Will The Awdal Convention 2007 Match Haji Nur’s Feat ?

By Bashir Goth

A Somali proverb says: “Meel hoo u baahan hadal wax kama taro”, roughly meaning (Talking will not satisfy where giving is needed.) Somalis are experts in talking; they can talk from here to eternity with beautiful rhetoric, marshalling long-winded rhapsodies from the fathomless wisdom of the poetic Somali language. They try to outdo each other, speaker after speaker. The speakers’ list gets longer and longer and topics on the agenda inflate into a mighty balloon. But just like balloons are popped at the end of a rapturous party, decisions made in Somali gatherings fly into thin air as soon as the participants leave the hall. No follow up mechanism is ever put in place, no commitments survive and no pledges materialize into tangible reality.

If history can be any a guide, one may have a reason to ask why the Awdal Convention 2007 being held in Minneapolis will be any different? Our hope is that it should be, but experience dampens our wishes. The overloaded Agenda of the convention of the North American communities hailing from the Awdal region of Somaliland already raises doubts. It builds expectations that are hard to meet. Topics from education, community development, social services, capacity building, natural resources, public health, trade, unemployment etc. This is an ambitious and unrealistic plan that far exceeds both the capacity and the circumstances of the delegates. The topics are just carbon copied from similar conventions held by well established, and experienced organizations and institutionalized communities that have a history of organizational and developmental achievements.

This doesn’t mean that the Awdal region doesn’t need development and assistance in all these areas. No, it does, but people need to measure their ambition against their capacity. As another Somali adage says: “Faras aanad fuulmadiisa aqoon, daba dillaac baa laga qaada” (if you don’t know how to ride a horse, you end up with a bruised butt.)

A more realistic agenda would have been to focus on a single project. A good example is Amoud University. One of the reasons behind the success of Amoud University is that the supporters of this project had single-mindedly devoted their energy and effort to the establishment and advancement of the university. Distractions were many as grandiose projects were floated at the same time, but the advocates of Amoud University have resolutely stuck to their agenda. The silent motto was Amoud first, everything else second. Another ingenious example of determination and single-mindedness is the projects fulfilled by the Awdal Red Crescent Society spearheaded by Haji Nur Muhumad Matar. Due to his elderly wisdom, experience and profound knowledge of the peoples’ life, Haji Nur has prioritized the needs of the people and devoted the meager resources of his organization to two badly needed areas: water and health. He has built dozens of out patient clinics, drilled wells and erected water reservoirs in many of the Awdal region’s farming villages. He works in silence and measures his success by the smile of mothers filling their water containers and watering their animals from the many wells and reservoirs he has built for them.

Taking a cue from this, it will be more realistic and reasonable if Awdal Convention 2007 focuses only on one project that it can be fulfilled instead of scattering its attention on a plethora of unattainable projects. A vital project that cries for help is ROADS. The Awdal region in general and Borama in particular are inaccessible. It is known to every Awdalian that the short 18-mile road between Borama and Dilla, a vital route to the region’s trade prosperity, is a hell’s journey. While it takes only one hour or less to travel the 60 miles tarmac road between Hargeisa and Dilla, it takes forever to cover that short distance between Dilla and Borama. Roads from Borama to Zeila, from Borama to Lughaya, from Borama to Baki are all a nightmare, while the streets inside Borama itself are major hindrance to the city’s development. It is understandable that vital necessities like the need for water and hospitals always make it to the top when priorities are listed, but the undeniable fact is that both water sources and health centers will not meet the target needs if they remain inaccessible to the majority of the populace.

Roads were lifelines for human civilization and development since the Silk Road. It is therefore imperative to acknowledge that roads are key to the solutions of many of our present problems, not only in Awdal region but also in Somaliland and the African continent as a whole. With good roads, Maternal Mortality Ratio will be drastically curtailed as mothers with complicated pregnancy cases will be quickly transferred to town hospitals; income for countryside dwellers will be improved as women farmers can easily transport agricultural and diary products to nearby markets; trade will prosper with the improvement of transport and the reduction of vehicle breakdowns caused by inhospitable roads; education will benefit as supplies and teachers can easily reach remote schools; public services will improve as local government revenue collection grows with better transport system and the figures of unemployment will go down as more people easily commute between major towns, or towns and villages, in search of work and business.

Consequently, the critical question that the conferees have to answer is whether they would be able to match Haji Nur’s feat, let alone doing a better job. Will they come up with a tangible plan for the building of that 18-mile road between Dilla and Borama, thus contributing to improving health, alleviating poverty and eliminating illiteracy or will the balloon of phantom projects deflate as soon as the applause for the last speaker dies out.

bsogoth@yahoo.com  

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