By Goth Mohamed Goth
A well-attended ceremony was held for the launching of “A Woman of Firsts” memoirs by Dr. Edna Aden Ismail book which truly captures her remarkable life was held on Sunday night at the Mansoor Hotel.
The ceremony organized by NAGAAD Somaliland women groups Umbrella was attended by cabinet ministers, members of the business community, academicians, politicians, traditional leaders, government officials, women, youth groups and the public.
Ms khadra Omer Osman, the chairman of the national women umbrella ‘NAGAAD’ officially opened the ceremony of the launching of the Book by Dr. Edna Aden Ismail.
Ms. Khadra thanked those in attendance among them Cabinet ministers, businessmen, director generals, representatives of women groups, youth, and the public.
She added,” We gather here tonight to celebrate the remarkable life of Somaliland’s “Iron Lady” Dr. Edna Aden Ismail and the launching of her book , and we have the rest of the night to talk about the history of Edna Aden, and which I believe we cannot summarize in one night ”.
Renowned writer cum politician Mr. Boobe Yusuf Ducaale speaking during the event said, “Edna in person is a very swift and orderly person, and when faced with an emergency situation it is not easy, and her main concern is family and childcare, and it is the family unit.
Sahra Kin among the youth present at the event said, “The day Edna Aden leaves this world she will leave us with a legacy of outstanding work which has left a mark on all of us here tonight, I would wish to express my love and admiration.
“Edna built her own hospital, brick by brick, training future generations in what has been hailed as one of the Horn of Africa’s finest university hospitals. Edna has endured it all, she will be remembered for that,” said Mr. Abdirashid Dualeh, CEO of Dahabshill Group.
Mr. Abdiwahab, head of public and corporate relations at Telesom said “Dr. Edna dedicated her time and devoted her life to caring for our mothers and children to become healthy and live well.
Hon. Shukri Haji Ismail, the minister of environment and rural development speaking during the ceremony said, ‘l would like to use this opportunity to laud Dr. Edna Aden for the hard work and also for her contributions to the society at large, she has shown the path for many us, she has always being a role model to me and the young women should follow in her steps. May God bless her with a long life.
Dr. Edna Aden Ismail, the author of the book, on here part elaborated on the reasons which inspired her to write her memoirs and at the same time advised the various communities in Somaliland to put aside their differences and reconcile and urged the medical community to provide quality service to the public.
She added, “I started to write this book several times, set it aside at times which resulted to me losing a lot of my writings and then I started recording it, I lost most of the recordings and when I listened to them, I again decided to deleted since I didn’t like it. Then in earnest, I started all over again, this time while in London where I was undergoing treatment for two weeks, I thought if I would have died nobody would have known about the book and I want the book to tell the history of my country Somaliland.
Dr. Edna went further stated, “Edna is a single person, but the essence of me writing this book is to tell the world about the history of Somaliland and the reality to be seen. I would like to urge those in the health sector to treat the patients with respect and humanely manner and provide them quality health care to their patients regardless of the background and should not look at the financial gains
Ms. Nafisa Yusuf Mohamed, the executive director of NAGAAD said, “I can’t gauge my admiration for Edna Aden, and also for the thousands who are here in attendance today and the whole society, those following on the social media platforms such as Twitter show emotions are very high and cannot sum up”.
The minister of education speaking on the occasion said that those who want to emulate Dr. Edna Aden will have to read this book to understand what it takes.
Representatives of telecommunication corporations bought a whopping total of 500 copies of the legend autobiography @EdnaA
Dr. Edna signing the books during the launching ceremony
