HIGH EXPECTATIONS

By Adan H Iman, Los Angeles:  At the end of last year, a handful of men and women led by Ahmed Sheikh Farah of Washington DC conceived the idea of organizing the Awdal community in North America. They initiated conference calls between members of the community on weekends, a process that led to the idea of holding a convention. The Minneapolis, MN group seized the opportunity of hosting the convention, which is now due to take place in about 10 days’ time. Those who originated the idea and those who took the burden to host the gathering both deserve a credit.

In their first press release, the convention organizers defined their mission as providing the conventioneers a forum to analyze the major social, economic, infrastructural and environmental conditions of Awdal Region, Somaliland, and to distill from this exchange of ideas an “actionable” idea to be presented to the Awdal communities overseas.

Convention organizers wisely proscribed the inclusion of political topics in the program, for the simple reason that discussion of politics between participants with pluralistic and opposing entrenched political beliefs will serve no purpose except to undermine the purpose of forging a common goal in the spirit of brotherhood. By the way, whoever said that every time two or three people meet, the only thing to talk about is politics? Of course there much more into life than just politics!

The convention generated wide interest and attention because it is the first of its kind outside the region with the objective of seeking a consensus on an idea of common interest that will be utilized to improve the life of the people.

My sense is that the idea to be embraced at the convention, if it is to appeal to, and win overwhelming support from, the people inside the region and overseas must pass the following test:

 The idea must relate to a problem that the inhabitants of the region suffer painfully from every day.
 The benefits the idea offers must alleviate hardships experienced uniformly by the people.
 The idea must resonate with everyone from Awdal. If it is designed to help a sectional group, it will not see the light of the day and will die an early death.

Awdalites in the Diaspora – from S and N Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and North America- will be very disappointed if the conventioneers just present papers and schmooze for three days at a Sheraton Hotel and then adjourn the convention without living up to their promise of coming up with a bold idea. If a good idea is born from the gathering and in an unlikely scenario, if it is not implemented and funded, the blame will be on the rest of the Diaspora whose collective responsibility it is to follow up with the much anticipated outcome.

Let us all hope for a convention whose outcome meets our high expectation.

Adan H Iman, Los Angeles
Email; ahiman2@aol.com