Sunday April 2, 2017
by Damola Durosomo
After a two-year hiatus, TEDxMogadishu is back. Somalia is at a watershed moment in its history. Just last month, the country declared a new leader. There’s
been unprecedented growth in the technological sector, and widespread
reassertion of Somali pride. At the same time, parts of the country are
experiencing a famine that’s afflicting around 6.2 million people.
With all that’s happening right now, it’s a pivotal moment for the sharing of ideas and solutions backed by thoughtful action.
That’s what TEDxMogadishu represents for Ilwad Elman, its lead organizer and one of OkayAfrica’s 100 Women.
We got a chance to speak with the social activist about how the event
came together. She also spoke about her personal connection to TEDx, and
the significance behind this years theme, “do it for yourself, do it
for Somalia.”
Why was it important to bring TEDx back to Mogadishu?
Wow. TEDxMogadishu , the first one in 2012, was incredible. The theme
that year was rebirth, and it was so poignant because 2012 was when the
first federal government was put into place in Somalia after 25 years
of conflict and chaos. It really did signal the rebirth of a nation that
has been lauded everywhere in international and Western media as just a
failed state, a forgotten country, nothing but chaos, suffering, war,
carnage. It was an opportunity for us to destruct this narrative that
has been looking over Somalis everywhere they are in the world,
including the diaspora and the locals. Also, to just get people to see
that there’s so much more beyond that.
We did the other TEDxMogadishu the year after, which was rediscover,
which was also very timely because what we saw after 2012 was a huge
influx of mostly young diasporas coming back and exploring the country
for the first time and rediscovering it. TEDxMogadishu has always been
on point with the changes in the country, and projecting outward a
narrative that we don’t often hear.
The momentum is through the roof. There’s so much rebuilding
happening, there’s investments happening, there’s energy like no ever
before. TEDxMogadishu has always been that catalyst of how to turn that
momentum into practical action, and to not just inspire people but to
shed light on the innovations, the leadership, technology, the
creativity that is already there but doesn’t really get the attention
that it deserves. What we always find after TedX Mogadishu happens in
Mogadishu is that it sparks connection and dialogue and partnership with
people. We feel this is the time to resurrect that.
What can people expect to gain from viewing or attending the conference?
People take a lot away from the event, both those that are watching
online and those that come and gather. What’s really unique about
TEdxMogadishu is that, because of security, we usually announce the date
and the location the day before. It’s ridiculous the amount of people
that show up to the last event that we did, we had 350 people come to
the event that were all alerted the day before.
It was the first time in 23 years that that many people gathered at
Lido Beach for an event. Sitting from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., a full
day, in one location, hundreds of people, that’s unheard of in
Mogadishu, considering the context. That’s what TEDxMogadishu does. It
just challenges locals and those that are watching from the outside as
well, too, on the realm of possibilities. What we provide beyond just
phenomenal speakers, is we give them resources to take away. A lot of
our TEDx speakers have gone on to have incredible careers that help them
further the ideas that they presented at the conference. I, myself, am
one of those examples. The first big speaking engagement that I’ve ever
done was in 2012 at TEDxMogadishu.
It was beautiful to see how many people resonated with my ideas. For
me, it was very surreal because I spoke about my father’s legacy which
inspired me to come back to Somalia and run the Elman Peace and Human
Rights Organization that he founded, that he ultimately was killed
running. I had journalists reach out to me that were with him the day
before he was killed. They shared pictures with me that I had never seen
before.
TEDxMogadishu, it’s more than just an event where people come to be
inspired. It’s about fostering partnerships and partnerships that last
so that what people take away from that one day gathering is
opportunities for sustainable solutions to the different issues that are
being faced in country.
Are there any specific speakers or topics that you’d like to highlight?
We haven’t announced the speaker list yet, but some of the people
that we are planning on having will be speaking on innovation and
technology. This is incredibly important for Somalia as it is already
leading in many ways, actually, in the region—particularly when it comes
when it comes to mobile banking. Just a few days ago, actually, 3G
internet network was reintroduced to phones.
I think it’s also incredibly important for what that means for the
economy, what that means for the average person being able to shape
their own narrative by telling their own story through social media as
well. There’s just endless opportunities with that. We have speakers
that will be talking about the hardships that they’ve overcome.
Conflict, of course, has ravaged Somalia for more than 26 years, and the
population in the country, 70 percent is under the age of 30. We
believe it’s incredibly important to shed light on the innovations and
the leadership of people that have only ever known war and how they are
thriving in spite of that. We believe that could also be not just
instilling hope in the viewers abroad, but also be a lesson for other
countries that are still ravaged by conflict as well.
We have academics, we have people that are responding to the famine,
who are going to be speaking as well. I’m very proud of the people that
we’ve collected to be our speakers because they all bring such
diversity. We have creatives that are going to be sharing their
different skills with us too. We have performances. It’s going to be a
good one. This is one to tune in to.
Can you tell us more about the production behind the promo video? It’s really beautiful.
Ahead of every TEDxMogadishu event we launch a promo-video that
showcases Mogadishu in all of its magnificence. To get our audience and
community excited on what’s to come. We invest so much time and effort
into the promo video because we want that to be the image that comes to
mind the next time you hear Mogadishu instead of the doom & gloom
outdated narrative portrayed in international media. The prominent
message of the video is aligned with the theme and this year we had a
lot of fun with new technologies including drones to best tell the
story.
What Took You So Long Foundation
shoots the promo videos each year. In order to show the world the
Mogadishu we see, we took it up a notch this year and brought you
Mogadishu by land, air and sea for the full picture!
What does the “do it for yourself, do it for Somalia” theme mean to you. Why do you think it’s an important principle for Somalis to live by?
The theme in Somali is “iskaa wax u qabso,” a well known
Somali statement that we are reclaiming to inspire, empower and engage
our community. It translates to “do it for yourself” but the spirit of
it is “do it for Somalia” and by combining the two we have landed on a
theme that serves as a call to action. It is incredibly relevant in
Somalia today as we resurrect from conflict and we turn a new leaf.
While shooting the promo video, we asked on-lookers and friendly by-standers what first comes to mind when they hear “iskaa wax u qabso”
and their answers enforced our vision and what we had hoped to inspire
with this theme as well as the event at large. Some of the on-the-spot
answers we received were “self-sufficiency, rebuilding, the power of the
people, volunteerism.”
These are all very important principles for Somalia and its people
today and TEDxMogadishu for years has served as a resource for
partnerships, dialogue, ideas and action for those who want to get
involved with Somalia. We feel our mission is within reach now more than
ever before and the speakers we have lined up for the 4th annual
TEDxMogadishu will speak to this theme from diverse backgrounds,
disciplines and career paths.