Great somalis you may never have heard of.

[Abwaan]

AUN Elman Cali Axmed:

[MoonLight1]

Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar;864177 wrote:

 

Runtii, Che, what is so 'great' about kunka shilin ayaa sawirkeyga ku yaalo (she is lucky haddeeba nasiib u heshay, though islaan kale la sawiran), Manchester City ayuu once hal game u ciyaaray iyo Ina Wariiri.

Habar fadhida lagdin la fudud, waryee MMA First do you know the reason she is pictured at the 1000 note, I think you don't, This woman donated to the government of that time more than 10 land plots she owned on commercial areas of Mogadisho which she badly needed so that the gov could use it for the public interest, in return the gov honored her by putting her face on the 1000 note. In my view that is greatness since she contributed to the nation, if that is not greatness than maybe Sh.Sakiin is your kind of GRRREEETT..

 

Abdisalan may have played one game or 100 but he put our name on the world stage when all we see about Somalis is desperation and bad image. So tell us if you even ever kicked a ball for even Buurhakaba FC then we'll consider you a hero like ina Wariiri.

 

Lets not envy those people, even if they contributed to society little things.

[oba hiloowlow]

 

Dr. Abdiaziz Maahaay

[MoonLight1]

oba hiloowlow;864259 wrote:

 

Dr. Abdiaziz Maahaay

Who's he?

 

Oba tell us more about him.

[oba hiloowlow]

Abdiaziiz Maahay is the founder and the current executive director of Somali American Healthcare Foundation (SOMCARE), a non-profit organization.

 

One of the major challenges that Maahaay faced was to bring a conjoined twins whose situation had no hope in life due to inadequate medical facilities and due to unskilled doctors to help with this kind of problem in Kenya. Fortunately, with the help of SOMCARE they were brought to Mayo clinic which sponsored the medical need of the conjoined twins. Not only did SOMCARE lend hand to these individuals but it opened its way to many others that had no hope in life. In addition to that SOMCARE had succeeded to medically evacuate 210 patients to Nairobi, Kenya for medical treatment.

[MoonLight1]

^^^ Mashallah.

 

we need to promote people like these, a nation without heroes and role models is a dead nation.

[oba hiloowlow]

Abwaan;864203 wrote:

AUN Elman Cali Axmed:

'

 

AUN this guy was a Legend Ilaahay janadda haku waraabiyo

[oba hiloowlow]

MoonLight1;864265 wrote:

^^^ Mashallah.

 

we need to promote people like these, a nation without heroes and role models is a dead nation.

Indeed Dayaxnuur

[raula]

As much as I adore & love Maaheey for his work w/SOMCARE..is he really a Dr? Let's not use the title flimsly unless perhaps received an honorary at some institution(s).

[oba hiloowlow]

raula;864290 wrote:

As much as I adore & love Maaheey for his work w/SOMCARE..is he really a Dr? Let's not use the title flimsly unless perhaps received an honorary at some institution(s).

He told me he works in a hospital, i think it was in minnesota so assumed he was Dr.

[raula]

^^Assume otherwise bro..He's not a doc..(Unless he was back in Somalia..which i haven't heard) & yes works/used to work @ the famous Mayo Clinic/Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Nonetheless, he's a wonderful individual & he deserves to be honored as a great man who's doing so much for his people/humanity.

[Juxa]

He is not a doctor, although i pray allah bestows waxka fiican doctornimo. Truely remarkable man

 

ps: Raula, dadka baxay community colleage baa leh professor baan ahay!

[oba hiloowlow]

i see Raula..

[A_Khadar]

Let people be what they want and call themselves.. BTW, those are truelly remarkable people.. Co-incidently, other night, I met Maaxeey @ Minneapolis restaurant (Quruxlow) where he was asking people to vote for him in the facebook so CNN will nominate him best community service persons.. I was hitting out to the road for a trip and couldn't have time to access FB to vote for him.. He was friendly..

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Ninkaan camal ayaa mudan in la xuso.

____________________

 

Knowledge gained in Guelph helping rebuild Somalia

 

 

When Hussein Haji arrived in Guelph in the early 1990s, it was the beginning of a 20-year journey back to wartorn Somalia.

 

But first, he needed a pair of winter boots.

 

“I arrived in September, and even then I thought it was freezing,” says Haji, recalling his first attempts to barter with a salesperson in a Stone Road Mall shoe store.

 

“I asked her to give me her bottom price. She told me this was Canada, the price of boots wasn’t negotiable.

 

“But since I was new to the country, she knocked $20 off anyway.”

