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Education: Dilla’s Road To Riches or its Road To
Rags?
May 30, 2008
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
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