The Day of Somaliland Students Died Young: Any Hero To Revive?

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." -- Dr. Martin Luther King=

It was one of these small, yet fine, contributions that escaped the attention of many people, let alone their appreciation. May 2nd, the Day of the Students of Somaliland Universities, stands still up the debris of the civil wars and clan partisan. It is the new struggle of the students, by the students, for the students to cross the boundaries of clan geography divided amongst them to start building a future where unity, liberty, and human dignity prevail. It is an intellectual consortium, emotionally healthy endeavor, and spiritual communion of the young, or to use the buzzword of politicians and social entrepreneurs of the day even though rarely do they mean it, the future leaders of this nation and, hopefully, this continent.

It is not the intention of this paper to establish the history of this day. Nonetheless, the paper refers to some of the key events to create a fingertip feeling for those who missed the glory of this day! May 2nd started small – from the mental workshop of a junior student at Amoud – and grew slowly – to bringing students on board and increasing the circle of influence day in and out.

It was a beautiful summer evening in 2001 when the idea, among others, of bridging students from the two universities was delivered at Al Qalam Private School of my close friend, Mahdi Omar Sheikh, then a sophomore student at Amoud University. After months of contemplating and deep-thinking, I have conceived this idea in response to creating a mechanism that enables the young people, especially the students of Somaliland universities, to cooperate and meaningfully contribute to the community, giving them the opportunity to leave a lasting impact.

I have always looked at some of the philanthropic events at Amoud University with a keen eye not only to learn the human generosity but also to appreciate their sense of social and global responsibility. People of different colours, nationalities, languages, gender and religions supported the University for the Same Cause – a cause that turned out to be the slogan of the university: Creating Hope For Tomorrow’s Generation!

As a student, I have enjoyed their contribution as they put me to the grip of a tertiary education in a distance not 4km away from home, a distance I could cover in a thirty- minute walk! On the other hand, I have always felt the burden of shouldering the responsibility that comes with enjoying what the society has put together for us.

Different calls invite different responses; sometimes, the same call may invite different responses from different people. As an individual, I knew I could achieve little, if any at all. I thought that what I could contribute and would make a quantum leap is to create the instrument that would facilitate for the young men and women to express their talents and contribute to their people in different capacities. May 2nd was nothing other than a manifestation of that philosophy – a philosophy based on “give the man a fish and you feed him for the day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime!”

Having listened to my bid, Mahdi pledged me his unwavering support. However, this did not blind him to leave the loopholes open to external eyes as he immediately challenged some of the assumptions I have made. As the lights went out at 11 p.m., then we had to take our discussion out under the bright majestic moonlight. It was really exhilarating to stare at the moon and stars and talk about lifting people to new heights – at least, the two seemed to go well together! The meeting was adjourned at 3 a.m. The most important outcome was that we have developed a tentative plan to share with our friends at Amoud University as well as our counterparts at the University of Hargeisa.

The idea and the plan were received with mixed emotions in both universities – with the negative more dominant than the positive. We have decided to take the fight to the highest levels and put lots of things at stake. This led to a friend to doubt if we had any hidden agenda. Compared to the cause, he felt uncomfortable with all those things we had put at stake. All that we meant was to fight for something we believed! We have launched the fiercest campaign ever known to our students. Now, this campaign must be shelved somewhere in the hidden chambers of our students!

Troughs and triumphs went hand in hand, each keeping its independent score. Between the two were turbulences that made the future of the undecided so bleak and subject to the slightest pull. In the circles of Amoud University students, the fight went on and on until that fateful day arrived when Prof. Suleiman recounted the story of John F. Kennedy who stated that success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan. That put the differences of the students to a complete rest and drew the students closer together. I cannot help but recount how a very good friend of mine who opposed the idea, soon swerved his direction after the meeting and not only asked me some of the logistical arrangements in place but also offered his invaluable service. What I admired about this man is not that he finally accepted my idea, but that he internalized the meeting and was putting our agreement into action! A man of word!

