A View of the audience

 From left: Dr Mohamed Ali Farah, Mr Ismail Ali Sareye & Mr Yasin Dahir Elabe

 

 Auditor's report by Ahmed Idle

 

 

 

 

Text Box: The GARDO Annual General Meeting 2007 - The Official Report It was Saturday 02nd June 2007 that GARDO (Gabiley Area Relief & Development Organisation) held its AGM for this current year. With higher number of attendees who travelled from across the country, this AGM was rather differently from the previous gatherings since the establishment of the organisation. The venue was in East London and the members attended the meeting travelled from Cardiff, Birmingham and different parts of London. Here we will present you the proceedings of the meeting and speeches delivered by some of the members of the organisation. The Opening Speeches The meeting started with an opening speech made by Mr Ismail Ali Sareye who was chairing as well as facilitating the meeting. After few complimentary words on the high attendance by the members, he handed over to Dr Mohamed Ali Farah, the GARDO chairman. In his speech the chairman talked about many aspects of the organisation but its theme was around the achievements made by the organisation between now and the last AGM. The projects undertaken during the year included computers, sports equipments and clothes for the orphanage in Gabiley area. Also a brief report from the technical glitches encountered with the large X-ray project during its early days of application and how GARDO managed to resolve those issues by sending expert engineers from the manufacturer who travelled to Gabiley and not only fixed the technical problems but also provided much needed trainings to the local engineers. The chairman stressed the importance of this achievement and that the opportunity it has given to the local technicians by enabling them with a relevant intellectual property. Also in his speech the chairman reported the projects in the pipeline which include a pending shipment for more educational materials such as computers, projectors, school furniture and a general highlight reports on the expenditures of the organisation on these various projects and gave a status report of the account. The report also included the Gabiley Hospital project which is expected to serve for 33 towns and villages in Gabiley region and over 150,000 people. This massive project is now being done in collaboration with Gabiley diaspora in different parts of the worlds such as those in USA, Canada and Sweden. The chairman reported that the UK members only have now collected nearly $40,000 thanks to unrelenting efforts made by the women in the organisation and that GARDO is now planning to take a campaign in order to raise more money from its members and friends in the UK. Finally, the chairman expressed his gratitude to all members of the organisation particularly the local committee groups who usually do the leg work and he also urged the members to pay their contributions through an automated way (i.e. standing order via bank accounts) in order to save time and efforts for the committee groups. The Auditory Report Then the time came when the auditory report was read out and it was delivered by Mr Ahmed Idleh, who is one of two Auditory Committees. Mr Idleh started with his speech by mentioning that they work with the committee but conduct their activities independently and that the organisation bylaws permit them to look into all transactions and spending of the organisation. He mentioned that they carried out their auditory tasks by observing the incoming contributions and the outgoings and that they were satisfied with the way the transactions are recorded and receipts are produced. In the end the report verified the status report given by the Chairman on the current GARDO account. The Gabiley Hospital Contributions Mrs Safiya Abdi Obseye is one of the prominent members who undertook the audacious task of campaigning for the contributions of this ambitious project. She gave a highlight report of the activities undertaken so far and the achievements made. As things stand at the moment there is a total of $40,000 raised by the female members of the organisation who set the bar high for all members of the organisation. The amount is set to go up as some pledges have been made and there is the pending campaign.   The Lack of Educational Facilities in the Region This was a survey report presented by Mr Mowlid Ali Farah who has recently come back from Gabiley region. In his report Mowlid mentioned the visits he made to 11 schools in the region and those schools are allegedly those adequately funded by the government institutions. The survey report was distributed to the members of the audience in the meeting but in its context there were interviews with the headmasters and the teachers in those schools provided a first hand insight of the current problems they are facing. You will find the full report in GARDO website. The Other Speeches Mr Yasin Dahir Elabe made an eloquent speech about the past of this organisation and how it has been possible to achieve what so many other organisations failed and that it is vital everyone pulls his weight in order to realise our organisational aims and objectives. Yasin pointed out the essence of this success lies within the trust between the members of GARDO and the transparency of its undertakings. He appealed to those who are already assigned to tasks to continue the good work they are doing and those who have not been assigned a task to become more involved. Also Mr Ismail Ali Sareye who was chairing the meeting elaborated some of the points raised by Mr Elabe. In his beautiful speech he urged the members to facilitate the collection of the contributions by arranging their payments directly into GARDO account, which is now in the website (http://www.gardo.org.uk/). Mr Sareye expressed his view that as members we can do more than we have done so far and that we are all in this together. He also talked about how the people back home in Gabiley region can do more for themselves and that it is important they do not necessarily wait for someone else to do the work they could do themselves. After those pertinent speeches it was time for the representatives of the organisations made their brief reports: Cardiff: Hassan Mohamud Ige made a brief speech about the GARDO members in this rather historic Somaliland community in Cardiff. He mentioned the work has been done and the plan to increase the members in this town. Birmingham: After a brief report from the members in Birmingham Mohamud Nur Dualle shared his view to encourage the diaspora from Gabiley region to be slightly more active in the mainstream Somaliland communities, particularly in the political arena. Mr Dualle stressed that GARDO is not a political organisation and that this is not a task for GARDO but it is something that the community members need to have better awareness so that they can make their rightly contribution as well. West London: Hassan Warsame (Hassan Cadde) was quick to mention that the large number of members is from this region and that is often reflected in their contributions. Mr Warsame urged the community members to open up their hands more often especially towards these worthy contributions. South East London: Hashi Ali Yusuf also had the opportunity to say few words about GARDO and that it was first established in South East London. After his report from the GARDO members in SE London he emphasised that Gabiley region is a vast region and that there are diverse people in the region, some of whom are not necessarily linked through lineage but lived within the communities for decades and rightly feel part of the community. Mr Yusuf said that GARDO’s membership is open to all and anyone who is willing to contribute towards the aims and objectives of the organisation. On  that note, Mr Ismail Bihi Guled who was in the meeting made a brief speech about his belonging to this community and that he stood up in the local elections in Penge East, SE London. He expressed his appreciation of the support he had and that he only lost against his contender for only 46 votes. At the closing moments of the meeting there were few other dignitaries who made brief speeches those people included the new UK chairman of Kulmiye party of Somaliland, Mr Ibrahim Nuh Hussein, Abdilahi Ibrahim Askar (Abdillaahi Dheer), Jibril Ali Aqli, and Ali Aden Mead. Finally, the microphone was returned to Ismail Ali Sareye who commended the reigning chairman Dr Mohamed Ali Farah for his irreplaceable leadership on all the undertakings of the organisation since it was established in 2001. It is fair to say that his leadership was pivotal to the success story of this organisation and bright future ahead, insha Allah. In this AGM all members agreed that the existing chairman and committee members are doing just the right thing and that it is vital they continue the work they are doing in order to realise ambitious programmes and projects ahead. On that note it was declared that the GARDO AGM 2007 was formally closed and all proceedings came to an end.   By GARDO, UK      A View of the audience From left: Dr Mohamed Ali Farah, Mr Ismail Ali Sareye & Mr Yasin Dahir Elabe   Auditor's report by Ahmed Idle