Somalilandsun -Somaliland Diaspora Organisation in Denmark welcomed Eid Ali Ahmed to Denmark. Eid is a member of Somaliland Societies in Europe (SSE) and was former Chairman of this umbrella organization for Somaliland communities and organizations in the European Counties. Eid lives in Cardiff the Capital City of Wale, and at this leg of journey he came from Sweden where he attended SSE Internal Conference and Annual General Meeting on 8th and 9th April which took place in Stockholm. On the first day of the Conference which was held at Swedish Parliament Eid presented a paper with the title: Good Governance and Economic Viability are the key Pillars for Somaliland Recognition. Second day Eid shared with other Somaliland communities and organizations two important projects he is involved for addressing the health and education needs of Somaliland people namely:
Somaliland Mental Health Support Project
Darlington Gacmadheere Foundation
In this tripartite meeting which took place in Copenhagen on 15th April Eid explained in detail the vision, strategic objectives and activities of SSE and the proceedings of International Conference SSE held in Stockholm. Likewise Abdillahi Ahmed Xeef who is member of SSE Executive Committee and Somaliland Diaspora Organisation in Denmark talked about the role of SSE and the International Conference held in Stockholm. Also Jamal Odowa, Abdillahi Xeef and Eid in a concerted way talked about the relationship between SSE and Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and the historic Award SSE gave DRC on 3rd July 2008 in recognition of DRC excellent work in Somaliland. The DRC was nominated for the Award after an assessment process of the work of the key International NGOs working in Somaliland. The DRC leadership and staff were pleased with receiving the SSE Award.
A delegation of SSE including Abdirahman Abdillahi, Eid Ali Ahmed and Mohamed Bashe came from UK for this historic Award ceremony on 3rd July 2008. With the assistance of members of Somaliland community in Denmark the Award Ceremony was organized by Mohamed Amin Siyad, who was SSE Communication Commissioner.
Now SSE is conducting an assessment of the work of International NGOs for the last 10 years and an Award will be given to the winner in 2017.
Also Eid explicitly explained in perspective the historic difference between Somaliland and Somalia and the contrasting impacts of the experiences and legacies of the two different colonial systems of 80 years. He explained the collaboration among Somaliland community in Wales and also in UK and that Somalilanders have been in UK over 100 years as Somaliland was a member of the British Empire. Eid mentioned Somalilanders in UK have many British friends who support Somaliland.
Finally Eid talked about in detail about two initiatives he is involved namely Somaliland Mental Health Support Project (www.somalilandmentalhealth.com) and Darlington Gacmadheere Foundation for Somaliland Educational Development (www.darlingtongacmadheerefoundation.org ). He mentioned that Somaliland Mental Health Support organization (SMHSO) based in Cardiff is building a mental health unit of 18 rooms in Hargeisa Group Hospital. On 14th April the Somaliland Minister for Health Suleiman Issa Ahmed (Xaglatoosiye) and SMHSO representatives officially laid the stone for this unit costing about USD 70,000 to give better services to those with mental health problems. For further details of the event see these links:
http://www.somalilandsun.com/community/8824-somaliland-enhancing-mental-health-care
For the Dalington Gacmadheere Foundation Eid mentioned this foundation has been established in honoring Richard Darlington who taught Somaliladers for 29 years (1952 – 1971) and the incumbent Somaliland President His Excellency Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud was one of his students as Eid and many educated and professional Somalilanders were. Eid mentioned that in 2011 Miss Nasra Jama Abdillahi received the highest grades and was number one of the secondary school graduates of Somaliland and the Foundation sponsored her university education. Nasra is graduating this June with 2 different degrees and while studying. The first 3 students graduated last year and now the Foundation sponsors 31 students: 14 studying medicine, 10 studying Engineering and science and 7 studying economics, business and ICT.
These students are the best of the best of the graduates of Somaliland secondary schools. and they are from every region of Somaliland spanning from East to West of Somaliland including Sanaag, Sool, Buhoodle, Togdheere, Sahil, Baligubadle, Marodijeex, Gabiley and Awdal as the case was for Sheikh and Amoud Secondary School in the old days.
Aabdillahi Ahmed Xeef and Jamal Odowa Laari from Somaliland Diaspora Organisation in Denmark and Martin Wolf Andersen from International Diaspora Unit of DRC exchanged and shared information on their activities and had discussions how to work closely together. Martin in detail explained their International Diaspora programme and the procedure for submitting proposals for Somaliland and Somalia development.
This important meeting was arranged by Ambassador Abdirizak Diinari who is a member of Somaliland Diaspora Organisation in Denmark and SSE. Unfortunately he could not attend the meeting as he had other prior commitment.
