By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NEW YORK | 29 November 2023 (IDN) \u2014 Abdullahi Mire, a former child refugee from Somalia, is this year\u2019s United Nations Nansen Refugee Award winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recognized the 36-year-old Mire for providing 100,000 books to Somali refugees in camps in Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Filippo Grandi is the president of the UNHCR. He said Mire is living proof that \u201ctransformative ideas\u201d can emerge from displaced communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe has shown great resourcefulness and tenacity in strengthening the quality of refugee education,\u201d Grandi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mire was born in southern Somalia in 1987. In 1991, his family fled the country because of Somalia\u2019s civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI fled from Qoryooley in the Lower Shabelle region in 1991 with my mother and grew up and lived in the Dadaab refugee camps for 23 years,\u201d Mire told the VOA news agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the Dadaab complex in northeastern Kenya has a population of more than 240,000 refugees, most from Somalia. Over half of the camp\u2019s population are children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mire finished elementary and secondary schooling while living in the camp. He went on to earn a college degree in public relations and journalism from Kenya\u2019s Kenyatta University. He said his mother gave him help and support to become, in his words, \u201ca voice for my vulnerable population.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mire got a job with the United Nations International Organization for Migration in Somalia. He worked in Mogadishu and the southern cities of Baidoa and Kismayo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said his childhood in Dadaab and his professional experience taught him the importance of his education. So, he dedicated his professional life to helping his fellow refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2018, he started an organization called Refugee Youth Education Hub. The organization centers on refugee education and youth development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2018, he started an organization called Refugee Youth Education Hub. The organization centers on refugee education and youth development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a brief spell living in Norway, he returned to Dadaab to help. \u201cI had a yearning to serve my community that drew me back to the camp,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A refugee woman studying medicine in Dadaab inspired him to collect books for refugee camps. \u201cShe told me that 20 girls normally shared one biology book. That inspired me to use social media for a book collection and donation campaign till we reached 100,000 books.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The award is named for the Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat and humanitarian, Fridtjof Nansen. [IDN-InDepthNews]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photo: The 2023 Nansen Refugee Award winner Abdullahi Mire, 36, in one of the libraries he founded in Kenya\u2019s Dadaab refugee camp. \u00a9 UNHCR\/Anthony Karumba<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 29 November 2023 (IDN) \u2014 Abdullahi Mire, a former child refugee from Somalia, is this year\u2019s United Nations Nansen Refugee Award winner. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recognized the 36-year-old Mire for providing 100,000 books to Somali refugees in camps in Kenya. Filippo Grandi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,13,19,16,32,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa","8":"category-goal10","9":"category-population-immigration","10":"category-news","11":"category-regions","12":"category-sdgs-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5700"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5704,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5700\/revisions\/5704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}