Thursday 10 March 2011

Dr Mama Hawa Abdi

50 x 60cm oil painting on board

Dr Hawa Abdi set up a one-room clinic on family land in 1983 which has grown to become a hospital with an 800 pupil school and adult education centre.

Hawa Abdi Hospital has become a refuge for people fleeing from the civil war in Somalia. 90,00 people live in huts made out of plastic sheeting and sticks set up around the hospital as it is considered one of the few safe places in Southern Somalia.

She has been held at gunpoint by one of Somalia's more feared militant groups, she said " I'm not leaving my hospital... I told them, 'if I die, I will die with my people and my dignity.'"

The above information came from The New York Times on 6th Feb 2011.