GlobeMail: Somali Success Story

[NinBrown]

Very happy for the sis, but iam kinda disapointed she is the 1st canadian trained somali Dr, i would have thought there would have been more.

 

LST...i think Somalis in the UK have the best oppurtunity to attend world class institutuins and top medical schools for free..i.e. at no cost.

 

Glad to say there are British trained somali Dr and there are few of us coming towards the end of medical school.

[Coloow]

salaamu calaykum,

 

Nino I wish you all the best of luck!

 

In the country taht I live in, there are more somalis with PHD:s than the other immigrant community.

 

In one small town for instance (pop 90 000), there are 9 somalis who have PHD:s and nearly 26 graduate students...not to mention the under graduates.

 

But they don't make front news.....

 

The westernmedia sells to western consumers- and inorder to sell a story you need some kind of exotic setting- camel herding in african bushes,

gender:woman

 

etc

[QUANTUM LEAP]

NINO bro ...point of correction... there aint nothing for free in the UK lately ...remember there are loans to pay back I just finished off mine...be prepared to pay for your upkeep at Uni.

[LANDER]

Libaax,

Mines. sounds like a nice place then sxb. Just out of curiousity though, are you one of those who took major loans from OSAP and then ran across the border to avoid paying them? Seen plenty people do that.

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

lol@Lander, It would have been really nice if my file was in the CIBC corporate office with a "SCAPED THE COUNTRY" label on top.

[Gediid]

I just don't understand ragga maanta.Education bey idinka wada dhagtey.Nobody seems to notice that she's also pretty

[Aussie]

Gediid tru brother she is beautiful just like all our somali sisters

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Nino Brown, good luck with Medical school saxib.

I am very sure you won't be the first Somali doctor in London after you finish Emperial.

 

You Brits are a bid ahead of us

I mean education.

[Rokko]

Whether she is somalilander or not, she is one good girl na'mean. Good luck to this hardworking Somali girl.

[Haashim]

Originally posted by Shaqsii:

NINO bro ...point of correction... there aint nothing for free in the UK lately ...remember there are loans to pay back I just finished off mine...be prepared to pay for your upkeep at Uni. [/quote, Yes Shaqsii because you're British Citizen or UK Resident, but do you know if u come from from one of the EU countries, including Romania and Bulgaria :rolleyes: next year, then u can study free :cool: .

 

EU nomads who want to study in UK can contact me for more information.

[Sniper80]

manshallah may allah make it easy for Fahima Osman

and the many others who wish to follow in her foot steps inshallah.

[Suldaanka]

If you are a G&M subscriber... do us all a favoure and post the rest of the 4 parts here.

 

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theglobeandmail.com

 

 

By FAHIMA OSMAN

 

Determined to help, FAHIMA OSMAN travels to her poverty-stricken ancestral homeland and finds signs of hope

 

Two years ago, Fahima Osman was featured in The Globe and Mail's New Canadians series as the first Canadian of Somali descent to graduate from medical school here. Back then, she hoped to divide her time between Canada and her family's ancestral home, Somalia's former northern province which has declared its independence. As these notes from her recent trip to Somaliland demonstrate, she is more dedicated to that plan than ever.

 

 

On the plane, I am very excited. The purpose of my trip is to do some soul searching, find a research topic and get inspired. It has been five years since my last visit to Somaliland -- and it's what inspired me to become a physician, in the hope I could return one day and help.

 

Now, I am thinking of taking two years off my medical training. I'd like to get my master's degree in education so I can help open a medical school in Somaliland and train future doctors. I don't think it is enough to just work there part-time; they need more doctors and an adequate health-care system.

 

When I arrive in Hargeisa, the capital, I notice that much has changed. The airport in the desert now has a well-decorated terminal building with new national flag waving in the breeze. Peace has drawn so many refugees home that the population has increased dramatically.

 

The country still struggles with poverty, of course, as well as international recognition as a sovereign state. But there is a main road with traffic lights, a new television station, small businesses and many Internet cafés.

 

I'm delighted at all the improvements -- and hoping the same is true at the Hargeisa hospital.

 

To my surprise and delight, they have already started a medical school, with an enrolment of about 80. The students sit in classes the entire day, reading endless books on anatomy and physiology, and have no contact with real patients. But they are so motivated.

 

I am so excited -- I can't wait to talk to the professors about their curriculum.

 

Then excitement begins to fade.

 

First, I get a sense of how grim the situation is for young people. Older Somalis are easygoing, and don't worry about anything as long as they have three meals a day. (I once asked an elder why, and he answered: "It is peaceful now. What more can we want?")

 

But young people born after the war are not so content. Unlike their parents, they know what they are missing, because of the Internet cafés and satellite TV, and they've lost hope. What's the point of going to school, one of my cousins asks me, if you're still unemployed and living in poverty when you finish?

 

Then, when I finally get to visit the hospital, I find it's in appalling condition.

 

Dr. Abdirashid, a general practitioner and one of the few remaining graduates from Addis Ababa medical school in Ethiopia, eagerly shows me around after learning that I'm a physician from Canada and planning to come back.

 

Located in a field at the centre of the city, the hospital was built in the 1950s while Somaliland was a British colony. It consists of a collection of small brick homes that resemble barracks and sort of reminded me of a concentration camp I visited as a teenager in Holland. Each barrack houses different types of patients, with the largest being the emergency room.

 

Most of the patients are poor and some walk for days to reach the hospital. Only 15 per cent of the patients can afford to go to one of the private clinics in the city, and even they must come here if they require emergency surgery or an overnight stay, so no one can avoid the place completely.

 

Hargeisa's population is now approaching 300,000 -- excluding the outlying communities -- and yet the city has only 20 doctors. Usually just one is on duty at the hospital's busy emergency department, which is not an attractive place to work when a young physician can make triple the money by opening a private clinic for the rich

[Gabbal]

^^Hargeisa maxaa loola yabin? Somalia as a whole is a sad case in any standards.

[N.O.R.F]

Ya usheega Fahmima that the money is being used to build a Villa for each minister and to purchase the 1st Lady's new home in a diffent country altogether.

 

I love her efforts and may we all be rewarded for our perseverance IA. ameen