I spent years having some regrets about doing both undergrad and masters in political science, specialising in African politics, my thesis on #Somalia state collapse. I felt it was a bit of a useless degree, maybe something technical or arts was better. I am glad it was politics!
I subconsciously must have known the only way to come back and make sense of this level of madness, had to be well prepared and to understand not only events in #Somalia, but global events that give a wider context to our local problems. Women have to come back extra prepared!!
Political science degrees; global nomadism, thanks to a totally nomadic Somali genes; journalism/storytelling, and genuine interest in human stories - the preparations I needed to come back to #Somalia permanently, and keep my sanity living in a country and society bullied!!!
What global education and nomadism couldn't teach me, patience & empathy, #Somalia is teaching! Must be the longest lesson I am having to learning, and it is hard to balance between learning patience and the need for urgency in finding solutions to the million challenges we face!
My greatest luck is that I won scholarships and studied in Asia and Europe traveling with Somalia passport at the height of the civil war! Having survived war, I needed a moral boaster: to study in top schools and cities around the world with a Somali passport and scholarships!!
When a civil war breaks out in front of your eyes as a teenager, with no one explaining what the hell was going on, witness extreme violence, ur life is turned upside down overnight, walk 4 weeks to nearest border...Something inside u snaps, u will never be that old self again!!!
Weirdest thing, after fighting hardest to not become a qaxooti or look for salvation in teen marriage, I make it to #Sweden as a skinny student on a holiday from school in HK, struggled to secure visa on Somalia passport. The family pressures me to "isdhiib" and disrupt school!!
One of the most important life lessons for me, as a teen at the time: older members of family are not necessarily smarter or wiser than kids; that some family members have no vision, beyond fear-based decision-making and following the crowd!! I refused & returned to school.
Single-mindedness has saved me few times! It must be as a result of being exposed to war and violence at a young age, I learnt early on to trust my intuition to survive and do well in life. We have an inner guide better than any advice from any guru, if we learn to trust it!!
I count my blessings every day that I survived the start of #Somalia civil war, physically unharmed. I was lucky and worked my arse off to end the madness for myself, thru education. Surviving the war taught me key lessons: life is very short & we have one chance to live it well!
I am grateful for the experiences, exposure to diverse cultures, global travels and friends I made, the scholarships that literally saved my life and transformed it from a refugee girl child with all the odds stacked against her to the woman I am today!! Now here to give back.
