The power of youth volunteerism in Somalia

 Do you know the importance of volunteerism? Are you aware that there are a lot of Somali youth who are volunteering their time, energy and resources to impact their communities, especially those who are facing dire humanitarian situations? In this Blog post, I would like to share with you the stories of Somali youth who study Social Work in the country and are championing community volunteerism initiatives?

First, let’s briefly understand who is youth? In Somalia, there are no clear definitions on who is youth. However, the Somali National Youth Policy stipulates youth as someone between the ages of 15 to 40. This contradicts The United Nations’ definitions for youth. The United Nations defines youth as a person between "the ages of 15 to 24. In addition to that, the African Youth Charter defines youth as a person between the ages of 15-25. African Youth Chartre.pdf.

Somalia has a youthful demographic like "most" other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. 75 percent of the country's 15 million population are under 35 years of age, and 29 percent are between the ages of 15 and 29.  USAID-Somalia-Youth-Assessment.pdf.

As you know, Somalia has experienced severe droughts that have killed livestock and humans and had a serious effect on the country's citizens, including children who suffered severe malnutrition. There were also people who starved to death. When the drought first started, the people were unaware of its magnitude and the government was busy with politics.

However, on November 24, 2021, a remarkable event occurred that would go down in history when students studying social work at some universities in Mogadishu, Somalia, began to volunteer in humanitarian efforts. These youth organized themselves and started collecting money from markets, pedestrians, restaurants, malls, supermarkets, as well as universities, and roadside shops. They also asked money from Bjaj drivers in Maine roads.

    

As a result, these youth became viral. And when they were interviewed by the media, they said: that they felt the need to stand up and do something about the dire situations in which their people are facing. “As Humans and Social Worker students, it's our moral responsibility to help our people as best as we can” said one of the students interviewed. Furthermore they called on the government and all various organizations to participate in helping the people affected by the droughts. “We can’t wait until the world comes to help us. These are our people. We have the first responsibility to stretch them a helping hand.” He continued. 

As a result, it is worth noting that a lot of youths joined the campaign that were not social workers, but felt the importance of youth volunteerism and the need to help their community.

"The campaign went on for almost two consecutive weeks, and we worked two shifts every day: morning and afternoon. There were also more and more youth who joined the campaign day by day. When the community saw us, they were very happy and encouraged us in our voluntary work. Their motivation really meant a lot and had played a huge role in our daily hustle.

While we were in the campaign, I remember one day when we were collecting money from a shop, an old woman came to the shop we were at, begging. And when she realized that we were collecting money for the drought-affected people, she decided to donate the small money she begged. We refused to take her money because she too needs help. But to our surprise, she insisted on donating and we had nothing to do but accept it. However, this taught us a moral lesson: that Somali people are generous and committed to help each other in difficult times.

On the other hand, there were many challenges we faced. First, we missed classes, and sometimes we had no transportation. Although we had money collected for the draughts, we didn’t want to use it because it goes against our morals. So sometimes we would walk to our homes.  

We eventually concluded the campaign and began counting the money we collected. It was way more than we expected. The money was collected from different areas. The Somali diaspora have also hugely contributed to our campaign.

Now it was time to dispatch a team to the drought-affected areas to distribute this donation. After a discussion, we sent three members to Gedo, especially Garbaharey. To avoid using the donated money to buy tickets. The tickets were donated by some agents because it was in public interest.

 After a long survey and assessment, we provided food and water to more than 500 families who were the most vulnerable peoples.

Every country’s development depends on how its youth volunteer. So let's start serving our community as volunteers.

 “Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” ~Elizabeth Andrew