On the move...

Somalia is on the move with you wherever you go. I write this on my way to the humanitarian coordination meeting in Nairobi, organised by The Humanitarian Forum, OIC and Muslim Charities Forum.

I was in Saudi Arabia having a meeting with King Khaled Foundation and making Umhrah, when I received an urgent call from a friend of mine to jump on a plane to Beirut.  Before midnight, we juggled with connections between Cairo, Jeddah and Beirut. I took a flight at 3:30 am to land in Cairo at 4:30, then to take another flight at 9am to be on time to meet the Chairman of the Houses of Parliament in Lebanon.

Humanitarian work doesn’t leave much time to sleep or rest in this holy month of Ramadan; however I was energised by the spirit of the Prime Minister and Chairman of the Houses of Parliament in Lebanon. They promised they would do their best to try and help as much as can when it comes to Somalia.

We went to see other organisations and tried to give them an insight of what is happening in Somalia. I was surprised by the number of people who wanted to do something; however they don’t know how to help or what to do. Our role was to give them direction and guidance and ask them to coordinate and network through local authorities.

Lebanon is not far from Somalia physically - only a few thousand miles separate them. Despite the distance, the spirit of the Lebanese people came flying faster than the speed of light to reach Mogadishu and the people in need.

I was awed by the spirit of a Lebanese young man, who started going on TV shows and talking about help for Somalia, raising awareness about the local needs, without even having the backing of an organisation! His name is Al Zaeem- a true leader. If there were many like him, they would do wonders knocking at the doors of authorities.

I came back in high spirits, with the newfound knowledge that Lebanon is not just a tourist attraction, but full of people who want to do something for Somalia.