Empowered Somali Women - After The Event

EMPOWER – ‘To make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights’.

On the 7^th of March this year, Somali young women came together to celebrate one another. It was a day like no other. We shared with you all the vision and plan behind Ladan Takow’s event ‘Empowering SomaliWomen’ in a pervious article. We are now incredibly excited to fill you in on how the event went.

“We don’t need to be empowered – we are.” – Ladan Takow

Ladan’s event was a huge success in its aim to empower women through educating, inspiring, networking and building relationships.

The event started with women taking the stage and sharing their stories. Each speaker told their tale of how they were empowered or how they empower others. The stories told were powerful. We were on a journey with all the speakers; how each woman learnt who they were and found their passions – in turn empowering themselves!

The speakers included;

Idil Hassan a community developer at Midaye Somali Development Network, spoke about the work she does to help Somali communities and other ethnic minorities.

“Women are the core of our community. So empowering the women means the rest of Somalia will be empowered too.” – Idil

Samra Said is a poet, charity aid worker and a fundraiser working in the international development sector. She is currently working for Human Appeal, however she is also known for her work with the Somali Relief and Development Forum (SRDF). Samra spoke about the work she has done in the charity sector. She shared with us; how she was empowered through her understanding of what she felt was important – growing our society.

(Samra Said)

(Waris Mahad spoke about her work with Restless Development in Ghana.)

Once the talks came to an end, the evening was still young and the guests took the dance floor and enjoyed a mixture of Somali, and other music. It was a great way to celebrate one another and the evening.

The definition of empowerment we quoted above talks about making yourself stronger, more confident and taking control of your life. The power in the word empowerment is that each individual can empower themselves or others in their own way. There isn’t a set rule or steps to follow. To one woman empowerment may mean knowledge – that education they were previously denied. Another may see it as the true learning of one’s self, and being confident in their own skin and life.

Looking at Ladan’s event it is clear that it is not just a one day event, it is a movement. Us Somali women are empowered and we shall continue to be so.

(Human Appeal stall)

Looking around the room I was overwhelmed by the turn out. Seeing all these welcoming, open minded and hopeful faces warmed my heart. What better way to connect with your Somali sisters than to make each other rise

To me? To be empowered is to know who I am, and how I can contribute to what is important to me: the bettering of our world.

By Ramla Ossoble, Aged 16

Edited by Sadiya Ali Hussein

Here is a link to a YouTube video of Sadiya and Ladan talking about the event.

In honour of Ladan Takow's Empowered Somali Women Movement and to all our female readers; Elmimag.com is putting together a network of Somali women (Elmimag Somali Women Network). 

To join the network we will need your name, occupation, age, email and what you want to bring to the network. This information will only be shared within the members of the network. We want to continue to be empowered as women and stay united - and is just the beginning. We shall have more information soon.

Best,

Elmimag Team

Here are some more photos from the event:

Here is a glimpse of the conversation on twitter about the event: