Our Founder: Dr. Hawa Abdi (1947-2020)
A profound commitment to upholding human rights, educating Somalia's children, caring for Somalia's women and children, and spreading hope run in Dr. Hawa Abdi's family. Her two daughters, Dr. Deqo Mohamed and Dr. Amina Dhiblawe, are continuing her legacy.
Dr. hawa abdi
Founder
Affectionately known as Mama Hawa to Somalis around the world, Dr. Hawa Abdi Diblaawe will be remembered for her numerous accomplishments and contributions to humanity.
Dr. Hawa was born in 1947 in Mogadishu. Her father was a worker in the city’s port and her mother died in childbirth, when Dr. Hawa was still very young. As the eldest child, Hawa was forced to raise her four sisters in conditions of poverty. But she never lost sight of her dreams.
Dr. Hawa studied medicine in Kiev and returned to Somalia, to become the country’s first female gynecologist. She then completed a Law degree at the Somali National University in Mogadishu, where she later became an Assistant Professor of Medicine. She soon opened a clinic on her family’s ancestral land in the Afgooye Corridor, south of Mogadishu, using the profits from her family land to provide free healthcare to her countrymen.
When the Somali civil war began in 1991, Dr. Hawa started housing her employees on her land, feeding them and caring for them. Soon their friends and relatives came seeking shelter from the conflict, then after the friends and relatives of their friends and relatives. Dr. Hawa welcomed them all, providing shelter to all those who came regardless of where they came from. The site became the Dr. Hawa Abdi Hope Village - a community for displaced Somalis with a 400-bed hospital, primary and secondary schools, and an innovative community justice system. In 2012, Hope Village housed more than 90,000 refugees, most of whom were women and children.
Dr. Hawa won numerous distinctions and awards for her work, including the Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award, the John Jay Justice Award, Vital Voices’ Women of the Year Award. In 2012, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She has received honorary doctorates from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. Former U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called Dr Hawa, “a perfect example of the kind of woman who inspires me.”
Dr. Hawa passed away in August 2020. She leaves behind a profound legacy that inspires us all. Faced with the most daunting challenges imaginable, she never lost hope that peace was possible. Over and over again, she risked her own safety to protect the vulnerable. Her daughters, Dr. Deqo and Dr. Amina, as well as many others inspired by Dr. Hawa, are carrying on the work that she started.
You can read more about Dr. Hawa Abdi’s life and work in tributes to her memory published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the BBC.
Read Dr. Hawa’s Memoir
Keeping Hope Alive, Dr. Hawa Abdi's 2013 memoir, tells the full, incredible story of her life and her record of humanitarian work. The book details the tragedies she experienced that motivated her to become a doctor. It describes the barriers she faced as a woman pursuing careers in medicine and law. It tells the story of when she was kidnapped by radical insurgents in 2010, and much, much more.