A passionate individual who loves to fight for a good cause, Naima Abdirahman Moalin came to Malaysia to pursue her Masters of Business Administration in Communication and Public Relations to promote human rights.
As a child, she was fully aware of the hardship her parents endured to ensure that she and her siblings received proper education. Among her family, she was the first to complete her degree studies and is now on her way to receiving her master’s.
Active Activism
Naima describes herself as a person who feels very strongly about human rights. Back in her home country, she was a youth activist who championed various issues.
She has volunteered and worked with numerous Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) such as the UNHCR and the National Youth Conference for Somalia.
Her involvement included providing educational assistance for children. When her parents asked her why she became involved, her reply was, “Mum, I had to do something.”
“In some countries, children who are 11 or 12 years old do not even know how to write their own name,” she explained.
Naima was not receiving salaries for her effort and was doing it for a good cause. At the same time, those experiences enabled her to learn more about the world which will allow her to provide greater assistance.
For her, her first-hand experience adds more credibility for her people and she hopes that her effort would help to bring more help as well as attention to her country.
Enduring the Endurable
As a person who grew up in the middle of a civil war, Naima hopes to be able to be the voice of the people who have suffered.
She said that her family had seen the horrors of war and admits that she occasionally has flashbacks from those experiences. She explains that she still has difficulty sleeping at night when she knows that there are children who are starving and are without shelter.
“The situation was dire and many children were unable to attend school due to the dangers of the civil war,” she said while describing the daily life whereby people would often tune in to radio stations to determine if it was safe to go to school.
“If there was a major issue, then no one could go to school.”
“My mother and my brothers have been injured due to the fighting,” she said. “There was a lot of difficulties.”
However, Naima said her biggest influence came from her father who was able to keep her and her family safe.
Her experience had a profound effect on her. She hopes that she could use the opportunity to start working to gain enough knowledge and experience to help her country.
Studying at Limkokwing
Naima describes herself as a person who enjoys reading and travelling. She completed her Public Administration Degree in her home country and is now in Malaysia to continue her studies while gaining more knowledge of other cultures.
“I needed to continue my studies,” she said. “The reason why I pursued public relations is because I wanted to be the person who can fix the problems faced back in my home country.”
“I wanted to be the person who can fix everything,” she added.
She explained that the University emphasised on practical exposure which helped her to expand her knowledge.
“We are doing courses in strategic management,” she said. ”It was me and my classmates when we were trying to come up with solutions to various problems.”
Naima described that the lecturers at Limkokwing provided case studies for students to solve which they could apply in real life. This enabled the students to analyse the problem in order to come up with a solution.
“I feel that as we continue to study cases like this, we get to develop solutions to various problems,” she added. “This will help to promote understanding and harmony.”
Multicultural Advantage
“I decided that I can do communication and public relations,” she said. “I feel that I can communicate with different people.”
She used that opportunity to learn more about the value of diversity and multicultural awareness.
Final Project
Currently, Naima and her classmates are working on a project which compiles numerous case studies. These case studies reflect the on-going conflict back in her home country.
“We are writing a thesis book based on our coursework,” she said. “We discussed what we faced, and the experiences that happened.”
She compiled her research together with her classmates. “They are from Palestine, Iran, and then we discussed strategic management and how we will compile the answers,” she said.
She explained that the book would help provide a guide to others and solve problems.
Future Plans
“I would like to be a writer,” she said. “I would like to try to write books or articles.”
“I would like to finish my masters,” she added. “This will help me resolve various problems that are happening in my home country.”
Naima plans to gain more work experience during her studies in Malaysia. While completing her thesis book for her graduation, she hopes to gain greater insights of different institutions and government as well as school to help her country.