Time it was And what a time it was....

Class of 1980 reunion....

Class of 1980… Adan, Jama, Hussein and Mohamed. Members of the first students enrolled to the Somali Journalism faculty.

After more than 40 years, I caught up with my classmates from Somalia’s first journalism faculty, in London today, Sunday the 15th of May 2023. We had a nice Somali lunch at Savanah restaurant and did what old friends do… we talked, joked, remembered and reflected on the good old days. Technology also enabled us to call and contact Hussein Ahmed in Mogadishu who joined our conversation remotely.

We exchanged a lot of memorable stories such as the Lafoole life style and how lucky we were to receive a free education, food and boarding. For the young generation, the Journalism faculty was at Lafoole University, sometimes referred to as Lafoole College, It was a teaching institution, 7 kms from Afgoye.

Students at Lafoole, NTEC, also housed the Journalism faculty from Jan 1980.

We talked about the past and present challenges facing Somalis in Somalia and in the diaspora. There were amazing stories that many will find hard to believe. For example the cool and the then modern Lafoole dormitories, and all the fun we the mischievous but smart students get up to. We deeply indulged in amazingly enjoyable recollection. And we reminisced the beauty of days gone by, And being in this part of the world I felt like singing… Van Morrison, Van the man’s ‘the beauty of the days goneby’ from the down the road album. You got it. We are from the pre-CD and DVD age … so enjoy this song from our era to celebrate our reunion.

One main reason we were meeting was to pay our respects and pray for our friend, class mate from the 1980, the veteran Journalist, Isse Farah Mohamud (AUN) who died last Sunday morning in Mogadishu. He died at the age of 70 according to his family and friends.

AUN Isse Farah Mohamud, highly respected veteran Somali Journalist

Isse Farah was a senior writer for former National Newspaper, Xiddigta October which was running from 1973 to 1991 and he was writing for the ‘Wargeyska Dalka’ before he got sick several months ago according to his colleague at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Somalia. Isse was born, and raised in Mogadishu and he graduated from Somali National University in the field of Journalism.

The Somali National University has relaunched its faculty of journalism and communication – 26 years after its closure in 1991. We hope the faculty will meet the need for formally trained media workers in the country’s growing number of media outlets, and provide expert training for journalists working in a politically sensitive context and facing ongoing conflict with Islamist insurgents al-Shabaab and other armed gangs.

Hussein, an old class mate, former Somali diplomat posted this to record our yesterday’s re-union. See https://tinyurl.com/y55mbamd and for the record those students of history who are interested in the first Somali Journalism faculty, here are the names of the students. First 13 names in blue were high school graduates selected by the Ministry of education and seven (14-20) were professional journalists from the then ministry of information and national guidance (both radio Mogadishu and the Newspaper sections).

One of the amazing stories shared in yesterday’s union which highlights how media savvy the 1980’s Somalis were as well as the overall education level and global awareness was, when the late Isse (AUN) wrote an article about the John Lennon assassination of the evening of 8 December 1980. In the next edition of the newspaper, there was a letter to the editor (yes a letter to the editor in a Somali newspaper in Dec 1980) pointing out that one of the names in the caption of the Beatles photo was wrong! Just imagine… yes imagine (all the people living in peace…).

Indeed as I have said/written in many other platforms and fora, once we were warriors (to recycle that famous NZ film). And inshaAllah soon, Somali will be back without the misguided suicidal youth who destroyed the fabric of our society and the dignity of our religion.

In the meantime, let us reflect and re-imagine how we can can all contribute to the rebuilding of our country. The class of 1980, my old friends and I will meet again soon inshaAllah and share our thoughts with you.

Will leave you with remembering…. a favourite song of mine during my days at Lafoole. Simon and Garfunkel take it away…..

Time it was
And what a time it was
It was a time of innocence
A time of confidences…

So what do four old Somali friends really talked about? I am editing, ok censoring my notes…;-)) Standby for my next post.

Comments and feedback as always welcome- mi@ayuub.org

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