Ten Years Since I Came Home to Mogadishu

Today marks ten years since I moved to Mogadishu for the third time, on October 24, 2016.

After finishing high school in Baidoa, I had one thing on my mind: returning to Mogadishu. I first visited the city in 2011 and again in 2012, when it was a very different place. In 2012–2013, I completed my first year of high school there before moving to Baidoa for the remaining three years. Now I was going back, carrying more life experience, a passion for education, and a desire to explore the city I loved while building my academic future.

My Way To Mogadishu Oct 24, 2016, at Baidoa Airport

I had originally planned to arrive around June, when scholarships were available at local and international universities, particularly in Sudan. But family matters kept me in Baidoa, and my elder brother was still pursuing his own undergraduate studies. Once he returned to Baidoa, I decided to move to Mogadishu and study there instead.

This time I traveled by plane, unlike my first two trips, with high expectations and big ambitions. I had no idea about the ups and downs that awaited me before those ambitions became reality.

I landed safely and began visiting almost all the universities I had been considering. But classes had started nearly two months earlier, so I had to wait for the next admission period. Then, unfortunately, I fell sick. From December 2016 to May 2017, I was regularly in and out of hospitals, hoping my health would improve so I could finally begin my studies.

The only picture I have from the 2011-2013 era in Mogadishu is cropped from one of my certificates I got at the time 

Yet that difficult period also gave me something unexpected: free time. Together with my friends Ahmed and Abdifatah, I decided to put it to good use. In March 2017, we founded Qaran School in Shingani district, where I lived at the time. We taught English, Mathematics, and Somali to children from the Abdiasis, Shingani, and Bondhere districts. Later, we added diploma courses in scientific subjects: I taught Math and Physics, Ustad Ahmed taught Chemistry and Biology, and Ustad Abdifatah taught Nursing. In May 2018, our first students graduated from the nursing and scientific diploma programs. The school still serves these communities today, and it remains a legacy I will always cherish. I could not stay involved for long, as I moved to a more central part of the city in late 2018.

My main purpose in coming to Mogadishu was to earn my degree, and I joined Daha International University in May 2017 to study Business Administration, graduating in August 2020. Throughout those years, I took part in extracurricular activities, workshops, and networking events. They introduced me to people from many backgrounds and helped me build a community in my new home, including close friends I still admire.

Alongside my studies, I interned at both private and public institutions, which gave me practical skills and a better understanding of the labor market. In late 2017, I joined the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, where I worked with then State Minister Abdiasis Laftagreen, who became president of Southwest State in late 2018.

I also started initiatives of my own. In 2019, I launched a small poultry farm in Mogadishu, hatching chicks in homemade incubators I had built myself. Eventually, I paused the business, as the COVID-19 pandemic and other personal demands made it too hard to manage alongside my other responsibilities.

In August 2020, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, achieving one of the main goals that had brought me to Mogadishu. I then began a career in Monitoring and Evaluation, working with the UN and international NGOs in Somalia for six years. I contributed to evaluating multi-donor-funded projects and traveled to several states within the country. In 2023, I also traveled abroad to Kenya and Nigeria, transiting through Ethiopia both ways. In 2025, I moved to Korea to pursue my master’s degree, and I have now lived here for a year, reflecting on the decade behind me.

Standing at the North-South Korean border, the Demilitarized Zone behind me is North Korea; this picture was taken while I was visiting there in the 3rd october 2026

I arrived in Mogadishu young, energetic, and ambitious. The city, and the people I met there as friends, mentors, teachers, and colleagues, gave me the support and environment that made my growth so rewarding. Until I return, I will miss that lively city: the capital of Somalia and the city every ethnic Somali calls home.