This Somali Life

16 October 2009

Welcome to the family!

Dad, Catherine, Muna, Mum

Dr. Ali Yusuf Ahmed is a member of Parliment here in Somaliland.

Muna is a great dancer! She loves Somali music!

Muna feeding me sweets.

Ubah is one my 3rd year graduating nursing students.

After graduation in December she will continue on for an additional year to become a midwife.

06 October 2009

Children are the future

Fadumo Bihi School, Hargeisa, Somaliland

World Food Program sponsored feeding program

Fadumo was a child land-mine victim during the Somali Civil War. She was recognized in the mid-1990's by UNICEF for her courageous spirit. When asked by the UN panel what she would like--she asked for a school. The UN offered to send her to a private school more than 2 hours from Hargeisa, however Fadumo requested that a local school be built so that her friends could learn to read and write as well. Today Fadumo is a beautiful young woman. She still lives around the corner from the school. She is preparing to study international law at Hargeisa University and recently became a mother.

She works hard for the money

Scrap, spackle, paint. Repeat.
9 ward rooms. 6 private patient rooms. 4 triage/staff rooms.

24 September 2009

Investing in Girls and Women

The Clinton Global Initiative, meeting in New York City, has issued the following press release:

New York, NY – Millions of girls and women will have access to improved health care, better education, and increased economic opportunity because of commitments made today at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), which brings together leaders from across sectors of society to identify solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, and produce 50 percent of the food, yet earn only 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property,” President Bill Clinton said. “Whether the issue is improving education in the developing world, or fighting global climate change, or addressing nearly any other challenge we face, empowering women is a critical part of the equation.”

Reports show that when women and girls are empowered, entire regions see measurable results. This is especially true for economic empowerment – for example, a woman is likely to reinvest about 90 percent of her earnings into her family’s well-being, compared with 35 percent for a man. Increases in access to education among girls accounted for a decline of 43 percent in the malnutrition rates between 1970 and 1995. Investing in women’s health, especially reproductive health, not only saves the lives of half a million mothers, but also unleashes an estimated $15 billion in productivity each year….

This year, the CGI Annual Meeting will feature a variety of special programming related to girls and women. Today, the plenary session “Investing in Girls and Women,” moderated by Diane Sawyer, featured Edna Adan, director and founder of the Edna Adan Maternity and Teaching Hospital; Lloyd C. Blankfein, chairman and CEO of The Goldman Sachs Group; Zainab Salbi, founder and CEO of Women for Women International; Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil, Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues at the U.S. Department of State; and Robert B. Zoellick, President of The World Bank Group