Mohamed Abdi Warsame, secretary general of the African Students Association in Islamabad, hosted a farewell dinner for fellow students travelling home after completing their degrees or going for the holidays.

Warsame, 23 is from Puntland in Somalia. He studies law at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), where there are about 50 students from Somalia alone.

“There are many students from African countries, including Kenya, Sudan, Nigeria and elsewhere in Islamabad, and our association has just over a 100 members”, he said.

“When I first came, I spent half a year at NUML to improve my English. I can speak Arabic but I do not know Urdu well. But I will get better before I return home in two years”, he said.

“In some ways all foreign students are ambassadors for their home country”, said Ali Amin Mohamed, 24, a sociology student at IIUI. He is chairman of the Somalia Community Association.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2018