Somali-born Refugee Wins Top UNHCR Aaward

Sudan Events – Sumaya Sayed

A former child refugee born in Somalia, who dedicated himself to changing lives through education, has been named as this year’s winner of the prestigious UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award. Abdullahi Mire grew up in the sprawling Dadaab refugee complex in northeastern Kenya with its population today of more than 240,000 registered refugees, mostly from Somalia.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) coordinates operations there together with partners, relying also on the support of the Kenyan Government and host communities.
The majority of the population, around 56 per cent according to 2020 figures, are children.
At that point there were over 60,000 students enrolled up to secondary school level, but despite that, the demand for teachers, supplies and classroom space, has long outstripped supply, leading to poor educational outcomes.
UNHCR noted that after growing up in the Dadaab camps, Mr. Mire had resettled to Norway, “but a yearning to serve his community drew him back”.
“The win is not for me alone,” said Mr. Mire, 36. “It is for all the volunteers I work with… It is for the children in the schools.”