I was delighted to attend the launch of Waxaad Tahay Boqorad (“You Are a Queen”), a book authored by Asha Sheikh Jaamac Mohamed.
The book carries a powerful message of hope, encouragement and empowerment, particularly for Somali women and girls. I commend Asha Sheikh for her creativity, dedication and the time and effort she has invested in bringing this meaningful work to life.
Wishing her continued success as her work reaches and inspires many more readers.
I would like to express my appreciation to H.E. Mohamed Abdi Hayir (Maareeye), Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, for inviting me to a meeting at the Ministry with Mr. Christophoros Politis, the newly appointed UNDP Representative in Somalia.
Our discussions focused on strengthening collaboration and accelerating progress in the agriculture and irrigation sectors, with particular emphasis on increasing domestic production, fostering innovation, and creating sustainable economic opportunities, especially for young people and rural communities.
I look forward to seeing these efforts translated into meaningful opportunities and lasting impact for our communities.
I was pleased to join the Next Level Leadership Programme in London, engaging with fresh perspectives on leadership and governance. Looking forward to putting these lessons into practice.
Sweden supports professionalization of the civil service in Somalia together with @UNDPSomalia . The leadership academy is one step on the way. Thanks for a good and promising visit in Kismayo!
Juba Valley Institute announced the appointment of Abdullahi Shafi Mohamed (Gamadid) as its new Executive Director, emphasizing his track record in Somalia's governance, humanitarian aid, and development work.
Sharif, has professional experience with UNHCR, UNICEF, and ICRC, plus recent advisory roles in Jubaland state ministries; he is a Chevening scholar with roots as a Somali refugee raised in Kenya's Dadaab camp.
The move positions the institute, focused on empowering local solutions in Somalia's Juba Valley, for enhanced credibility, institutional reform, and on-the ground impact.
Great to be part of this important initiative taking shape in Jubaland. Indeed strengthening agricultural innovation and supporting our farmers is key to improving food security and driving sustainable economic growth in the region. @HGTKenya
In collaboration with @HGTKenya we're currently conducting a feasibility study and market assessment on agro-innovative technology initiative in Kismayo.
The study is aimed at identifying practical solutions to strengthen agricultural sustainability in the region.
🚨🎙️ | Thomas Partey:
🗣️ “I spoke to Mikel Arteta the night before I left Arsenal F.C.. That moment will always stay with me.
🗣️ I never wanted to leave — not even for a single day. The whole transfer process was difficult for me.
🗣️ But that night, when we sat down for what I’d call our last coffee, he spoke to me in a way I had never experienced before… like a father.
🗣️ In that moment, I understood everything. I saw a man who truly wanted the best for me.
🗣️ I adore Arteta, and every day I pray that he wins the league — he truly deserves it.” ❤️🔴⚪️
In Mogadishu’s Hamarweyne district, residents are celebrating Eid with traditions passed down for generations. After the final Taraweeh prayers, elders exchanged formal greetings honoring their scholars; a custom shared with Swahili communities along the Kenyan and Tanzanian coast.
Tomorrow, the district comes alive with traditional Banaadir dances and rituals. For those in Mogadishu, it’s a rare chance to witness the coast’s living heritage.
HOW TO INCREASE YOUR AURA AS A MAN...
1. Enter rooms slowly, like you're never in a hurry.
2. Finish what you start. People notice that.
3. Keep your promises rare and your delivery consistent.
4. Listen fully before you answer.
5. Carry yourself like rejection doesn't scare you.
6. Maintain calm when everyone else gets loud.
7. Keep your life private. Mystery beats oversharing.
8. Invest in skills that make you useful anywhere.
9. Walk awayyyy from disrespect immediatelyyyy.
10. Let your results introduce you.
Aura isn't mystical.
It's the quiet confidence.
When Yunus (AS) was swallowed by the fish and surrounded by complete darkness, he didn’t panic, he made dua. “La ilaha illa Anta, Subhanaka, inni kuntu minaz-zalimin.” And Allah responded immediately.
If Allah can rescue a servant from the depths of the ocean, He can rescue you from whatever you’re facing. Never lose hope in Him ﷻ.
This is a powerful lesson of:
🔸Tawheed
🔸Humility
🔸Admitting mistakes
🔸Complete trust in Allah
🔸Hope even in the darkest situation
Allah ﷻ even says:
“And thus do We save the believers.”
Meaning this help is not only for Yunus (AS), but for every believer who calls sincerely.
"She saved a stranger’s child with $15. Decades later, she discovered why he had been searching for her.
In 1982, a Kenyan boy named Chris Mburu stood on the brink of losing everything. He was the brightest student in his rural district, studying by lamplight inside an earthen house without electricity. But his family could not afford his school fees. Without help, his education would end — along with any chance of escaping a life spent picking coffee in the fields.
Meanwhile, across the world in Sweden, an 80-year-old kindergarten teacher named Hilde Back came across a notice for a child sponsorship program. She chose a name from a list: Chris Mburu, Kenya. She began sending $15 every school term. There was no recognition, no expectation of gratitude — just a quiet decision to help a child she believed she would never meet.
That small amount changed everything.
Chris stayed in school. Over time, he and Hilde exchanged letters. She asked about his teachers, his studies, and his dreams. Through her words, he realized she wasn’t just part of an organization. She was a real person who believed in him. And he never forgot her.
Chris eventually graduated at the top of his law class at the University of Nairobi. He later earned a Fulbright scholarship to Harvard. He went on to become a United Nations human rights lawyer, helping prosecute genocide and crimes against humanity around the world.
Yet one thing always weighed on his heart. He had never properly thanked the woman who made his journey possible. In truth, he barely knew who she was.