 

Haji has considered Guelph home ever since. And it is the city that nourished his dream of rebuilding his native land, Somalia, from the ground up.

 

In 1990, Haji was working in the Somali capital Mogadishu on an agricultural research project funded by the International Development Research Centre—a Canadian organization that also offered scholarships for international students to come to Canada.

 

“I was looking to do graduate work abroad, and here was my opportunity,” remembers Haji. “I chose the University of Guelph because someone told me it was one of the best for agricultural studies. I felt this was a way for me to contribute, to help farmers in Somalia.”

 

It would be decades before his goal was attainable. In 1991, just months after Haji left, Somalia catapulted into a period of civil war, lawlessness and famine that combined to claim hundreds of thousands of lives. The country became known as the most dangerous place on Earth.

 

Despite being safely tucked away in his new home on Caledonia Street, the conflict in Somalia cast a long shadow over Haji’s first few months of study in Guelph.

 

“I was already a father, and my family was in Somalia. When civil war broke out, I didn’t know if they were alive or dead. You couldn’t call home, communications were completely dead. How can you concentrate when your family is missing?”

 

Haji lost contact with his family for six months. Eventually, he flew to Kenya and sought help from the Canadian Red Cross. Miraculously, the organization located his wife and child in Somalia and evacuated them to Nairobi. From there the reunited family returned to Haji’s new home, Guelph.

 

“After that,” smiles Haji, “everything was beautiful.”

 

Haji then launched himself into his studies in earnest, developing an interest in genetics and plant breeding.

 

“It’s a field where you can develop drought- and disease-resistant crops,” he explains. “You see a problem, and you try and address it. Using genetic tools, you can help farmers at no extra cost to them because they won’t need to use chemicals and pesticides.”

 

Haji’s interest in the area of study was encouraged by Tom Michaels, a qualitative genetics professor at the University of Guelph who initially stunned his new student by cheerfully greeting him by name in the hallways after class.

 

The two would soon become well-acquainted; Haji started working for Michaels at the university as a teaching assistant and continued to collaborate with him as a post-doctorate fellow.

 

“All my professors were good but professor Michaels was exceptional,” Haji says.

 

Haji proved himself to be exceptional in his field, too. Working first for Agriculture Canada and then for the Canadian Tobacco Research Foundation, he developed the first hybrid crop ever registered in Canada—a disease-resistant variety of tobacco that protected crops from the devastating black root rot fungus.

 

But Somalia’s troubles continued to haunt Haji. So, in 2001, he created a group called the Somali Agriculture Technical Group to exchange ideas on how to help Somali farmers. When the Tobacco Research Foundation offered him early retirement in 2007, he snapped up the chance.

 

“I had a plan. I wanted to establish something in the region, to put (Somali Agriculture Technical Group’s) flag somewhere. I went back and started exploring Somalia.”

 

He says he was appalled by what he found.

 

“It was chaos. The whole infrastructure was destroyed. Farmers had no support. There was no research, no agricultural policy. You could bring in any seeds you wanted. No other country in the world would allow that.”

 

Haji opened Somali Agriculture Technical Group’s offices in Nairobi in 2009 and began making regular trips to Somalia. Rather than emergency aid, Haji wanted to create a sustainable future for his homeland by supporting farmers through technology. It was a vital task for a country where agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, despite the ever present threat of drought and famine.

 

Three years on, Somali Agriculture Technical Group is making headway. It has partnered with organizations such as the United Nations and United States Agency for International Development and has established an agricultural research centre in Somalia. It provides training guides and workshops for farmers and is also advising the Ministry of Agriculture on matters of policy and regulation.

 

And for Somalia as a whole, there are glimmers of hope. In August, the country swore in its first permanent national parliament in decades, and on Monday it elected a new president.

 

“After this transition, we can get more qualified people in power. This is a great opportunity to expand our work in Somalia,” says Haji, who has been approached to serve in the new government, overtures he has so far rejected.

 

“I’ve never been a politician,” he laughs.

 

Politician or not, Haji is still every inch a proud Canadian and considers his experiences in Canada to be crucial to his success in one of the world’s most desperate countries.

 

“I was trained in Canada, and the credit lies with Canada,” he says.

 

Even closer to his heart are the years he spent in Guelph—where he maintains deep roots. His son and daughter have followed in his footsteps, enrolling at the University of Guelph. He still owns his home in the city, and has convinced his extended family to settle there. He says he plans to join them after retirement.

 

“At first I saw Somalia as my first home and Guelph as my second,” he says. “But now it is the other way around.”

Xigasho