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| Fatima Jibrell
فاطمة جبريل | |
| [1] | |
| Birth name | Fadumo Jibriil |
| Birth | 1948 Somalia |
| Ethnicity | Somali |
| Occupation(s) | Environmental activist, Filmmaker |
| Religion | Islam |
Fatima Jibrell (Somali: Fadumo Jibriil, Arabic: فاطمة جبريل) is a prominent Somali-American environmental activist. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Horn of Africa Relief and Development Organization ("Horn Relief"), co-founder of Sun Fire Cooking, and was instrumental in the creation of the Women’s Coalition for Peace.
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Biography[]
Jibrell was born on December 30, 1947 in Somalia to a nomadic family.[1][2] Her father was a merchant marine who settled in New York City. As a child in Somalia, she attended a British boarding school until the age of 16, when she and her mother left the country to join her father in the United States. There, Fatima graduated from high school.[3][4] In 1969, she returned to Somalia and worked for the government, whereafter she married her husband, Abdulrahman Mohamoud Ali, a diplomat. While she and her family were stationed in Iraq, Fatima began undergraduate studies at the University of Damascus in nearby Syria. In 1981, her husband was transferred to the U.S., where she completed her B.A. in English. She eventually went on to pursue a Master's in Social Work from the University of Connecticut. While living in the U.S., Fatima and her husband raised five daughters. She also became an American citizen.[3][4]
[edit] Environmentalism[]
Spurred on by the Somali Civil War that began in 1991,[3] Jibrell along with her husband and family friends co-founded the Horn of Africa Relief and Development Organization, colloquially referred to as Horn Relief, a non-governmental organization (NGO) of which she is the Executive Director.[5][6] Horn Relief describes its mission as: "...supporting sustainable peace and development in Somalia through grassroots capacity building, youth development, promotion of human rights and women's leadership, and protection of the environment."[6] Jibrell was instrumental in the creation of the Women’s Coalition for Peace to encourage more participation by women in politics and social issues.[5][7] She also co-founded Sun Fire Cooking, which aims to introduce solar cookers to Somalia so as to reduce the reliance on charcoal as a fuel.[8][9]
In 2008, Jibrell wrote and co-produced a short film entitled Charcoal Traffic, which employs a fictional storyline to educate the public about the charcoal crisis.[10] The film was directed by the filmmaker Nathan Collett.
[edit] Anti-charcoal campaign[]
Through Horn Relief, Jibrell mounted a successful campaign to salvage old-growth forests of acacia trees in the northeastern part of Somalia.[1] These trees, which can grow up to 500 years old, were being cut down to make charcoal since this so-called "black gold" is highly in demand in the Arabian Peninsula, where the region's Bedouin tribes believe the acacia to be sacred.[1][11] However, while being a relatively inexpensive fuel that meets a user's needs, the production of charcoal oftentimes leads to deforestation and desertification.[11] As a way of addressing this problem, Jibrell and Horn Relief trained a group of adolescents to educate the public on the permanent damage that producing charcoal can create. In 1999, Horn Relief coordinated a peace march in the northeastern Puntland region of Somalia to put an end to the so-called "charcoal wars." As a result of Jibrell's lobbying and education efforts, the Puntland government in 2000 prohibited the exportation of charcoal. The government has also since enforced the ban, which has reportedly led to an 80% drop in exports of the product.[5]
[edit] Awards[]
For her efforts against environmental degradation and desertification, Fatima was awarded in 2002 the Goldman Environmental Prize,[5] the most prestigious grassroots environmental prize.[3] In 2008, she also won the National Geographic Society/Buffett Foundation Award for Leadership in Conservation.[