A Delegation from Abilis foundation,
A delegation from Abilis Foundation has been visited us at Horizon mental care Center in Hargeisa Somaliland,
This delegation was focused monitoring and evaluation a project of skill Training for the Mentally Recovered People in Horizon Mental Care Center which Abilis Foundation was funded and Horizon Social Assistance Development Organization was implemented.
This delegation was composed a two delegates from Abilis Foundation and members of (Somaliland National Disability Forum SNDF) and the Abilis facilitator of Somaliland.
Horizon was Awarded to Abilis Foundation a Certificate of appreciation and a letter of ''Thanks'' that was presented the Horizon Chairperson Mr. Mustafe Good Nuur to Mrs Tuula heima Tirkkenon the Abilis Project coordinator.
Horizon Background;
Horizon Social Assistance Development Organization is a Non Profit Organization based in Hargeisa -Somaliland. It has been established in early 2007 by a group of youth volunteers of both the gender.
This Organization was set up to promote and work as a voluntary to the social basic needs and the development activities in Somaliland.
Horizon works in a different social basic activities particularly it provides humanitarian care to the mentally sick people and the mentally Disabled people in Hargeisa - Somaliland and will make extension in the near future to the other regions of Somaliland.
The Massege of the Horizon Chairperson,
"We have to get the word out that mental illnesses can be diagnosed and can be treated as more easy as the other common treatable ilness, and almost everyone suffering from mental illness can live more normal lives."
Mustafe Good Nuur,
“…education makes a person trainable, training makes the person employable, and attitude and continuous learning keep the person employed: Education, skills development and lifelong learning are at the center of all innovative and high productivity economies.”
Mustafe Good Nuur
Stop The Chain !!
The fight for human rights for the mentally ill
The practice of using the chains to physically restrain persons with mental illness by members of family or the community is widespread in Somaliland and in the horn(as in many other developing countries) and almost universally ignored. As result of this practice, thousands of people are estimated to live in isolation, chained, and/or inside "animal cages", naked, undernourished and often living in their own excrements. The mental and physical consequences of these conditions (e.g. some people loose the ability to walk as result) are enormous...
A Chinese woman has kept her mentally ill son chained in a room for the past 21 years,
Mother keeps mentally ill son in chains for 21 years to stop him from 'chasing the neighbours'
- Hong Chunlin's mother shackled him after he became violent as a teenager
- His family are 'ordinary farmers' and say they can't afford psychiatric hospitals or drugs to control his behaviour
A Chinese woman has kept her mentally ill son chained in a room for the past 21 years.
Hong Chunlin, 37, spends most of his time shackled by his wrist and lying in bed in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, in eastern China.
He is cared for by his 71-year-old mother Chen Jiufang, who resorted to the drastic measure after he became violent.
Somaliland Civil War,
(As refered from Adna Aden Ismael)
The Republic of Somaliland, formerly British Somaliland Protectorate, became Independent on June 26, 1960. It merged with the former Italian Colony of Somalia when it too became Independent on July 1, 1960. This merger was, however, doomed from the start because of economical, cultural and administrative differences and problems that made themselves felt very soon after the union of these two Somali Nations.
As a result, the people of Somaliland took steps to disassociate themselves from Somalia as early as 1961.
Regrettably, it took a long and protracted civil war between the people of Somaliland and the troops of the former Dictator Siyad Barre, for the sovereignty of Somaliland finally to be restored on May 18, 1991.
During those years of struggle, the cities of Somaliland, including Hargeisa, were bombed and ruthlessly blown to bits.
Over half a million Somalilanders lost their lives, and millions fled the country to seek refuge either in neighbouring countries or elsewhere in the world where they could find shelter.
These vicissitudes have been well-documented by the United Nations and other International Human Rights bodies who have witnessed the extent of the destruction the entire country had suffered and also how its schools and health services were razed to the ground.
An added tragedy was the death or disappearnce of trained profisionals who had served in the health services of the country.
The result being that those health facilities, which recentlyu have been rehabilitated (meagre as they are), suffer from a serious and ongoing deficiency of trained heath manpower.
Somaliland: African Colonial History
In 1883, during the ‘scramble for Africa’, the Horn of African was divided between several Colonial powers:
- Britain had a treaty of Protection with the “British Somaliland Protectorate”, the Somaliland of today
- France had the “Cote Francaise des Somalis,” the Republic of Djibouti of today
- Italy had “La Somalia Italiana”, the Somalia of today
- A Portion of the Somali inhabited Horn was left with Kenya and is today known as the Northern Frontier District of Kenya, and
- A portion was left with Ethiopia which is today known as the 5th Region of Ethiopia or the Somali Region of Ethiopia.
Among these Somali territories, Somaliland was the only one that had never been colonized and which had retained its national identity even during the period it had a treaty of Protection with Great Britain.
In June 1960, Somaliland became the first fully Independent and Sovereign Somali State among the five Somali nations and was immediately recognized by 34 Member States of the United Nations among which were the Five Permanent Members of the Security Council. This gave Somaliland the position of becoming the ‘first born’ or most senior Somali nation.
