While most flee war, woman founds sanctuary in Somalia

Proving that one dedicated woman can spawn a community that improves the lives of thousands, Hope Village lights the way for Somalis during civil war.

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Dr. Abdi (center), together with daughters Deqo and Amina, started a hospital near Mogadishu in Somalia.

by Kimberly Gomes
    
For nearly 30 years, over 90,000 South-Central Somalis have found refuge at Dr. Hawa Abdi's home. What began as a one-room clinic on her family’s ancestral land just north of capital city Mogadishu transformed into a 400-bed hospital—and a communal beacon of light for the war-torn region.

By founding her work in the national tradition of hospitality, Dr. Abdi, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2012, continues to welcome displaced survivors of the civil war. She does so by providing shelter in an inspiring community now known as the Hawa Abdi Village, or Hope Village.

“Most people fled abroad [when the war began in 1991]. But I remained … I was trying to do something, [any] little thing I [could] do,” said Dr. Abdi. “Now my place is [full of] people who are respecting each other, who are not fighting.”

The world last saw Dr. Abdi and her daughters, Drs. Deqo and Amina Mohamed, speak at a TED talk in 2010.

At that time, the Dr. Hawa Abdi Foundation (DHAF) had less than 20 staff members to oversee a camp of 90,000 people, about one percent of Somalia’s population, and mostly women and children. Not only did the clinic see 500 patients per day, but it also conducted a remarkable 300 surgeries daily.

 On top of the mass resettlement effort, the foundation fed over 162,000 Somalis during the 2011 famine, and implemented a self-sustaining food security program in 2012 on a 61-acre farm.

Today, as peace returns to the region, Hope Village thrives with 11,000 people. The fully functioning hospital is situated alongside a day-care facility, a women’s education center and a primary school for over 300 children.

“We have successfully resettled over 50,000 people to their original homes or better villages; and over 30,000 [have left] on their own to their homes in Mogadishu. Peace in our region [has had a] great impact [on our] foundation,” said Dr. Deqo Mohamed.

Yet the foundation’s life-altering efforts continue on. In addition to implementing youth activities and sports clubs, Hope Village now aims to raise $5,000 by the end of 2014 for its entrepreneurial-focused Women’s Education Centre. The funds will cover material and education costs to promote and train 40 women in soap making, thus empowering local women by creating livelihoods they can foster and teach to others.

Dr. Abdi's hospital now leads South-Central Somalia in neonatal care with plans to open a nursing and midwife school to further empower the women of Mogadishu.
Hope Village proves that one dedicated woman can spawn a community that improves the lives of thousands.

“Over the last 20 years, the Somali women have stood up,” says Dr. Abdi. “We are the leaders of our community and the hope of our future generations. We are not just helpless victims of the civil war. We can reconcile. We can do everything.”

More Information:
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www.dhaf.org
Donations for DHAF Women’s Education Centre:
www.globalgiving.org/projects/women-entrepreneurs-somalia/
Posted August 2014

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