jowhar, so far the news from there is that the old hag - knowing his days are numbered and his fake liver is unreliable - is busy quenching his thirsty for the Gin and Rum of Snai-Biasa under the shady trees of jowhar.

For forty five years, pathetic Somali leaders were and still remain the main culprits of destroying our economy, society and country which became the text-book example of failed state. In all these years, these so-called Somali leaders have indulged in a irresponsible clannish rivalry of corruption, nepotism, profligacy. Most of our leaders violated our rights with impunity and we actually cherished and rewarded these thugs because of clan allegiance. the consequence of this esteem is that we have now criminal worlords as president, minister or parliamentarian. It is universally accepted that substandard leadership has a direct correlation to development of a nation. The root cause of Somalia’s endemic problems has partly been traced to leaders coming from clannish background. These appalling leaders are generally known to have created despicable conflicts, misused and abused power and driven their people further into poverty. It is very important that for Somalia to reclaim its rightful position in the international community, it must do something about its “terrible so-called leaders.†So here is the question: Do you know any Somali person who could be a candidate, someone who could become our Mandela? Ghandi? Mahathir? who could get us of this horrifying disarray? Just name few good men and women you could think of who could become great leaders if given the opportunity and could come up with a different solution to our tragedy? Those you nominate must have good qualities. They must be educated, free of tribalism, have no criminal record, have good character and wisdom. They must be honest and good Muslims. Please no warlords or the thugs we have known in the past. Let me repeat this: no warlords, no one from the current politicians or past politicians....no clannish elder or anyone who supports them.

recognize this ? it was back then in ..Canada! in 2002! Toronto Star Dec. 6, 2002 How long must Muslims apologize? RIAD SALOOJEE As Al Qaeda's spree of senseless slaughter threatens to continue unabated, Muslims everywhere find themselves bound to an unending logic of denial and dissociation. Precisely because Osama bin Laden speaks in the name of Islam, Muslim communities have been galvanized into action. If Muslims do not provide their own lived narrative of Islam, their faith will continue to be hijacked by a band of violent, narrow-minded bigots. Even before the events of Sept. 11, Muslims bore a special responsibility to represent Islam truly. For what is normative in Islam is, unlike the case with Christianity and Judaism, relatively unknown in many Western societies. Christians, for example, never had to explain or apologize for the Christianity of David Koresh, Timothy McVeigh, or even the Christianity-laden pretext of white South Africa's apartheid policy. [or, for that matter, the right-wing racist survivalists.] Islam, still seen by many to be foreign and exotic, is known mostly through the prism of catastrophic events. As one journalist pointed out, we only learn of Islam when there is a bang-bang overseas, or when the tectonic plates in the Muslim world start to grate and shift. Islam thus tends to be understood through the norm of the extreme. The post-9/11 world has put a greater onus on Muslims. Often, however, this has been a case for more than just great expectations. Even though Canadian Muslims unequivocally condemned the killing of innocents in the name of Islam - a fact that was prolifically covered in the Canadian press from coast to coast - the charge of a complicit silence was frequently levied against them. Muslims, it was alleged, remained silent and said little. A corollary, and recurrent theme, was that Canadian Muslims were slow to prove their loyalty and patriotism. In short, Muslims were held to a more rigorous standard than their compatriots - and found to come up short. They faced, as another commentator suggested, a "stiffer test of patriotism" than their fellow Canadians. And even with the prolific condemnation, it was at times asserted that the dissociation was not true or authentic. Rather, it was peremptory, even obligatory. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. The bar of culpability seems fixed rigidly to guilt by religious association. The blame game continues. Even now, with every new attack, pundits sit in ivory towers of self-righteousness and demand fresh new condemnations from innocent bystanders. Many requests are so harsh, so venomous, that no amount of condemnation will ever suffice. We are witnessing, instead, the politics of ethical one-upmanship that asserts a quota on morality but, in reality, corners the market when it comes to moral chauvinism. Rarely, for example, is the U.S. brought to task for creating the Bin Laden Frankenstein, supporting and arming him to the teeth. Nor is Russia asked to apologize for invading Afghanistan, brutalizing it for a decade, and creating a climate of internecine warfare and extremism. Or, for that matter, is Israel called on to rectify its brutal and morally unjustifiable occupation that provides fuel to these twisted conflagrations of hatred. Indeed, one detects through these omissions that the apportioning of blame to Muslims en masse has an ugly racial face. When, for example, was world Jewry called to account for Israel's flagrant violation of international law and, just recently, according to Amnesty International, its war crimes in refugee camps? No matter what the future holds, Muslims must continue to dissociate themselves from Al Qaeda. For bad and worse, their silence is presumed to be consent. Still, an appeal ought to be made for moral symmetry. It is often forgotten that hundreds of Muslims perished in the attacks as well. The attackers were not interested in filtering out believer from non-believer. And their actions ought to speak louder than our words of denial and dissociation. We - that's right, we - were all the same to them.

