Tahriib: A Dire Situation Facing Somaliland Young Generation

Thousands of young Somali Landers have crammed their youth days with woe and despondency as their future looks uncertain and their lives were witnessed unemployment, corruption and mismanagement. Many young educated professionals with snooty skills are roaming the streets of Hargeisa with nothing to do.

The condition is even acute in our youth where the opportunities for gainful employment are extremely limited. We, as youth in Somaliland of today miss out on a good quality of education and access to jobs and our lives are characterized by hopelessness.

Life’s altering circumstances proposed new challenges to Somaliland generations and young people’s dreams scuttled by joblessness whilst copious of them fritter their good time of their life by singing we are going tomorrow or where do we go from here?.

Tahriib is one of the lovable stories chanting constantly at the youth cafes in Hargeisa. Repeating the word of Tahriib is always heard to your ears in the time they were talked to their living conditions and as well as their individual status of life as a youth.

If you visit some of the villages in Hargeisa you will came back with disappointment, because of you can see children and old aged people only lingered in the houses, Where every house was left at least a boy and a girl. How ever, the young people have a hard time in Somaliland; with pitiful education and skills as well as poor employment prospects compelled them to immigrate to Europe in searching of exciting life and job opportunities.

Many Somali Landers were faced difficulties and hardships during their way to Libya owing to the social implications of migration. A lot of them died whereas the others were arrested the countries they are in transit due to the un aware of political, economical and legal consequences of moving one country to another. Several of them mislaid their lives during the walk of hazardous Sahara desert while the others were reported to be jailed in Sudan and Libya . There cold, hunger, exploitations and mistreatment are the order of the day.

In spite of this, this irregular movement claimed the lives of lots of many young graduates in the high schools and universities and other young professionals qualifying from institutions of learning. It is a key challenge facing for Somaliland who already countenanced a staid of human resource shortages. The Somaliland labor force is persistently pooped as the young skilled and non skilled prefers to emigrate and apply their skills and force in the abroad due to the petite support to their home land.  It was the mid of the last year when 50 students who graduated from Amoud University missed their lives the perilous path between Libya and Italy.

While the migration to Europe is persistent act for young Somali Landers in searching of job opportunity and better life, lots of parents consent to their children to encourage them to involve an irregular migration by supporting financial means. Relating to this inspires, several families sold their material possessions, like land and building to drive urgently their young people to emigrate abroad. What I watch TV’s and read newsletters is a gloomy, anguish and dejection that needs to be worried by any person who have an interest for those young people perished in the seas. These are issues that need to be addressed in order to understand the level and magnitude of irregular movements of Somaliland generations.

Farhan Abdi Suleiman (Oday) is a social worker in Hargeisa, Somaliland

Finally, the government must propose an assortment of actions and policies needed for minimizing the factors that makes the young people to leave their country. There fore, I recommend the initiation of information campaigns to highlight the dangers and consequences of irregular migration. There is a need for particular TV programs focused on the situation of youth migration including those who caught up irregular movements. This program will be included inviting the people who have influence on the community to the program so as to transmit the youth messages that indicating the consequences of irregular movements, we can also use out door media, such as posters and billboards putting up the corners of the roads demonstrating the risky of irregular traveling from one country to another.

Even though, the Somaliland government does not have the institutional capacity to sustain the social and economic needs of its young populations,  it’s their duty to set up policies that will promote patterns of economic growth that maximize employment creation and benefit young people through job creation plans in the frame work of our economy.

Concrete steps that may be taken so as to minimize the factors that made the youth to leave are:

*  Implementation of programs related to youth socio-economic empowerment in order to create job opportunities and to enhance the entrepreneurship skills and self employment of the youth.

*  Reducing fees in the schools and universities as well as abolishing other barriers to further access the young people to the educational institutions in the county.

*  Fostering the participation of young people in the development frame work by creating networks and partnerships among all concerned actors and information gathering among youth related issues.

Farhan Abdi Suleiman (oday) is a social worker in Hargeisa , Somaliland

Email: oday1999@yahoo.com

Phone: 00252-2-4401132