Sandra in Somaliland: Scenes1

Scenes of the City of Hargeisa, Somaliland

SandraInSomaliland2010: Media Advocacy

Somaliland Scenes 2010

Tribal and political conflicts have divided Somalia into three zones: Somaliland, Puntland and Mogadishu (South Central Somalia). In 2010 I traveled there to work in advocacy, peacekeeping and conflict mitigation for a USAID/IREX media training program for 30 women and 30 youth groups.

Media Advocacy: Sandra In Somaliland

Producing Peace Advocacy Shorts: PSAs and Documentaries along with Talk Shows for Radio
Working with Community Based Organizations of Women and Youth Groups at Somaliland Radio and Television Studios, Hargeisa

Media Advocacy: Arriving in Somaliland

I traveled to Hargeisa, Somaliland in September 2010 as a consultant media trainer for USAID and the International Research Exchange (IREX). I landed at Berabera, after a 28-hour adventure, departing from the U.S. Virgin Islands via Miami onto Washington DC, where I took a flight to the sparkling city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. From Dubai I flew straight to Berabera, the safe zone airport that is a potholed, 4 hour ride to Hargeisa, another US stronghold and safe region. But I would have to wait a while to leave the airport arrival hall.

My visa was immediately invalidated at the Berabera Airport and I was ordered to get back on the plane to be deported to Dubai because the Customs chief was not informed by Immigration of my advance visa that had been emailed to me. So I got back on the bus and waited. Lucky for me my UN security escort and the IREX-Somaliland manager arrived. After another 4 hours, I was finally on my way to Hargeisa, and we stopped at a fish house before leaving town for water and fish (of course.)

The countryside was brown, rocky with hardy bush, trees and cactus-like plants blowing in the heat and dust. We were comfortable in the AC as our two-car caravan (complete with UN security forces escort) bumped along at high speed down and around, up and off-road at times on the road to Hargeisa. The security forces ever mindful of a small rebel insurgence group that was crossing the border into the Hargeisa safe zone along the road we took from Berabera. That day there weren't any sightings of the rebels as we made our way.

My current travels have taken me far to do work in US Virgin Islands on St. Croix, Hargeisa and Berbera, Somalia/Somaliland, Axum, Ethiopia and Okinawa, Japan (where I hope to return in 2011 for more consulting) where I have led some exciting development and capacity building initiatives.

Assistive technology for persons with disabilities at the Virgin Islands University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, based on St. Croix, is where I have been managing a $500K federal grant as assistant director for the past year. It also includes serving as project director of a Cornell University ADA Call Center and Training program for the territory.

As a USAID/IREX consultant, I was the lead trainer for its "Uniting Communities,Mitigating Conflict" project working with 30 women and youth participants from community-based organizations in Hargeisa, Puntland and South Central (Mogadishu) to produce 90 deliverables in the form of short videos, PSAs, radio shorts and long video documentaries. (See above pix of me at "The Breasts" landmark twin peaks gateway to Hargeisa; and below on a "garden" set at the national Somaliland Radio and TV studio)