After more than 24 years living in Edmonton, Somali national Mohamed Jimale moved to his home country to help rebuild the country’s national university.

Partnering with the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Education, Jimale is working to launch the Somali National University’s (SNU) education department to train the country’s teachers.

“I felt responsible to go back,” Jimale said Tuesday from Mogadishu. “Most of the educated people left the country during the civil war.”

With his own children graduating from the U of A, Jimale thought the university was the best partner to help rebuild SNU’s, which was forced to close in the early 1990s as civil war ravaged the east African country.

“Most of the teachers were killed or left the country (during the war),” said Jimale. “I felt that it is very necessary to bring back the faculty of education.”

As part of the partnership, the U of A’s education faculty delivered a shipment of more than 400 education textbooks to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, last week.

Now organizers are working on sending teaching staff to Nairobi, Kenya, to hold training sessions for SNU staff.

“One thing we all recognize is the critical importance of teaching and the basic importance of teachers and making sure teachers are well educated,” said George Richardson, associate dean of international initiatives for U of A’s Faculty of Education.

“We learn a huge amount working with others. It helps you look carefully at what we do.”

METRO

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