Two years after declaring her bid to become the president of her homeland, Somalia, 44-year-old Fadumo Diyab has just over a month to wait before the election will take place. One of 18 candidates, she is the only woman.

Significantly, this will be the country’s first democratic election following the assassination of the country’s then president in 1967.

Born in Kenya, the daughter of Somali parents, Dayib fled the troubled country and became a refugee taking asylum in Finland in the early 90s. Now a mother of four, Dayib has a successful academic career under her belt, gaining a doctorate and a fellowship to Harvard, where she studied Public administration. You could say she has worked for where she is today.

In spite of the fact that she has lived in Finland for the last 26 years, and still lives there, Dayib’s heart still remained in Somalia. Speaking to The Guardian, she said:

fadumo-dayib-photo-chris-schwagg-1

“I did not want to assimilate and lose my culture or my religion but to integrate. I tried to combine the best from my culture and the best from Finnish culture. I didn’t want to be in Finland forever. I knew I was going back to Somalia. I tried to learn things that would be of use to my homeland.”

Sadly Dayib, a Muslim, doesn’t have high hopes for winning the election. To The Guardian:

“Anyone who is competent and qualified, …they are never going to win. If you are not corrupt you will not get into the system. I will never pay one cent to anyone so the likelihood of me winning is non-existent.”

Kudos to her, but with the odds stacked against her, who knows whether the strong, loyal daughter of Somalia, with her campaign policies of tackling and taking out the archaic systems and traditions such as Female Genital Mutilation and zero intolerance for corruption could be what the country needed to turn the corner toward a more stable future. We wait with baited breath for the election results on 30 October 2016.

 

Featured Image Credit: Fadumo Dayib Photo via Twitter

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