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Awdal News: Editorial
The people of Awdal have again demonstrated that the people’s will power is mightier than the power of the government and all international aid organizations put together. With a masterstroke by the industrious and visionary leadership of Borama Mayor Abdi Shide Bile, the Awdal people have realized that help will not fall from the sky; that waiting for assistance from the government and international donor bodies is like waiting to see the sun rise from the west; that throwing wishes in the air and daydreaming would not turn a stone let alone build roads.
The Mayor’s initiative to build a two-kilometer tarmac road in the middle of Borama town, the first tarmac road to run through Borama in more than 90 years, is nothing less than heroic. It rekindled Awdal’s famous self-help spirit that started in the 1950s. It re-ignited that will power which propelled the building of many of the region’s schools, hospitals and dams, the spirit of self-reliance that established such memorable projects as Sheikh Ali Jowhar Secondary School, and Amoud University. It reawakened the determination fabled by “the pay a shilling, buy a cow, build a school” slogan on which the Abu Qais elementary was built.
Abdi Shide Bile has indeed served (Abdi), ignited (Shide) and glorified (Bile) his town and people true to the meaning of his name. Equally astounding is the historical initiative of Borama businessmen and businesswomen who established Awdal Roads Network Association (ARNA), who embarked on the rehabilitation of the inaccessible 30-km road between Dilla and Borama. This is the beauty of community work, the fruits of honesty and the strength of determination and unity.
Thank you honorable Mayor, thank you for your vision, your patriotism, your honesty and above all your leadership. Thanks also to ARNA and to all those who are behind it. We admire you as the authors of glorious pages of our people’s history. You have demonstrated that roads rise and fall by the people’s determination and unity.
Source: Awdalnews Network
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