He was eldest of nine children and lived in a small village in north of Somalia. His father was a poor farmer and lived a very simple life. During their times, children worked in the fields to help the family survive.
Guhaad was a very intelligent and curious child. From the beginning, he was interested in everything around him. He and his brothers and sisters had to walk over a hill for almost an hour to reach the closest school.
They had to work in the field and attend school or otherwise they wouldn’t be able to get their education. Guhaad had to work six to seven hours a day to be able to afford the bare minimum of being able to attend school and have papers to write on. He also had to take care of all of his eight brothers and sisters because his parents were constantly working in the field to support the family.
At the age of fourteen, Guhaad had to move to the city to be able to attend high school since there were no high schools in his village. At fourteen, he had to become independent and responsible. His father, who was a very kind and hard working man, though did not have any education himself, supported Guhaad as much as was within his ability. He even sold one of his small lands to be able to pay Guhaad a very small amount of allowance every month so that he could go to school and get a very good education.
Life was very hard, but they were all thankful that they had their health and each other. Guhaad finished his high school and was number 20 in the whole nation in the national exam that was taken after high school to determine what college each student was to attend (equivalent to the SAT).
He was at the top with students who had attended private schools all of their lives and had role models who were doctors and lawyers. He was with those who knew nothing of work and knew nothing but money. He had gotten himself out of a primitive world and had stepped into a new world where he could excel and become what he had always dreamed of becoming: a doctor.
He got accepted to the most prestigious University of Somalia (Jaamacad Soaamlia). He, therefore, had to move to Mogadissu. Move was even a greater challenge for him and his family than the one he took at fourteen.
He rented a small room that smelled of garbage on top of a vegetable shop where he worked everyday. He had no kitchen and the only bathroom was one he had to share with five families outside in the yard. He had to wake up at four in the morning and ride his bike to where he could buy the vegetables for the shop. Then he would come back to shop and work until eight or nine in the morning. Then he would attend school.
At nights, he studied until a small light until midnight. He didn’t have much to eat, but nothing mattered to him but his education. He was determined and persistent and would’ve done anything to be able to attend such a University. The end of the month was always a struggle for him and his father was always in tears that he had nothing to offer his son. What he did not realize was that he did offer everything that he had and he supported Guhaad in everyway and that was enough.
During his undergraduate, he became friends with one of the wealthiest families in Mogadishu. And after a while the father offered Guhaad a proposition that he just couldn’t refuse, but did because of his family. He was offered to go to the United States of America with his friend. He wouldn’t have to pay for anything and all he had to do was to keep an eye on his friend, but he refused because he could not leave his brothers and sisters who he still had to take care of. So he stayed.
Guhaad successfully finished medical school and married his first cousin at the age of twenty-eight when he was just finishing his residency. He had come from a world of poverty to a world that he had never dared thinking about. He had entered a world that only the rich and famous where allowed into.
At the beginning of his marriage, there were still problem for he didn’t make much money and had to spend most of his time at the hospital. His wife, young and beautiful, would spend everyday at home waiting for him for all she could look for every night was his sight.
The apartment was as bad as his single room during his first years in Mogadishu. After a few years, he brought one of his brothers to Mogadishu and later, with the help of his father, sent him to the United States of America to get a good education.
Guhaad and his wife, Amina, later moved to smaller city near Mogadishu, which was called Balcad and had three daughters there.
He later brought his other brothers and sisters from their village and gave them jobs in his office. He was also the founder of the first Balacad High School in that city.. Life was getting better finally.
After a few years, he took a trip to the United States to take the board exam and get a license when he found out that his family was put under house arrest. They could go anywhere or sell anything. The government was afraid that Guhaad was going to move to the United States and betray his country. Even his friends turned their backs on his.
There were rumors that he was spying on the Somali government (Dolwada Kacaanka), which was the late Siad Bare's government in Somalia. He immediately came back and was not allowed to travel out of the country for many years to come.
He moved his family to Mogadishu, which was a much larger city so that they wouldn’t be under the watch of the government twenty-four hours a day. But he had to go to Balcad twice a week to visit his patients for his popularity as one of the best Ophthalmologists had grown immensely.
He worked between the two cities for three years until he found out that him and his family was getting their green cards.
This was the best opportunity for him and his family, but how could he leave everything. He was a prestigious and famous surgeon who no longer had any time to spend with his family. He was the head of the University that he had graduated not long ago. Life was finally becoming easy and comfortable. But he knew that the best thing for his family and daughters was to move to a country where they would have a future. So, he sold everything he had worked so hard for and he moved to the United States just to start all over again.
He had to start like a new student in the United States. He had to pass all the exams and go through three years of residency. He had to start studying day and night all over a gain. It was a very hard time for they did not have any money and none of them could work. But, their love and faith held them together.
He passed all of his exams and started his residency at Martin Luther King Hospital and Amina started working as an esthetician, providing the income for the family.
Guhaad is my friend and at the age of fifty-six, he is still doing hid residency. And yes, he is my hero for he never gave up on life. His fortitude drove him to places that he never dared to dream of. He came from poverty in a third world country to the Unites States of America.
War awowgii la kari madigaa ninkani
