Interesting story

[Thinkerman]

The Other Mogadishu: Ruled by the Pen, Not the Gun

 

Fri October 3, 2003 08:15 AM ET

 

 

 

 

By William Maclean

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The pot-holed route from the airstrip winds through streets lined with wrecked cars and alleys clogged with rubble before depositing the foreign visitor, with a bump, at the entrance to Mogadishu University.

 

Grazed by the goats that wander every street, the area may not look much but behind the iron gates lies the neat, white- and blue-painted home of what many say is the most influential institution trying to revive broken Somalia.

 

Perhaps its main gift, apart from knowledge, is hope.

 

"I dream of being in a big company like Microsoft," said computer student Mohammed Abdulkarim, 20, sitting in the front of several rows of gleaming workstations in a spotless classroom.

 

Speaking above the hubbub of fellow men and women students, the middle-class youth says he could have studied in Pakistan where he went to school but chose to study at home instead.

 

"When I came back from Pakistan I was afraid of what I heard of Mogadishu. But I found things are improving because people are tired of war. And I want to rebuild my country."

 

This is not the usual image of Somalia, which has been without a government since it collapsed in anarchy with the 1991 toppling of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.

 

An estimated 60,000 gunmen and their rifles, truck-mounted machine guns and rocket launchers still roam the cratered streets of the capital of an estimated one million people.

 

Among the first sights on the drive in from the nearest airstrip are a burned-out tank and the looted former army academy, now inhabited mostly by refugees.

 

Appearances can be deceptive. The spoils of full-scale war have long been exhausted, the wholesale slaughter of the 1990s has passed, and lawlessness is currently the main curse for a city that was once one of Africa's safest. War may return, but for now businessmen and professionals are growing forces.

 

GUNS AND "TECHNICALS"

 

"There are two Mogadishus," said Maxwell Gaylard, who coordinates all U.N. operations in the Horn of Africa state.

 

"There's the Mogadishu you see when you drive around -- the boys with the guns and technicals (battlewagons). And then there is the Mogadishu behind the iron gates, where people are getting on with life and resurrecting the social sectors."

 

The university, which opened its doors in 1997, was founded by a group of middle-aged academics using funds from the large Somali diaspora and Islamic relief agencies in the Gulf.

 

Many spent their early careers overseas but returned to risk Mogadishu's mean streets because rebuilding Somalia, they say, means more to them than the comforts of expatriate life.

 

"When I am in the U.S. no one knows me, respects me, or calls me professor. Here I get all that, and I am helping my country," said California-trained agriculturalist Hussein Iman.

 

"There are risks but death is everywhere. Some of my friends went to Canada: They died there. Some died in the ocean between here and Yemen. Some went to Libya and died in the desert. Some were killed in Nairobi."

 

Salad Ibrahim, 46, taught English in Yemen for years before bringing his wife and nine children home to join the university.

 

"We live near the Mogadishu gun market. You should hear the noise from customers testing the weapons! But we are back among our extended family. And in a moral sense, I am happy," he said.

 

Residents say the 1,400-student university and an affiliated Mogadishu school network that teaches more than 150,000 pupils have done more to rebuild the city's morale in recent years than all the U.N. and Western relief agencies put together

 

Residents hail the teachers' achievement in getting young people off the streets and behind desks. They also recognize it as something the fractious political class has never managed.

 

"Your future will not be good if you have guns," said nursing student Mohammed AbdulRashid Kursow, 25. "I urge young people to take up the pen instead of shooting, looting and raping women."

 

The university teaches four-year courses in Islamic law, education, English, Arabic, economics and computer science. An affiliated program provides a three-year diploma in nursing.

 

Fees are $400 a year, which covers a third of running costs per student. The gap is made up by diaspora funds and charities.

 

The university has ties to counterparts in Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen and plans to win recognition for its degrees from Western universities.

 

Most warlords are only vaguely aware of its existence, and the university's president, Saudi-trained historian Ali Sheikh Ahmed Abubakar, says that isn't a bad thing. "If some of the warlords knew about us they could create problems," he said.

 

The university's existence and its teaching of Arabic in most of its courses is seen by some in the West as evidence of the influence of radical Islamists.

 

Somalia watchers say its leaders are moderate Islamists, noting tuition is co-educational and teachers include Christians and Hindus as well as Muslims. Arabic is essential because the Gulf is historically a big job market for Somalis.

[Conscious Manipulation]

the future looks bright!

[LuCkY]

^Yes it does. Indeed an interesting story,zankz for sharing.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Salaan...

 

"When I am in the U.S. no one knows me, respects me, or calls me professor. Here I get all that, and I am helping my country," said California-trained agriculturalist

Hussein Iman

.

 

"There are risks but death is everywhere. Some of my friends went to Canada: They died there. Some died in the ocean between here and Yemen. Some went to Libya and died in the desert. Some were killed in Nairobi."

Heey, that is my brother-in-law. I see he likes to be called professor. I ain't gonna call him that. He is always Xuseen Macalin Iimaan to me.

 

Most warlords are only vaguely aware of its existence, and the university's president, Saudi-trained historian

Ali Sheikh Ahmed Abubakar

, says that isn't a bad thing. "If some of the warlords knew about us they could create problems," he said.

This guy is very educated man. At one time I was with them, they were having a meeting with this gaal, and that Cali Sheekh Axmed guy was speaking to the gaal in Soomaali on his face. The gaal guy was nodding, as though understanding the Soomaali language. He could have easily spoken in English, but he chose Soomaali, which tells us how he values his own mother's tongue.

 

And nice article there. Dankis for sharing, kaaba.

_______________

 

Macsalaama.

[Haashim]

Originally posted by Shujui-1:

Residents say the 1,400-student university and an affiliated Mogadishu school network that teaches more than 150,000 pupils have done more to rebuild the city's morale in recent years than all the U.N. and Western relief agencies put together

 

Residents hail the teachers' achievement in getting young people off the streets and behind desks. They also recognize it as something the fractious political class has never managed.

 

Does anyone knows why these people are not known by us or at least most of us?

[Xafsa]

^^ wondering the same thing.

 

But the Future does look mighty bright!! I know where i'm going in a few years insha alaah.

[Saxardiid]

Nice story Sujui

The reason most of us don’t know about this is we spent or many of us spent large part of our discussion for negative stories. Although I knew from the beginning or the starting of this project and supported all the way financially and morally I never thought the importance of the news or many people will appreciate this kind of news. So next time I have to try to inform others of progress.

This is Mogadishu University home page click here http://www.mogadishuuniversity.com/about_mu.htm

 

best wishes

[Liqaye]

I love it

[nuune]

nice story sxb,i hope things will improve evertime