We are asked to condemn the London Bombings and we did. We are asked not to be silent of these terror acts and we voiced our unequivocal opposition and dicontent with the terror groups . Our scholars and Ulemma issued Fatwas against Terrorism and Suicide Bombings. We have been asked to not let our religion being hijacked by few fanatics and we cowered to the call. What more do they want? We can’t voice Muslim grievances about their foreign policy. we can't talk about the genocide of Fallujah,If we do, we are terrorist sympathizers. Whatever we do, they will not be happy with us. ( read Quran)They won't stop their constant denigration and dehumanization. We have bigoted “Orientalists†experts in their media outlets continually defaming our religion and prophet. We tolerate the daily incriminating looks and vile glances, we tolerate the constant harassment and name calling of our kids in school...Our sisters are not allowed to wear their Hijabs? (Look at France) The Azhar Mufti was forced to acquiesce and urge Muslims to conform to the French Hijab ban. Our beardos are being incarcerated indefinitely without due process (after 9/11) – now Imams will be appointed by the secret service. We became so frightened that we have developed an inferiority complex. we are cornered so badly and shitting in our pants! What is coming in theatre soon? Encampment alla Gitzmo, assimilation? Name changes? we already have brothers and sisters reflecting of changing their names. At hospitals, moms giving birth are urged to think the future of their kids and don't punish thier new born babies by giving them Muslim names. Nadia and Hannah are now so popular among Somali mothers in the US for these names sound somewhat western b...And to add more pain to this insult, we have those weak coward sell-outs rushing to please their masters and accusing us of duplicity and complicity. Jews terrorized Palestinians to oust them of their land because the Jewish “GOD†promised “Moses†the land. If you try to speak about the occupation of Palestine, the daily killings of their children, demolitions of their houses, the bombardment of Israel against them, you will be labelled with “Anti-Semitism†...Who could dare to ask Jews collectively to apologize for the atrocities committed by their government? How many Christian nations have nuclear bombs and used it against non-Christians. (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) Ever heard of Christian Bomb? Never! But you are familiar with the “ISLAMIC BOMB†because Pakistan has one – that is nothing compared to the one Israel has. America, “the home of the brave and the land of the free†came into existence by genocidal means. 12 millions (conservative estimate) of natives were wiped out and no one can call that a holocaust. Black “Americans†can’t ask for reparations for the 400 years of slavery.... they gave up on the “40 Acres & Mule†promised to the freed slaves. Europe colonized Africa for centuries and ever heard any apology from her Excellency? I could go on and on with this and the pages of this forum won't be enough...if we try to bring these "white" nations to court for their crimes against humanity....and agaisnt "Non-white" people ....they can't defend themselves. You figure out what is the common denominator here? Islam is the "evil" religion ... our enemy! let us get rid of a quarter of humanity!

back in the days - in the play-grounds of Boondheere , BAJAQ (FAX) was a slang designated for chics in general and BASHAQ was assigned to the ones you could easily get into bed! or u could brag off to your buddies about scoring certain easy chic..they will call her name and your will be shouting BASHAQ and there you have every other Faaraxs who will be on a mission to hunt that poor chic! These sounds are in fact somali old people use it and understand it .... here is a dialogue between an old Somali man and his Somali doctor. The doctor have been living abroad for long time and his Somali is kind challenged. OLD MAN: Dhaqtar si uun baan juucjuuc u ahay baryahan. Doctor: haye bal xanuunka ku haayo ii sheeg? OLD MAN: Markaan istaago - Indhahaaba Zzzaaammm la iga siinaayaa oo aduunkoo idil baa wiiwwiiwww ila leh oo wadnahooo dhan baa woohwoohwuuh leh oo madaxaa la igu dhufan oo nervahoo dhan baa dhagdhagdhag-leeynaya oo lafahoo dhan baa qajajajajac leh oo calooshaa la i maroojinayaa oo jiiiiqq la iga siinayaa .... the doctor is lost and can't understand what the old man said - but pays close attention to the sounds and thinks to himself - " there must be a some kind of motor making all that sound in the poor old man's body!"

It is scary and it is unbelievable that we now have two Somalis suspected would-be copy-cats. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4715201.stm Good luck to Somalis in London! now you will have to deal with the negative impacts of this! or is it possible that the London Police is once again bluffing?

She is the tooth-pick Model, confessed alcoholic and junkie herself ,who dated Johnnie Depp ones and was featured on Calvin Klein Underwear Adds.

Like a cat cornered, he fights back with razor-sharp claws - Ngonge, don't take it personal and get all edgy on some simple remark...and learn how to hold back your emotions saaxiib! you are now behaving like the "duplicitous and obtuse" Muslims! I like to put people on the spot! case dissmissed! next topic!

The one thing that we pick from your lengthy lectures so far is that your favorite words de-jour are : Obtuse! and Duplicitous: With the help of the Dictionary.com here is their meaning: Let us look at them. 1- OBTUSE: a- Lacking quickness of perception or intellect. b-Characterized by a lack of intelligence or sensitivity: an obtuse remark. c-Not distinctly felt: an obtuse pain. 2- Duplicitous: Given to or marked by deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech. Muslims who don't differentiate terror and don't see the " governmental terrorism", the invasion, the occupation of Muslim lands and the "Fallujah, Gaza, Grozny" genocide of America, Israel, Russia & England as conventional war are duplicitous and above all OBTUSE!!! Well done !! it is like I am watching Fox news Channel and Bill O'Reilly! what a torture! ciyaal xaafadda waxeey dhahaan markeey arkaan adoo kale " Kan caqligoow rabaa inoow nooga xaaro"