Ever since Somalia received international media attention as a result of the worst famine in 60 years hitting the horn of Africa, Somali youth in the UK have mobilized and unified in groundbreaking ways.

The Somali community is a relatively young community in the UK with the majority of Somalis (57%) arriving in the UK after 2001.  This means the youth have only recently become established enough to effectively mobilize. The number of Somalis in education is an example of this. The number of Somalis attending university has risen considerably over the past few years and has undoubtedly been a fuel for facilitating the ability of Somali youth to come together, mainly through the medium of SomSOCs (Somali Society’s).

---

Related

On being a Somali Woman and living in the west

Black Panther; Why Did African Pride Stop Short of Including African Muslims?

The Muslim Women Leaders of Our Time: ‘We Are the Third Culture Kids’

---

In the single month of February in 2017, Somali societies at university (SomSOCs), SYFI (Somali youth for integrity) and youth clubs like

Elays

came together to raise an extraordinary amount of over £50,000 during the ‘February fundraiser’ hosted by SYFI. The unification of Somali youth in the UK certainly is a new phenomenon.  Organizations such as SYFI were only founded in 2015, with the first February fundraiser happening in 2016 and other groups such as Meiza being founded even later. This movement created by Somali youth to financially support Somalia seemed to have come suddenly but it is certainly here to stay.

Somali youth in the UK are mobilizing and are now playing an instrumental role in raising awareness and acting against humanitarian disasters and injustices in Somalia.

The famine definitely played a huge role in galvanizing Somali youth into action. Observing the inadequate financial support Somalia was receiving from the international community and Islamic charities based in the UK, Somali youth understood that it is our responsibility to come together as Somalinimo and support Somalia. In 2017 Charity efforts from SomSOCs and other Somali youth groups have focused on short-term relief in Somalia as reports revealed that over 3 million people in Somalia face food insecurity. The momentum that was started in 2017, however, is being carried forward to support long-term sustainable projects.

This year SYFI’s February fundraiser has teamed up with African relief fund to build a school in Somalia, where it was recently announced at the SYFI finale dinner that the total raised was over £59,000!

Education is crucial in the long-term development of nation because without human capital, a failed state can never find its way out of poverty. Somalia at the moment has one of the world’s lowest enrolment rates for school children with only 30% of children in school.

The amount raised by Somali youth has left this generation into feeling more hopeful and excited for a prosperous future for Somalia. May Allah reward all those who worked tirelessly to help fundraise to build the school in Somalia. I have no doubt that in years to come the Somali community will continue to build on this movement to support our homeland – Insha’Allah.