Sayid-Ali Abdullahi Salad vividly remembers the fateful day at the height of the civil war in Somalia in 1997 when his life was changed forever – a seemingly routine meeting to resolve a dispute erupted into violence that…

Mogadishu - For some people, technology and its applications in modern-day society are not what comes to mind when thinking of Somalia. Efforts are underway to change that. In the country’s capital, hundreds of people – from…

Abdirahman Mohamud Kulane has an unusual perspective on how his fellow Somalis see the world around them. He believes that people see not only through their eyes, but also through their hearts. And through his heart, he sees…

Abdifatah Hassan Ali’s childhood was forged in a crucible of civil war and violence. By his own account, he fled the chaos and insecurity of Mogadishu on ten occasions, only to find his way back to the war-torn city each time…

Most graduates in business tend to choose a career involving accounts, finance and marketing, to name but a few. Not so for Abdinasir Muhumed Abdi. Despite finishing university with a degree in business administration, the 33…

Najah Aden Farah is 22-years-old and already a published author of four books. But her love of books is not limited to writing them – it extends to helping her fellow Somalis improve their literacy, especially as many missed…

Ahmed Diini Hassan knows only too well the importance charity work plays in the lives of the poor and vulnerable members of society. Born in 1956, Ahmed, who hails from Hiiran region, was orphaned at a tender age, leaving him…

Baidoa – Speaking in regional Somalia today, the top United Nations official for gender equality and women’s empowerment highlighted efforts made at the national and local levels towards greater representation of women in…

When Vincent Lelei flew into Mogadishu in January 2017 to assume his duties as a senior United Nations humanitarian official in Somalia, he found a country in the grips of a severe food insecurity crisis after four…

Growing up in the Mogadishu suburb of Taleex in the 1980s, Bile Ismail Diriye and Abdikadir Maalim Mohamed were the best of friends. Their bonds of friendship were nurtured in the suburb’s streets and sports fields, where…

Somalia’s civil war wrenched the country in many ways. Families were torn apart, the rule of law faded away, government institutions collapsed, and education came to a standstill, to name but a few of the setbacks the country…

Aisha Mohamed Warsame’s education was no bed of roses. Much of the 23-year-old’s schooling coincided with Somalia’s descent into armed strife and conflict in the nineties. In 1995, hoping for a better future for their…