The fight is over. The clock is ticking. The hearts of the students are pounding as the clock gets nearer to 2 p.m. of May 1, 2002 – anxious to wait to board on the buses in front of the Local Government of Borama. Among the good students who were boarding were some of the students who opposed the way we organized the event, some others who opposed because they were not playing the central role, others because they would not be receiving the credit of being founders of this day, and still others because they were against the idea altogether. Of course, there were also the students who supported us from beginning to end. We have never made any fun of any of them – though, we had so many statements of ridicule from many of those on board. After all, they were our students and friends and this day is OURS to enjoy as we think best!

The students of University of Hargeisa received us somewhere near Arabsiyo and led us to where the welcoming convoy stayed, Makhaayadda Inanta. I still see Khadar Ciro, whom we always communicated on the phone but never managed to see each other before this day, inside the Toyota Pickup he was driving with. After greetings, we have been guided by a large number of cars throughout the city of Hargeisa. Some of my friends never saw Hargeisa before. They had been welcomed to the city far better than most newcomers. We were taken to Ambassador Hotel, which was then under construction – though close to the finish line. I cannot help but relate this to the story of one of our students, who was a strong opponent of the idea in the first place, who asked, “Where are we going to take the students when they visit us next year?” He was very much touched by the complexity of the building. I replied, “Maybe a hotel under construction!” I liked his reciprocity, even if he disagreed with the idea earlier! We stayed the night at Baane Hotel in peace and in preparation for the event to come tomorrow!

The morning downed with lots of funny experiences as well as pleasant ones. The funniest one was when a friend of mine who was driving the same bus with me was all of a sudden shown to a jackass seducing a mare and he exclaimed the famous, “Way hooyooy!” These funny moments still shines my days. We have been taken to University of Hargeisa hall where many dignitaries sat. We were welcomed with standing ovation!

As I was sitting in the hall and preparing myself to have the best taste for the event, a friend of mine asked me what I felt like today. I replied, “My mind went blank!” I was completely consumed by the emotions of the day. As speeches were on the roll, one after another, I have been deeply struck by the words of Mohamed Barkhad Miigane, MP and instructor at University of Hargeisa, who said, “We recognize this day as the Day of [Students of] Somaliland Universities!” Everybody clapped. Some of those people sitting close to me shook hands with me. I was frozen! My heart was in search of his way out of my chest. I have never imagined a day called by this name, nor celebrated in this magnitude. All that I wanted to do was, to quote the words of Martin Luther King, "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." I never knew what the day would turn out.

When the event was over, different students from both universities shared with us what they have received from this event. Those cited most included: students have improved their understanding of the other university/students; students learned the capacities of their peers; and above all, they have established new lines of friendship. It was not uncommon to see students of the two universities exchanging cards first and the calls next!

Successive events in 2003 and 2004 were both fostering the already established connections as well as exploring ways of taking the day to the next level. May 2nd, serving a tried and true experiment, enjoyed lesser challenge and more support from both students and universities managements. It was moving, however slow the pace was, from existential to substantial atmosphere. The thinking of the student committees of these years involved how best they could maximize the use of this day instead of how best can they establish a day like this.

May 2nd started, though unintentionally, the first talent competition as students of both universities were to deliver speeches to audience of several hundred. Most of the students addressed an audience as large as their classroom, merely 20 people. Every student who participated in all these events will never fail to forget the eloquent English of Zuhur, from University of Hargeisa, who used the language to her best advantage.

However, no news was worse received than the untimely death of this day last year when all the good things about the day were dazzling any onlooker. The disease caused this death was diagnosed to be student divisions each grouping themselves into clan enclaves. The blame for this preventable death lies with both the students and the managements of the two universities who allowed the day to pass away in their laps due to lack of adequate care and intervention.

