Dreaming for a better future for her country, Fadumo Dayib, who fled her homeland 25 years ago, decided to return to Somalia to run for the highest seat in the Horn-of-Africa country, becoming the first female candidate in the war-torn nation.
“I’m generally an optimist,” Dayib told Good News Network.
The story of Dayib dates back to quarter a century ago when the girl child was forced to flee with her family when civil war erupted.
First moving to Kenya, the family landed finally in Finland.
Dayib learned to read at age 14, using this skill to master’s degree in health care and public health, and a second one in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Davib, now a mother of four, wanted to heal the wounds in her homeland and knew the changes would have to come from the top.
“Somalia needs a multidimensional approach to tackling issues,” Davib told Good News Network.
“But everything boils down to tackling poverty.”
Recovering from more than 20 years of civil war and its aftermath, Somalia established in 2012 its first parliament in two decades and plans in 2016 its first democratic presidential election since 1967.
“We can’t get out of the hole we’re in until we admit to the role we’ve played in the state the country is in,” she said.
She sees health care, sanitation, education and jobs as the building blocks to eliminating poverty and laying a new foundation for the nation.
Davib believes she must return to heal the country’s pain while it still suffers.
“I’m a dreamer,” she said. “I dream of what Somalia could be like.”
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