By Conrad Heine
While the journal of the Anglo-Somali Society has a venerable 60-year history, at the other end of the world is another well-established Somali journal. Since 2008, the Somali Graduate Journal has been celebrating Somali journeys through New Zealand’s higher education system, and profiling leaders in the community there.
Somali Aotearoa has featured in our pages before, notably in Journal No 61, Spring 2017, with ‘To the end of the Earth’, a lengthy profile of the Kiwi Somali community, featuring, among others Abdirizak Abdi, editor of the journal. Now, in late 2024, Abdirizak is delighted to announce the 9th edition, featuring profiles of 28 Somali graduates across a range of fields – only a small sample, Abdirizak points out, of the total number. ‘As the editor of this great community publication I am grateful for the opportunity to showcase the achievements of our community members and for the personal inspiration I have drawn from reading the graduates’ amazing education journeys – each one uniquely inspiring indeed.’
Besides the heartfelt and often moving graduate profiles, the latest edition features a section profiling ‘leaders who are making a difference’, dedicated, says Abdirizak, to ‘those who deserve to be acknowledged for their exemplary leadership and contributions to society’. Among these are community leaders who did so much in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand’s south in March 2019, where local Somalis were among the victims, one who has returned to Somalia to serve in the parliament there, and, in the best Somali tradition, one who leads through poetry.
I was especially pleased to see the profile of Fadumo Ahmed, who leads on empowering women through social entrepreneurship. Among her portfolio of activities is Banaadir restaurant in the local Somali hotspot of Mt Roskill in Auckland. I’ve been there often myself, and cannot wait to again next time I return to the city of my birth. We reproduce with permission a local media report on a well-deserved award for Fadumo (right) and some highlights from the latest edition, including a moving poetic profile and a mouthwatering look at Banaadir.
To read and download the latest journal in full, and view past journals too, visit: https://somaligraduatejournal.org/
• Conrad Heine is a long-standing Society member. Originally from Aotearoa/New Zealand, he is a London-based journalist often working in the Horn of Africa.
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