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It really angers me to think that many other historical and cultural assets like the streets pictured below and above are being neglected and are therefore being lost forever. And you know what, I think its about time that we as the Somali diaspora stop acting like we are powerless and completely incapable of taking action. The reality is that we have the numbers, financial wherewithal and motivation to take action about this specific issue and many other issues facing our people and our country.
All it takes is a group of motivated and competent people to take the initiative and start an organisation that looks after the historic sites and assets across our country. What needs to be done is clear, we need to establish - with the support of the regional governments - an independent charitable foundation that protects and manages these sites on behalf of the government. The historic sites should be nationally owned assets of the country and should be protected by law from the various threats to which they are currently exposed. The government could then gradually, over a number of years, reimburse the charitable foundation for the money expended in purchasing the sites and the constitution of the charitable foundation should state that any income from the reimbursement of costs can only be expended for the purchase or maintenance of other sites. I think its very achievable, in fact its already been done before (see The Horn Heritage Charity).
On the part of the politicians there is clearly the political will to do this. On part of the local populace the will to look after these national assets can easily be evoked. On the part of the diaspora there is the will, know-how, experience and financial wherewithal to ensure that the historic buildings/sites are protected, maintained and where so required restored.
A clear example is the Somali archaeologist Dr Sada Mire who with the support of the regional government has conducted a survey to map the many ancient rock-art sites and created a programme whereby those rock arts are being archived using the latest 3-d scanning technology and the physical sites are being protected by locals who have been employed as 'rangers' specifically for that purpose. (Also see the "Somali Antiquities and Archaeology" thread HERE).]
We (the Somali diaspora) need to to take action... watch this space! Its about time that we stop being casual observers to our country and start to be engaged, active and involved to make all the right things that we espouse for our country happen! There can be no space for indolence and indifference!
The beautiful ancient Somali city of Merca
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