Any Bloggers Currently in Mogadishu?

Hello fellow bloggers from around the globe. I've recently received a small request from a gentleman seeking to reach out to the Somali blogger community. Below is his message:

"Dear Bloggers - I am currently in Mogadishu and am looking for some local photo-bloggers who may be interested in an exchange project for an NYU Master's project. I will be in town until Monday night and can be reached on +252 699 962 826. Please call me and let us meet and chat. - Levin Born"

If you're in the area or are interested in the project, don't hesitate to contact Levin. Opportunities come knocking when you least expect them.

A New Era Dawns Upon Somalia

Newly elected President Mohamud. Image credits - Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP

After over 40 years, Somalia has successfully elected a new president in its own soil. The new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has won with an outstanding 190 votes against 79 for the outgoing president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. The victory margin which portrays Mohamud as a clear favorite, also shows that the parliamentarians voted for a change of direction. It sends a strong message that Somalis want to move beyond the days of corrupt, clan-dominated governments to a more effective leadership.

"I congratulate all Somalis. The people are taking a new direction. You are now ending the difficult path and taking a new one," Mohamud said as people cheered around him.

There have been several attempts at electing a Somali president before, each attempt raising people’s hopes that this time things will work out, only to have rival clans and disgruntled factions seek to destabilize the new government for their own interests. The new president will certainly have to fight old and new power interests; people who have spent years and money carving power bases for themselves only to see a fresh face take the highest seat in government. He will have to try to succeed in fighting corruption and piracy where others have failed, and also keep the bigger picture in mind when it comes to dealing with all the foreign interests that have staked so much in Somalia as they try to pull him toward their own causes.

That is why like most Somalis, I am optimistic and pray this time it works out for the good of the nation and its people. But as a realist, I’m also cautious not to put all my hopes in one basket and lose faith with the slightest bump in what is sure to be a rough road for our nation.

But for now, as this new era dawns upon us, there remains a glimmer of hope and we should all try to do our part to improve things, even if it’s as simple as a short prayer.

The Reason Behind The Move

Hello dear bloggers and readers. Welcome to the new location. There are a few reasons for the move; the main one being the aggregator, or lack thereof. Wordpress, although with a clean and great user interface, lacks the feature we need most: to have the blog list updated each time someone publishes a new post on their blog. This way we can keep track of the latest updates from our fellow bloggers instead of going through the long process of opening each and every blog in hopes of finding an update.

The second reason, albeit not as significant, is simply cosmetic. Wordpress does not allow customization of templates and charges users a fee for the feature. We wanted to have the ability to be able to edit the template in the future if the need arises.

With that out of the way, I'd like to welcome all the new bloggers to the list. The list is over 50 people now and still growing as we are receiving new links each day. There are several Somali blogs marked 'Protected' so we haven't added them. So far we have blogs written in Somali, Arabic, English, and Norwegian. If you know of any other Somali blogs, drop us a line.

But am I the only one that gets this feeling that those aren't the only languages we'll see? I know somewhere out there is a Somali writing a blog in some other language, whether it be French, Portuguese, or Italian. It's just a matter of time.
 

Till then, browse through the list of bloggers and go do some exploring.