Searching for hope I lost long time ago.

I am inspired by the writings of my father Ibrahim Adam Ghalib and I want to try my talent for the first time. I think this is a family trait. I am doing this without the help of my Dad. At the age of 4 in 1987 I was lucky to start my kinder garden at Philippine embassy school in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.

This school was an exclusive and expensive school. The school was multi cultural and diverse religions. In 1998 my family moved to Somalia when the work of my father expired due to saudisation policy. When we came to Somaliland I started in Sheikh Ali Jowhar secondary school to finish my last year. Life in Africa is full of surprises and I confronted with situations of ups and downs that I was not used to it. It was hard for me to adapt to the new situations compared to my comfort life in the gulf. I finished my secondary education in Somaliland 1999.

In Africa and especially in Somaliland life is very hard and people struggle for their living. The other strangest thing confronted me is nobody knows me and if there is a job they prefer the people they know only. This character was new to me and I could not recognize the tribal attitudes which I was not brought up with. There are no government jobs or private companies and people depend on small businesses.

Luckily my family moved again to Saudi Arabia and started business of their own between Saudi Arabia and Somaliland. I started computer course in a reputable school in Riyadh and finished with success. Life was simple and comfortable for me compared to the others who did not have the chance I got. We stayed in Riyadh for several years. Doing business in a foreign country especially in the gulf countries is difficult and suddenly the business of my family collapsed due to strange laws.

Finally my family moved again to Somaliland. My father spared me this time to stay in Saudi Arabia and started a hand to mouth job in a transporting company in Jeddah owned by a Somali to get little experience. My father traveled back and helped me financially. He gave me a home training and prepared an excellent resume for me. I started to search for a job.

I was amongst the luckiest persons to find a job at the age of 19 in a leading courier company called ups based in Riyadh. Immediately I took training about various departments in the company for example operations, customer service etc. I was taken from the headquarters to a huge international petroleum company called Sabic. I was chosen as a mail room supervisor. I managed to coordinate with 500 employees and gave a good reputation for the company. I was ambitious and made success in my new career.

One day I started consuming Kat. It was new for me and expensive. It gave me different moods. It is forbidden in Saudi Arabia but the Somalis still consume it and I was one of them. One day while I was chewing in my house a police broke into my bed room and I was caught red handed. Till now I do not know how they found me. I was very lucky to be deported to Somaliland in a short period in 2005. I blew a chance of a life time that could have changed my life for ever.

Since then I was bored and life was miserable that I could not stand. I traveled to Ethiopia searching for hope I lost long time ago. I learned more about Ethiopia but never got a chance I once had. I started to work in a small business which has no much reward but for survival. I left it because it was not satisfactory job.

Life is full of surprises and I am advising the people of my age to be very cautious. By writing my first article I want to be a writer like my dad. I am a young man of many experiences with the knowledge of 4 languages, English, Arabic and Somali both spoken and written and Philippine language spoken which my age group do not have. I can be a correspondent for any website in English language which most of the people who are engaged in this job is not fully literate.

                                                 Adan Ibrahim Adan

By Adan Ibrahim Adan

Email: adanibrahim@hotmail.com