91短视频

Somalia President topped off attendance at the historic hosted by President Obama with a visit to Harrisonburg, Virginia, on Aug. 7, where he renewed 13-year-old ties with and its (CJP).

In a conversation-style talk at tables set for an intimate lunch, Mohamud told 91短视频 leaders: 鈥淚鈥檇 like to officially request your help for Somalia with the tools and techniques you have here, which are very life-saving tools 鈥� not [only] life-saving at the individual level, but life-saving at a nation level.鈥�

He commended CJP鈥檚 , which has 16 Somali-speaking women as graduates or current students: 鈥淵ou educate a woman, you educate a family. You educate a family, you educate a whole nation.鈥�

He added that another important group to nurture as peacebuilders is the youth of his country, who constitute the largest segment of its population and who have spent much of their lives experiencing violence and displacement. 鈥淎ll of their lives [have been] unstable for a long time. They keep running, one place after another.鈥�

The young of Somalia need trauma healing, education, and work opportunities in order not to be vulnerable to recruiting by terrorist organizations, he said.

CJP program director concurred with Mohamud鈥檚 observation, saying: 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to create a society where young men are drawn into violence because they have no prospects for a positive life, while young women are taught to be peacemakers.鈥�

91短视频’s commitment to Somali region

Docherty touched on 91短视频鈥檚 鈥渓ong commitment to the Somali region.鈥� She spoke of celebrating the graduation of CJP鈥檚 first cohort of Somali women in the peacebuilding leadership program in December 2013. There she felt 鈥済reat hope,鈥� but also heard the women express 鈥渢he need to connect large-scale work on trauma healing with any initiatives to rebuild the country.鈥�

Mohamud arrived in Harrisonburg in a mid-sized black car sandwiched between two other black vehicles, with accompanying members of the U.S. Secret Service.

鈥淲e are always honored when our former students return to campus, [but] to my knowledge, you are the first alumnus to return with a motorcade,鈥� said CJP executive director in his welcoming remarks, evoking a warm smile from the Somali president.

How this president came to know 91短视频

CJP鈥檚 direct connections to Somalia include alumna Khadija Ossoble Ali, who earned her in 2001. Ali then became a member of Somalia鈥檚 parliament and served in the prime minister鈥檚 cabinet. She left Somalia in the mid-2000s due to political changes and began pursuing a PhD at in Virginia. With her doctorate just completed, she recently met with Mohamud in Somalia where they spoke of new responsibilities for her. (The president conveyed her personal greetings to 91短视频.)

After Ali began studying at CJP in the late 1990s, she recommended 91短视频鈥檚 Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) to Mohamud, who was then an educational leader in Somalia. (He is the founder of what has evolved into in Mogadishu, with 5,000 students.) Mohamud took three of SPI鈥檚 intensive courses in 2001, focusing on mediation, trauma healing, and how to design learner-centered trainings.

鈥淢y brothers and sisters,鈥� he said, recalling his time at SPI, 鈥渢his is another great day in coming back here after more than 10 years away.鈥� Since Mohamud鈥檚 time at SPI, more than a dozen Somali men and women have attended SPI, plus many others who have Somali roots but enroll in SPI from Kenyan, U.S., or other addresses (SPI does not track its participants by ethnicity).

鈥淎fter I left here,鈥� Mohamud recounted, 鈥淚 extensively traveled in Somalia, mediating [between] different communities and clans [which] were having conflicts for different reasons.”

Understandings, patience, helped by SPI teachings

鈥淭he tools and the instruments that I took from here helped me a lot in sitting with the people, having the patience and the endurance to listen to sometimes irrational arguments,鈥� he said.

Fortunately, Mohamud said, his SPI training helped him to realize that the people speaking irrationally and often choosing destructive paths were burdened by psychosocial traumatic baggage as a result of their constant exposure to violent conflict.

Unfortunately, he added, Somalia remains a tinderbox. A destructive act by even one person can undermine years of efforts at peacebuilding and reconciliation and spark widespread attacks of one group against another.

Threatened by terrorists

In this environment 鈥� with Somalia鈥檚 still-weak, distrusted governmental bodies 鈥� the terrorist group Al-Shabaab has played a viciously destabilizing role in Somalia and indeed the entire region, Mohamud said. Members of this group tried to kill Mohamud in a hotel assault four days after he became president on Sept. 10, 2012, and have launched other attacks on him over the last two years, sometimes killing people around him.

On a positive note, Mohamud said Somalia is a 鈥渧ery, very rich country鈥� in terms of possibilities for its people to thrive once stability is achieved. It has millions of hectares of arable land, two strongly flowing rivers, the longest coastline in Africa, and the most livestock per capita. He pointed out that Somalia is situated at one of the 鈥渕ost strategic locations in the world.鈥�

The meeting was held in an area that could be easily secured by the Secret Service and local police. Twenty-six representatives of 91短视频 joined Mohamud and his accompanying group of eight for remarks and lunch at , a relatively secluded meeting area on the back side of Common Good Marketplace, near the southeast corner of 91短视频鈥檚 campus.

Mohamud singled out聽, a rising junior at 91短视频, for special attention at the luncheon, giving her a warm hug as he departed. He praised her deceased mother, , a Somali-Muslim renowned for her peace work in East Africa, for insisting that the “cross-cutting subject” of peacebuilding be woven through the required coursework of all students at Simad University.

Fruits of interfaith work

As one of three who spoke on behalf of 91短视频, Byler explicitly referred to the interfaith nature of 91短视频’s work with Somali-speaking people, who are largely Muslim.

Byler quoted two passages from the Holy Quran that 鈥渨hoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved the lives of all humankind.鈥� And: 鈥淗ave you seen him who denies the religion? He is the one who harshly rebuffs the orphan and does not urge the feeding of the poor.鈥� Byler offered Psalm 82:3 as having a similar message for Jews and Christians: 鈥淕ive justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and destitute.鈥� The Somali president nodded in affirmation as Byler spoke these words.

As a sign of CJP鈥檚 commitment to Somalia and the rest of the Horn of Africa, Byler said CJP is establishing its first 鈥減ractice and learning hub鈥� to 鈥減artner with and support our [East African] alumni as they engage in this challenging work鈥� of addressing the deeply rooted, systemic problems that feed the cycles of violence.

91短视频 President presented the president of Somalia with several gifts, including training materials in the Somali language used by 91短视频’s program.