In 2001, Chris founded a scholarship program for children like himself — talented students from poor families whose potential might otherwise be lost. He asked the Swedish Ambassador in Kenya to help him locate his mysterious sponsor so he could name the foundation after her.
They found her. Hilde Back. Still alive. Still living quietly in Sweden.
Chris traveled to meet her for the first time. He expected to meet a wealthy philanthropist. Instead, he found a humble, warm woman living simply — genuinely surprised that anyone considered her actions remarkable.
Then filmmaker Jennifer Arnold began documenting their reunion. During her research, she uncovered something Hilde had never told Chris.
Hilde Back had not been born in Sweden. She was born in Nazi Germany in 1922 to a Jewish family. At sixteen, when Hitler’s Nuremberg Laws banned Jewish children from attending school, strangers helped smuggle her to Sweden. Her parents stayed behind because Sweden’s refugee policies did not allow older Jews to enter. Both were later sent to concentration camps. Her father died there. Her mother disappeared, never to be heard from again.
Hilde survived the Holocaust because strangers helped her escape. She lost her own education because of who she was.
Fifty years later, she quietly paid for the education of a child across the world — a child who would grow up to fight the same hatred that destroyed her family.
When Chris learned her story, he wept. Hilde, meanwhile, had no idea that the boy she sponsored had devoted his life to prosecuting genocide.
In 2003, Hilde traveled to Kenya for the inauguration of the Hilde Back Education Fund. The entire village welcomed her as an honorary elder. In 2012, she returned again to celebrate her 90th birthday, surrounded by hundreds of children whose futures had been transformed through her generosity.
Hilde Back passed away on January 13, 2021, at the age of 98.
Today, the Hilde Back Education Fund has supported nearly 1,000 Kenyan children in continuing their education. Many have graduated from universities around the world. Many now give back — mentoring younger students and contributing monthly donations to support the next generation.
One woman. Fifteen dollars. One child.
That child created a foundation. That foundation changed hundreds of lives. And those lives continue to change others.
I had the honour of representing the Office of the Prime Minister in a productive meeting with the National Leadership Academy (NLA) and the Tubsan National Centre for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (TNC-PCVE).
The Academy was represented by Deputy Director Ms. Deka Sheekh Ahmed and Academic Director Dr. Abdullahi, who shared their strategic vision for developing capable, ethical leaders and strengthening youth engagement across Somalia.
Our discussion focused on empowering Somali youth, expanding access to education, investing in leadership development, and creating meaningful opportunities for young people to actively participate in nation-building. This is essential to reducing vulnerability to extremism and violence.
We concluded the meeting with a shared commitment to deepen collaboration and implement practical programs that create opportunity, inspire hope, and position our youth at the forefront of shaping Somalia’s future.
Bayes’ theorem is probably the single most important thing any rational person can learn.
So many of our debates and disagreements that we shout about are because we don’t understand Bayes’ theorem or how human rationality often works.
Bayes’ theorem is named after the 18th-century Thomas Bayes, and essentially it’s a formula that asks: when you are presented with all of the evidence for something, how much should you believe it?
Bayes’ theorem teaches us that our beliefs are not fixed; they are probabilities. Our beliefs change as we weigh new evidence against our assumptions, or our priors. In other words, we all carry certain ideas about how the world works, and new evidence can challenge them.
For example, somebody might believe that smoking is safe, that stress causes mouth ulcers, or that human activity is unrelated to climate change. These are their priors, their starting points. They can be formed by our culture, our biases, or even incomplete information.
Now imagine a new study comes along that challenges one of your priors. A single study might not carry enough weight to overturn your existing beliefs. But as studies accumulate, eventually the scales may tip. At some point, your prior will become less and less plausible.
Bayes’ theorem argues that being rational is not about black and white. It’s not even about true or false. It’s about what is most reasonable based on the best available evidence. But for this to work, we need to be presented with as much high-quality data as possible. Without evidence—without belief-forming data—we are left only with our priors and biases. And those aren’t all that rational.
Disappear this Ramadan and set yourself 12 months ahead with these habits:
1. Wake up for Tahajjud (last third of the night)
The world is asleep.
Shaytan is chained.
Your nafs is quiet.
Win the night, win Ramadan.
Win Ramadan, win the year.
2. Fast from your phone after Isha until Fajr
Not just food and water.
Fast from the thing that's actually destroying you.
Your screen.
No scrolling before bed
No "quick checks" at 2am
No dopamine hits when you're weak
3. Recite the Quran with intention (not just speed)
Everyone's racing to finish 30 juz.
Almost no one is letting it change them.
• Pick ONE surah.
• Read the tafsir. (tafsir ibn kathir or tafsir as-sa'di)
• Try to understand what Allah is actually saying to YOU.
Transformation doesn't come from speed reading.
It comes from letting the words rewire your heart.
2 pages with reflection > 2 juz without it.
4. Build ONE Islamic habit that outlasts Ramadan
Most people go hard for 30 days.
Then collapse on Eid +1.
Don't be like that.
Choose ONE practice you'll carry forever:
• Fajr in the masjid
• Daily Quran after Fajr
• Consistent night prayer
• Guarding your gaze like your life depends on it
Ramadan isn't a sprint.
It's the foundation for the next 11 months.
5. Invest in your Akhirah while everyone's distracted
While others are:
• Binging after taraweeh
• Staying up until suhoor doing nothing
• Wasting Laylatul Qadr on their phones
You're:
• Learning your deen properly
• Breaking the addiction cycles
• Building the discipline that lasts for years to come
This Ramadan disappears from the noise.
Reappear as someone unrecognizable.