Somalia does not often benefit from positive stories in the press. At present it is probably best known for its ongoing civil war – which has lasted for nearly two decades – pirates operating along its coasts, and recently, reporting on the return of young Somalis from Minnesota to fight for the Shabaab, a group of Islamic militants with ties to Al Qaeda.
Readers, however, might overlook another outcome of this conflict – the displacement of Somalis throughout the globe, and the creation of a wide-ranging diaspora. All one needs to do is search “Somali” and “community” on the web to get an idea of the global spread of Somalis.
A 2009 UNDP report provides a summary of the Somali diaspora. It found that approximately one in every seven Somalis now live overseas, totaling more than one million persons. Top locations, outside of Kenya and Yemen, in Europe (rank order) are the UK, “Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Italy.” In North America large communities reside in the Minneapolis region, Columbus, Ohio, and Toronto, Canada.
Collectively, these overseas Somalis act as a powerful financial force by sending back remittances. This strong tradition of giving uses hawala, an informal system for transferring funds, and monies may be used to support family members, or also as business investments. The aforementioned UNDP report states that the diaspora sends $1 billion, or even as much as $1.6 billion annually back to Somalia. This appears to be an impressive amount, particularly when compared to the $214 million in aid pledge by foreign donors earlier this year.