SAMRADO is basically an abbreviation of Safa Marwa Relief and Developmental Organization. SAMRADO is a charitable non-profit organization that was founded in Mogadishu in the year 2014. It serves the unprivileged youth in Minnesota and Somalia. It works in the community pf Somalia and help many people that are affected by different conflicts and natural disasters. SAMRADO executed many activities that played a part in reconstructing the broken infrastructure of Somalia. This organization has always collaborated with many different NGOs nationally and internationally to bring about the needed changes in Somalia.
One of our main goals for our children in Somalia is to help them become self-sufficient. One step we’ve already made towards this goal was creating a bakery in the SAMRADO schoolhouse, which our students help run, and the earnings from baked goods which are sold go towards further funding for the school and the children. This is only one example of the many plans we hope to implement in our organization.
It is important to understand the difference in social conventions between Somalia and the western world. In many third world countries, including Somalia, there is a stigma towards persons with disabilities including, but not limited to, blindness, deafness, and loss of ability to walk. In some religions these disadvantages are seen as sinful, regardless if these disadvantages started at birth or were caused by an accident. This stigma creates a negative bias and creates a considerable difficulty for people affected to seek and find assistance. A better awareness of these social conventions in worlds where these ideas are much different—such as the west and first world countries—helps us understand the real difficulty in addressing these problems. It’s not just the difficulty of not being able to see or inability to walk, it’s the hard truth that these disadvantages are looked down upon and it is extremely difficult to find help.
Our values stem from our belief in humanitarianism. The belief that, regardless of race, religion, culture, background, and anything that a person may be judged for — we are all equal and must be treated as such. SAMRADO advocates for these people, especially our children in Somalia. We aim to give these children a voice, speak up for a better life.