SOMALIA/ INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY

Somalia joins the rest of world to mark International Women’s Day. This year, the theme is “Inspiring Change”. Haalimo Mohamed Maaclin is a Somali woman who is now mother to some 200 children and counting. UN AU IST

 

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:16
• Production Date: 8 March 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA – AMISOM
• Subject Topical: WOMEN'S RIGHTS
• Geographic Subject: SOMALIA
• MAMS Id: U140308a

Description

STORY: SOMALIA / INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY
TRT: 3:16
SOURCE: AU/UN IST
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/SOMALI/NATS

DATELINE: 27 JANUARY 2014, 27 FEBRUARY 2014, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

Shotlist

27 JANUARY 2014, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

1. Wide shot, children play in the water at the coast of Mogadishu
2. Med shot, children play at the coast
3. Wide shot, children playing
4. Wide shot, child rides bicycle along a street in Mogadishu
5. Med shot, children walk along street

27 FEBUARY 2014, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

6. Wide shot, banner of Somali Orphans, Disabled Homeless & Children’s Centre
7. Wide shot, children with their caretaker at the centre
8. Med shot, Haalimo talks to one of the children
9. Close up, child talks to his caretaker at the centre
10. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Haalimo Mohammed Maaclin, founder Somali Orphans, Disabled, Homeless & Children’s Centre:
“Every child is the same to me, whether they are on the streets of South Africa sniffing glue or here in Somalia. I therefore urge every Somali, human being and African to help every less fortunate child they come across.”
11. Wide shot, children in class at the centre
12. Med shot, children attending a class
13. Close up, child takes notes in a class
14. Wide shot, Haalimo conducts a class
15. Med shot, Haalimo during the lesson
16. Med shot, child sing during the class
17. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Haalimo Mohammed Maaclin, founder Somali Orphans, Disabled, Homeless & Children’s Centre:
“I urge the government to give me a place to take of these kids and give me the support and share the responsibility of these kids with me. Even if the government has a place to put these kids I am ready, so I can return to my kids with a clean conscious. However while they are still on these streets suffering, I will be here suffering with them. You can feel the responsibility, when I put 40 kids in one room it’s not allowed in the country, on one bed sleeps 4 children, it’s something unbelievable but it’s down to circumstances.”
18. Wide shot, children’s sleeping area
19. Med shot, some of the children’s beds
20. Med shot, Haalimo attends to child lying on a bed
21. Med shot, Haalimo speaks to the child
22. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Haalimo Mohammed Maaclin, founder Somali Orphans, Disabled, Homeless & Children’s Centre:
“To all Somalis, let’s not tire ourselves with things of no value and for the foreigners helping us, let’s redirect our focus from building roads to building children. It is more valuable for us to build our children than our roads, we have driven on these bumpy roads for the past 22 years and we can continue to drive on these roads because the priority should be our kids. Something needs to be done for the Somali children and for all kids on the streets of Somalia.”
23. Wide shot, man serves the children food
24. Med shot, the children are served food
25. Med shot, the children get served meal

Storyline

Somalia joins the rest of world to mark International Women’s Day. This year, the theme is “Inspiring Change”.

Haalimo Mohamed Maaclin is a Somali woman who is now mother to some 200 children and counting. She, like thousands of fellow Somalis fled the country as war intensified in the 1990s and settled in Sweden, in the city of Malmo.

She lived there with her husband and ten children but kept an eye on developments back home, hoping for peace and for that day when she could finally return home.

And then in 2012, she went home. She stayed in hotels as her own houses, which she owned before she fled had been taken over or needed major reconstruction.
What she saw was children, living on the streets of Mogadishu. Between seven and 14 years old, exposed to drug and substance abuse and having to go through garbage heaps left outside hotels to find something to eat. She decided to come to the aid of these children and champion change in their lives.

Haalimo opened the Somali Orphans, Disabled, Homeless and Children’s Centre three years ago beginning with 56 children from all parts of Somalia. She believes all children deserve a chance.

SOUNDBITE (Somali) Haalimo Mohammed Maaclin, founder Somali Orphans, Disabled, Homeless & Children’s Centre:
“Every child is the same to me, whether they are on the streets of South Africa sniffing glue or here in Somalia. I therefore urge every Somali, human being and African to help every less fortunate child they come across.”

Since the beginning, she has struggled with finding housing, even food for the children. She went from government office to office, seeking help, with little response.

Today, the centre is home to about 200 children. The cost of managing the home has grown with the numbers, with bills for food, water, electricity and the laundry among others, presenting major challenges.

She owes three months rent and lacks resources to pay for it. Haalimo wants to build a permanent home but lacks land, even though she has people willing to help with construction.

SOUNDBITE (Somali) Haalimo Mohammed Maaclin, founder Somali Orphans, Disabled, Homeless & Children’s Centre:
“I urge the government to give me a place to take of these kids and give me the support and share the responsibility of these kids with me. Even if the government has a place to put these kids I am ready, so I can return to my kids with a clean conscious. However while they are still on these streets suffering, I will be here suffering with them. You can feel the responsibility, when I put 40 kids in one room it’s not allowed in the country, on one bed sleeps 4 children, it’s something unbelievable but it’s down to circumstances.”

Of the 200 children, 120 are orphans while the 80 are vulnerable children from the Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia. Some of them are able to attend school, though access to supplies and basic schooling materials remains limited.

The children also face major psycho-social issues, some having witnessed the killing of their families, having had to live with the pain of separation from their parents.
Haalimo remains committed to ensuring that she makes a difference in the lives of these children, being a mother to them.

SOUNDBITE (Somali) Haalimo Mohammed Maaclin, founder Somali Orphans, Disabled, Homeless & Children’s Centre:
“To all Somalis, let’s not tire ourselves with things of no value and for the foreigners helping us, let’s redirect our focus from building roads to building children. It is more valuable for us to build our children than our roads, we have driven on these bumpy roads for the past 22 years and we can continue to drive on these roads because the priority should be our kids. Something needs to be done for the Somali children and for all kids on the streets of Somalia.”

For now, the home is sustained by donations from well-wishers and support from her family living back in Sweden. The two-decade war in Somalia left many families disintegrated, children orphaned and without hope.

Haalimo is doing her part in rebuilding her country, hoping that more people can join in and inspire change for their country’s future generations.

END