Mohamed Maigag

Mohamed Maigag was born in Somalia in 1967 and lived in Saudi Arabia before coming to London in 1985. He talks about the problems that young Somali people face today, and how he feels the community needs to work together to address these issues.

Listen to Mohamed (mp3, 525kb)

Transcript

'Somali children have got another problem in terms of their education. Some don’t do well in their education for so many reasons. Maybe missing a lot of schooling years back home, not having the right support at home, a father figure missing from home, lack of role models within the community, all these things also affect them…

'So there are challenges really, big challenges in front of us, as a community. Not only as a community. The general British public shares this with us. This problem sometimes is not limited to the Somali community, it will affect white British young person, it will affect Afro-Caribbean child, it will affect them. But for us, because we are a new community, most of these people have been through these problems, it’s easier for them…'

'What good things would you project about the Somali culture?'

'The fact that we are a people who take care of our elders. People who, proud people: people with history and culture, roots, language, there’s so many things that are good about the Somali community. We are very, very proud people, Somalis, you know. 

'And this needs to be somehow transmitted to our young people, whose confidence are low at the moment. They need to be told that you can do a lot really. By being proud and confident, you can do a lot.'