After Italian Somalia also became independent, the two independent Somali states entered into a voluntary union that was never ratified by the people of the two nations. The union was doomed from the start because the two countries that ‘united’ had language differences, tribal differences, cultural differences, and had administrative and educational differences that each had inherited from their respective former colonial RULERS.
These differences led to frictions and disputes and culminated into a long Civil war that began in 1982 and ended in 1991. This war destroyed 95% of the cities of Somaliland and caused the death of a quarter million people and a further one million to become refugees in neighboring countries because of the genocide and mass killings that were being perpetrated against the civilian population of Somaliland.
In 1991, Somalilanders freed their country and returned to rebuild it.
Since 1991 to this day, Somaliland is a land of peace, hope and stability where massive reconstruction is taking place and to which its people are returning home by the plane-loads. Today, we even have refugees from neighboring Somalia coming to us for health and education as well as for protection from the war in Somalia.
During the past 19 years, we have held Local Government, Parliamentary and Presidential Elections that have all been declared free and fair by international observers and have received congratulatory messages from world leaders including President Obama and the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Somaliland is in full support of Human Rights, Democracy and the will of the people to run their own affairs within internationally recognized Colonial boundaries. Neither Egypt and Syria, nor Senegal and Gambia, were punished for entering into a voluntary union with each other nor from withdrawing from that union when they found this to be in the interest of their people.
Somaliland stands neither for the fragmentation of States nor for the secessions of Nations.
All we are appealing for is for our people to have full and fair access to education, health care and to the basic development that we need to help us rise out of poverty and aim for the MGD goals that the rest of the world is striving to attain for its citizens.
When our women have the world’s highest Maternal Mortality rate, to deny them the right to development would be to deny them the right to Life.
Far too few of our women have access to health, education, employment. They cannot find basic sexual and reproductive information or services. Too many of their babies die because they are not assisted by trained and competent midwives. Surgical interventions for complicated pregnancies are available in few facilities throughout the country. For example, my hospital receives patients referred to us from all corners of Somaliland as well as from neighboring Somalia and neighboring 5th Region of Ethiopia.
According to a recent study that we carried at our hospital, we discovered that 99% of girls are subjected to harmful traditional practices that further put their health in peril.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the fate of Four Million people in Somaliland who have every basic Human Right for health and welfare are in your hands: You can either ‘turn your backs’ on them or extend to them the required Humanitarian Hand that would make available to them a fair chance of survival.
Thank you.
Edna Adan Ismail
President, Somaliland Family Planning Association,
Founder and Director or Edna Adan Hospital,
and
Former Foreign Minister of Somaliland.
The Map and geography of Somaliland,
Somaliland is situated in the Horn of Africa. It lies between the 08°00' - 11°30' parallel north of the equator and between 42°30' - 49°00' meridian east of Greenwich. It is bordered by Djibouti to the west, Ethiopia to the south, and the Puntland region ofSomalia to the east. Somaliland has a 740 kilometres (460 mi) coastline with the majority lying along the Gulf of Aden. The region is slightly larger than England, with an area of 137,600 km2 (53,128 sq mi).
Somaliland's climate is a mixture of wet and dry conditions. The northern part of the region is hilly, and in many places the altitude ranges between 900 and 2,100 metres (2,953 and 6,890 ft) above sea level. The Awdal, Saaxil and Maroodi Jeex (formerly known as Woqooyi Galbeed, as shown on the accompanying map) regions are fertile and mountainous, while Togdheer is mostly semi-desert with little fertile greenery around. The Awdal region is also known for its offshore islands, coral reefs andmangroves.
10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the north of Ceerigaabo is the Cal Madow range, running along the edge of the escarpment, which looks down to the Gulf of Aden. It is about 2,000 metres (6,562 ft) above sea level, where the road from Ceerigaabo drops down to the coast. 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the west it rises to the highest point in Somaliland and Somalia alike; at 2,416 metres (7,927 ft) high, it is known variously as Shimbiris or Shimbir Beris, which translates as the abode of the birds. The Cal Madow range receives considerably more precipitation than the rest of Somaliland and hosts a dense forest home to numerous endemic species
Due to the fertility and greenery of some of the regions of Somaliland, wild animals (e.g.zebras) come to the area either to breed or to graze on the grassland savanna. There are many animals that are native to Somaliland. Prominent animals are the kudu, wild boar,Somali Wild Ass, warthog, antelope, the Somali sheep, wild goat, camel, lion andcheetah. There is also the largest world population of caracals in the Burco area. Moreover, many birds and different types of fish are also found in and around Somaliland.
Extreme recorded temperatures range from −3.3 °C (26 °F) at Ceerigaabo to 47.7 °C (117.9 °F) at Berbera. The combination of a yearly average temperature of 31 °C (87.8 °F) and the high level of humidity makes Berbera one of the hottest cities in the world.