The students take a lion’s share of the blame pie due to their lack of demonstrated sense of ownership and strong leadership. To start with, this was the day for the students. It appears that the students never owned the day. If this was their day, they would have not allowed the management of the university to terminate such a great day. They have never fought to make it theirs. This day was born in a fight and strives in fighting. We fought amongst ourselves to make it our day. We fought with anyone to make the day ours. We fought, because we cared. That is the good thing about fighting. It shows care and concern. It creates an atmosphere conducive to development and mutual respect and understanding.

In our classes, we used to complain, and I am pretty sure that the current students complain the same, about the public’s lack of sense of ownership for public properties and how presiding civil servants take advantage and abuse such public funds and properties. This starts from the class – lack of ownership sets in the same class complaining that the public should have developed sense of ownership. It is very sad how the class uses such double standard to justify injustices and abuses as socially-imposed, inevitable mechanisms without realizing their contribution to the problem. Maybe students need to revise their mentality as this is not in line with what the nation was waiting and building on!

Of course, this does not mean we were evil-free or saints. We had our share of the problem and we acknowledge the fact that we may have contributed to some of the conflicts already ravaging the students. Nevertheless, the reason we have achieved a monumental thing like May 2nd was that we had a good leadership who foresaw what is behind all these troubles. Some of the men and women within us saw the green pasture after the conflict and herded us to there. Of course, everyone was clan conscious, but that never discouraged us nor bent our values and principles to satisfy such narrow interests. These leaders mended all those broken bones and relations within us silently, and serenely too. They never exposed the bones, they simply mended whenever and wherever they could. It was due to these few we were saved; and, with these masses we sailed.

On the other front, it is the right time to point out how the two universities contributed to the death of this important day. The death of May 2nd was officially announced by the managements of the two universities after abolishing the student committees, as in the case of Amoud University, or unions, as in the case of University of Hargeisa, and when in last year they have decided not to honor the day. This led to a small group of concerned students from University of Hargeisa to organize an event with Burao University, an event which did not enjoy the same prestige and honor as those conducted earlier. The management considered the worsening situation of the students dividing themselves into their clans and judged that this would lead to a worse scenario should the union and May 2nd continue this way. I really value the instructors and managements of the universities and revere them so much. However, I still have to express some of the reservations which I think should be improved. This kind of argument can be challenged with one straight-forward question: Should we stop developing because it creates upheavals and conflicts within the stakeholders? To my limited knowledge, all development initiatives involve challenging status quo and social perceptions. If we are to avoid conflicts, then we cease to develop. Yet, the choice is ours to make!

Besides, the role of the university is not only to equip the students with skills that can be translated into monetary terms in the labor market, but also to contribute to the social wellbeing by promoting the ideals of the society. Their role is not limited to delivering lectures on linear programming, but also extends to creating awareness of the social forces in play at any given circumstance.

Somaliland is in post-conflict situation, calling for skills like negotiations and peaceful conflict resolutions. As future leaders, the young must be armed with what it takes to lead a nation and fitting things together under the framework of democratic Somaliland. The classroom serves the students as the laboratory to experiment with all these new and fancy ideas chasing down their stormy brains. It is the role of the university to ensure that the environment is supportive, but not submissive, to this goal. It seams that our universities failed to ensure that this was the case, particularly when it comes to handling the student crisis.

May 2nd died young. It died when we needed the most. It died when the unity it could bring was lacking. It died when it could teach us how to manage crisis. It died when our young men and women were exploring ways to maximize its potential. It died under our tendering hearts, sobbing eyes and wishful minds. It died for our inaction. Will it ever reincarnate? Maybe we should ask first, “Is there a hero to revive the day?” My answer: hopefully!

Mukhtar Hassan Maidhane maidhane@yahoo.com

Mr. Maidhane earned his BBA from Amoud University. In his student days, he was the founding father of the Day of the Students of Somaliland Universities. Currently, he serves as the Finance Officer for WSP International’s Democratization Program.