Education: Dilla’s Road To Riches or its Road To Rags?

For our family of over 30 persons in the late fifties, Ismail and I were the only two who had a chance to go to school. And since joining school was always our dream, often times we walked to nearby Tog-wajale which had its primary school since the fall of 1957. And because we had always had all the free time as we were hopeless boys when it comes to tending livestock which was the main occupation of our family, we went almost every morning to town to watch school boys sing our favorite song before starting their classes:

”Aqoon la’aani waa iftiin la’aanee; waa aqal iyoo ilays la’aanee, ogaadaa ogaadaa, skuulada ogaadaa; oo aada oo aadaa walaalayaalow aadaa!” …. or having no education, is like having no light (ignorance), it is like being in a dark house with no light…. Please understand the value of education and brothers and sisters, go! Go to schools

Fortunately, in 1958 or fifty years ago this August, the school of Dilla opened its doors to enroll its first ever class. So, a total of 30 boys were enrolled. However, to Mr. Mohamoud Ahmed Ali, the father of education then in British Somaliland Protectorate, 30 boys was a large class that would be a huge burden on the teachers. And even so, after an additional push from mufti Sheikh Omar Goth, chief Aqil Abdi Badde and a whole lot more other city prominent figures, another 5 more boys were added. And even then many boys including me were not enrolled.
 
Amazingly, despite that huge demand, Dilla community leaders promulgated one thing: that since almost all the kids of the area were from one single clan, enrollment priority should be given to children of other clans… most of them maternal cousins. And then and only then, those from Dilla clan areas would be given the chance to enroll! I bet that was one reason that I could not secure a position in the enrollment and partly because my first cousin was already there in the enrolled list. That was how much accommodating and sacrificing our fathers were! That was how much caring and inclusive of all they were! And that was how much respect they had for other clans! Today, on the contrary, fifty years later many Somalilanders are only truly intoxicated with tribalism regionalism and opportunism!

So, certainly humiliated, I left the queue and within minutes saw myself singing alone: Macbuudka alloow mar uunbaan is idhaa muquuro badoo, mawjadu ha ku gayso meel dheer oo muuqaaga ka qari magaalada eey!. Ow my Lord! occasionally I wish diving deep into the sea waters! And I wish its waves take me miles away! And I wish I could hide my whole face from the city so that people do not see me again because I can hardly accept being left out in the cold!

Fortunately, the next morning, some miracle happened as Dilla’s elders convinced the head master to keep all extra kids… a total of eight including me so that they can study on temporary basis….an idea which the teacher Mr. Abdi Jama, (Arandis), may Allah bless his soul, accepted. However, certainly I hated to be in the temporary list so much so that my first word to know of the English language was “temporary”. To me, temporary meant something of a lesser value. This was because I could attend classes only when there were no government officials coming to town.
And sorry, if they did, I had to disappear for the whole day!  Fortunately, a year later three boys left school for good and lucky me, here at last I got a permanent spot in that HOLY school!

A year later, in the fall of 1959, Mr. Mohamoud Ahmed Ali again came to Dilla to enroll that year’s class. And as usual, he was welcomed by Dilla elders who really valued education and all those who worked on it including of course the father of education of British Somaliland Protectorate, Mr. Ali. And in fact Mr. Ali had truly always admired how much receptive Dilla elders were toward education!

After a short entertainment and tea punctuated with songs, traditional dances such as the: wilwile and ululation, Mr. Ali teasingly asked Dilla elders and specifically Sheikh Omer Goth: “This year, will Dilla again give me rough treatment?” Upon hearing that everyone laughed and then loudly said: “No; no way Mr. Ali! We will never do that! Your honor, Dilla loves you! But of course, we guarantee you Dilla will never run out of miracles!”.

And it was during that entertainment that the whole crowd: men, women and children all sang:  “Ninkii ilmihiisa iskuul ku daraa inuu anfacaayo miyaanu ogayn?” or he who enrolls his/her child in school, doesn’t he/she know that it will uplift his/her whole future life….? Kuwii aqlilee dantooda arkee dalkooda ilaasha allow naga yeel… Ow my Lord, make us those who listen one another, see things the right way and protect their nation!

Then, by 11a.m. the whole city came to school. Mothers with their kids were everywhere; boys as well as girls were everywhere. And of course fathers all of who seemed eager to insure enrolling their kids, were everywhere!

And finally, when all prospective school kids were told to line up for enrollment, five girls queued up with the boys! And confused, Mr. Ali asked “what are those girls doing in that BOYS line?” And Sheikh Omer said: “Mr. Mohamoud, they are here to be enrolled too!” and then Mr. Ali asked: “how can that happen? In all British Somaliland, we cannot convince people to bring their boys to school because they think that is a sin! How can you mix Dilla boys with girls in the same class now?”

Suddenly, all Dilla leaders said: “Mr. Ali, please do it for us! Just enroll all and leave the rest to us! We promise it works and works perfectly well!” And realizing the commitment Dilla leadership had toward that cause, Mr. Ali enrolled a total of 30 kids including five girls and immediately left bewildered!

That is how progressive Dilla of the fifties became the first co-education center in all British Somaliland Protectorate. And surprisingly, within months, the whole nation followed suit!  Today, that small town of Dilla which produced hundreds if not thousands of educated boys and girls; many with Bachelor, master or PhD degrees, for the last fifty years, has lost its leadership place in all Somaliland thanks to its indifferent intellectuals! That Dilla that has thousands in every country in this global village today is sadly only a ghost town with no social services whatsoever. In fact, it had sadly fell far behind in every sphere when its counterparts are progressing rapidly and with high speed. It is therefore fair to conclude this short story with the following remarks:

If any one thinks that education always brings wealth to its community, then that that some one must think again as Dilla community is a living proof! And if any one thinks that knowledge always makes all caring and considerate, that some one must think and think again! And on the contrarily Dilla intellectuals are a living example! So, sorry Education is not Dilla’s road to riches! It is its road to rags!

Finally, my dear friends, this fall marks the fiftieth anniversary since Dilla opened its door to its first class. So, may I request? Can we come together this fall and celebrate in Dilla for that great anniversary? Can we come there and revive the hopes of our people by dancing with them the wilwile, the dhanto, the buranbur and the xoogweyn? And can say “we are with you all the way, we care and we love you?” Can we say “Dilla is a lot to us” by placing it back on its track?

And brothers and sisters, please remember that is it a high time that we realize that Dilla and its community do not deserve to be abandoned especially at their time of need! It is a high time we give back some of the sacrifices our forefathers did for us so that we are today who we are! And if we fail to do that, we will certainly have left a dark history behind us!

By Noah Arre

Email: noah.arre@gmail.com