– That’s what I call a taxiway. It is made with the finest and best asphalt that anyone has brought into Somalia. Ali Ahmed grins against the sun on a newly built airstrip in Baidoa, a town in western Somalia. It is his company that has modernized the airport. They don’t have such nice airstrips at home in Vinje, where he and his family live. – It is the same quality as the E134 from Oslo and over Haukeli, he smiles slyly. The airstrip is vital, and is being built in a city that has been through one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises in recent years. Emergency aid and assistance can only come by air, because the area around Baidoa is controlled by terrorists. Vinje International Ali is among those who have had to change their definition of “home” several times in their lives. He was a refugee from Somalia, and is now a proud winemaker – that is, a person from Vinje in Telemark. It is in Vinje that the children go to school, it is there that he contributes voluntarily in the mosque and it is for Vinje municipality that he has worked for several years. But Ali has quit his municipal job and taken a small piece of Vest-Telemark out into the world. Because his company has been named Vinje International. – I really like Vinje, and have received a lot of support from him. I have great respect for Vinje, so I called my company Vinje, says Ali. His company has more employees, and he wants to invest even more in business in Somalia. Photo: Vegard Tjørhom / news And Vinje International has already left its mark. Far away from Vinje. Very far from Vinje. – I know the people who live here in Somalia, and they need help. With what I have learned in Norway, I would like to use it to contribute. – What have you learned in Norway then? – How I can help people, to be kind and to be creative. I have created many workplaces and given many young people a job, says Ali in his Odd Nordstoga-like dialect, which rightly has a certain accent. Several projects underway For Ali has thus traveled to his second homeland, Somalia. Both to pave airstrips – but also to do everything else that needs to be done in a country where development has been hindered for many years by mismanagement, corruption and extreme Islamist groups. – If I do a good job here, I will also start projects in the other regions. I do a lot here. The company builds roads, airports, operates logistics and service, says Ali. He has a clear accent in Norwegian, as most people who learn Norwegian in adulthood have. But he stands out from other Norwegian Somalis with his New Norwegian Odd Nordstoga-like dialect. He eats porridge for breakfast, goes skiing with the children, a stick meat for Christmas and doesn’t say no thanks to ribs either. Christmas is something Muslims have learned to celebrate. And he likes it. But at the same time, Christmas seems distant as he stands on the airstrip in a part of Somalia that has hardly had proper rainfall for several years. A humanitarian crisis has unfolded around him for a long time. People have no food to harvest from their fields. In addition, the extreme Islamists in Al-Shabaab are active in the area. – They don’t understand why I do what I do. They demand tax money from people in some areas, and fight against Somalia’s government army in other areas. – They don’t understand why I’m here, says Ali about his Norwegian-Somali friends back home in Norway. – I had a very good time in Vinje, so they don’t understand why I take the risk. Ali smiles big, and likes to show off what he does in Baidoa, West Somalia. He believes that more people should do as he does and invest in Somalia. Both Norwegian Somalis, but also other Norwegians. It is not only easy to do business in a country that is affected by conflict. But some people make a living from small shops, such as this one in Mogadishu. Photo: HASSAN ALI ELMI / AFP Ali has several projects underway. On Somalia’s coast, he has started construction on a town that could become central to the oil exploration that is going on outside Somalia. And in Niger, far away from Somalia, he is also working on various military infrastructure projects. He is one of many with a Norwegian passport who contributes to development in Somalia. A good number of them send money south, but Ali also sends himself. The dream is to make money, while at the same time contributing to development in a country where war and corruption have destroyed a lot. – More people should come back and contribute with what they have. If more people like Ali returned to Somalia, they could help a lot. That’s what I mean.
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With asphalt and concrete, Ali from Vinje will change Somalia – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
