To this point, I feel irritated brushing up
on what girls in the other parts of the
world are going through. And it gets even
worse as I pick her brain to understand
parents’ feelings about the education
system. How do parents react when their
daughters are oppressed in broad
daylight? “Parents?” she asked smiling,
“they support the system. In fact, they
discourage their daughters not to attend
school. A mother literally tells her
daughter to stay home and do chores
instead of going to school. As the result,
about 90 percent of girls drop out for
various reasons including early
marriages.”
Roda is in the 10 percent of girls who
continue their studies to university in
Somaliland. Her mother has always been
there for her and supported her
education. “My mother is my role model.
She went through a lot but never gave up
on our education,” she says. Roda is the
oldest of four children. “As the firstborn
in my family, I have the responsibility of
being the best I can possibly be so that I
can be a role model not only for my siblings but also for other girls in Somaliland,” added Roda.
While in High School, Roda was
volunteering at Hargeisa Orphanage
Centre as a teacher for two years. “I loved
it. Most of the kids don’t go to school because they don’t have anyone telling them
to do so. Their guardians are often people
who were not privileged to get any education so they never tell them why going to
school is important. The kids lose hope
and end up wandering in streets. You
can’t let a 9-year-old choose between
education and fun.
Teaching them and being their big sister
satisfied me in a way I can’t truly
explain,” she says. After graduating from
high school in 2013, she took a gap year.
She worked as an accountant assistant at
her high school.
How she responds to questions, the depth
of her understanding of social issues, her
passion for change, all tell me tha