SomaliNet Forums

Many of us are angry at our counterparts(maybe its just me) when they start talking about the situation in Syria/Palestine/Gaza, forgetting our own peoples situation.

I got even angrier recently when they started talking about Syrian refugees, forgetting about the hundreds of Somalis that perished in the seas just the last 3 months.

So whose to blame, those of us that know the plight of our people and not doing anything about it, or those ignorant Somalis.

Anyways its my bedtime, I wanna see the Somalis that know who they are doing something about it, even if its small.

My small plans are: -to do a copy cat of Syria Relief/Islamic relief, call it Somalia relief, and run it in a proper manner, employing the best, make sure every British person knows us etc.

-help the Jareerweyne community in the Jubbas with farming, buying equipment for them etc.

-do holistic management on my homeland the Dharoor valley in Bari, make it green again

Jamal, it is good to know the plight of our people and we should be aware of it every day. However, helping our people shouldn't be a roadblock when we're expressing sympathy and whatever help we can offer to other hurting fellow Muslims in Syria and Palestine. Keeping in mind in the last famine in Somalia in 2011, many Muslims in the world donated billions of USD to Somalia. It was part of the khutbah in masjid Al-Haramein in Mecca that the imam has called all Muslims not to forget their suffering brethren in Somalia. As an Arab, he did not say why should I care Somalia when Palestine and Iraq are suffering. He has instead fulfilled his religious duty and call all Muslims worldwide to support every thing they can in order to end the suffering in Somalia. As a matter a fact, it was the khutbah in Haj.

Besides, Gaza - which is a beleaguered enclave in the Palestine that has been blockaded from air, land, and sea - has donated food, clothing, and medicine to Somalia during the famine in 2011. While everyone knows the situation in Gaza, the Muslims in this Palestinian territory did not hesitate to offer whatever means in their disposal to help their suffering fellow Muslims in Somalia.

Let us also not forget that Syria was one of the few countries who has never returned back a Somali mother with children who reached their shore. Our people were welcomed there, and those who stayed inside were allowed to go to schools for free, and for those who graduated from Syrian universities, the Syrian state has helped them out to find work. Keep in mind that this is a fellow Muslim state where over 80% of the people are Sunni Muslims.

On our end, we should be doing our human and religious duty to express our sympathy, send our dua and whatever financial means in our disposal to our suffering brethren and sisters in Syria.

Likewise, we should be helping our people on daily basis, and the relief agency that you mentioned is a good start; however, it shouldn't be run parallel to the current Syrian relief agency. In my view, it is very embarrassing if we show jealousy when the rest of the world is trying to help the Syrian people. You can run that relief agency, and create enough publicity, so Somalis and others can donate to it.